Now, the well known history of dating traditionalizes the male counterpart as a chivalrous figure - there to romance his lady friend and certainly to foot the bill. In all honesty would Mr Darcy be so seductively fancible if he'd suggested to 'go Dutch darling' - would Romeo have asked Juliet to grab him a diet coke and medium popcorn from the food booth at the cinema? - Would Heathcliff have left Cathy's bedroom window locked to save on the central heating bill? - I should think not. Ok, so maybe this is a slightly traditional view (feminists would say the intertextualism mirrors my backward vision) - but researching into the subject more I find myself confronted with the fact that times are changing So not to be clouded by my own idealist views on traditional romance I asked a number of people what their thoughts on the subject might be
EQUAL SOCIETY
Ok, so apparently us females have been getting a free ride for far too long! We've marched on parliament, thrown ourselves under horses, burnt our braswe've even endorsed the concept of 'Girl Power' through 5 overpowering women with ridiculously high shoes! Isn't it about time we embraced the society our past feminist sisters strove to build for us? Isn't it about time to went halves on a mealor evenoffered to pay
A few people thought so (may I add - not only of the male persuasion!)
THE FEMALE SHOULD ALWAYS OFFER
So this one really comes down to etiquette - it is polite to offer - I have even partaken in this act of conventional society myself! The 'offer' was a common consideration that popped up amongst the men and women I asked - the question is however - just how genuine is 'the offer'. A survey of 74,000 online Elle readers named the 'Money, Sex and Love' survey found that 57% of women offer to pay the bill. Over half you might say, a generous offering you might think - Wrong. 34% of those 57% would be extremely annoyed if their date actually accepted. This must be terribly confusing for both parties Ladies just remember to actually bring your purse incase he takes you up on 'the offer'.
WHOEVER ASKED SHOULD PAY
This one seems quite simple - whoever instigated the event of a first date should pay, regardless of gender. This seems to make sense - surely the instigator is most likely to take on the role of the impresser and treat their date by footing the bill at the end of the evening?
I'm torn. Is this the death of romance? Or are we just embracing modernity? Go onwhat do you think? Comments welcome below.
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