Lately I've been hearing (and seeing on Twitter) claims of "I'm dating to get married" or pompous accusations of "people shouldn't date unless they're dating for marriage." While I appreciate the concept of taking romantic relationships seriously, I'm not here for the idea that everyone's end goal should be marriage in every single relationship.

Why?

Well, first of all, because not everyone wants to get married.

I know, crazy to think that some people might not be obsessed with the idea of a white dress in a church on a Saturday with all the people who love them. Or maybe it's just that some people aren't in love with the idea of spending the next 50 years with only one person.

Marriage is a pretty weird social construct if you think about it, and some people just aren't interested in that being their end goal.

But I also personally believe that even if you do want to get married at some point, that shouldn't mean you can only date people with the intention of marrying them.

What's so wrong with dating just for dating's sake?

After all, dating because you want a relationship without marriage has plenty of perks. Dating around can help you figure out what you want in a significant other, which can lead you closer to understanding who you might want to marry one day. And maybe that ends up being that partner you started off dating without the intention of marriage. But how are you supposed to know who you want to be with if you don't have some experience under your belt?

Plus, let's just be honest with ourselves, dating is fun.

It's fun to get to know someone, it's fun to go on dates, it's fun to have someone special in your life, and it's fun to play around (if you know what I mean). And although it's not fun to go through the breakup, sometimes it's necessary.

If you want to date only because you have marriage on the mind, then by all means, feel free to do so. But in the meantime, can we please move past attacking people who just want to date for the fun of it? You need to stop judging people for wanting different things out of a relationship than you. We need to start accepting that romance comes in various forms, all of which are beautiful.