Who pays on a date?

[Troubador]

Thank you, much obliged!

[Frosty]

You seem to jump from talking about "young and healthy women" to making a conclusion about "women" in general. If most men choose to focus on only a minority of the female population, this says nothing about women as a whole - there are all of the women on whom men are choosing not to focus. Society is actually an approximately 50:50 split between men and women; leaning towards there being more women. It's the same as switching from talking about "millionaire, charming, tall and handsome men" to making a conclusion about "men" in general.

 

No I made an observation about general behaviour and then correlated that with statistics observed in real life. Women typically try and settle with a partner before they hit the wall and lose a lot of their sexual market value, this traditionally has been done through marriage and children.

[J. D. Stembal]

So, I'm not currently dating, but I'm reflecting on my past relationships, and I see that money and etiquette has always been something that has confused me a great deal. My parents were wealthy, and money was not something that was talked about in my childhood, and I was scolded if I asked questions about how much money they made or how much things cost. I get a lot of anxiety now trying to discuss anything to do with money, so the idea of talking to prospective date on what his thoughts are on who pays for dinner is stressful. 

 

In the past, I have always either split the price of a date 50/50 or paid for it myself. A guy has never paid outright for dinner. Even on my birthday when a boyfriend tried to pay I felt awkward and insisted on contributing. I realize in the millennial generation with gender roles changing this might be very normal, but a friend of mine recently told me he thought it was emasculating for a woman to pay for dinner. Splitting costs has always seemed fair to me, but seeing as none of my past relationships have worked out very well I thought it might be useful to re-evaluate this notion. 

 

What are your thoughts on who should pay on dates? Is there an assertive way to bring this up with people to talk about? 

 

EDIT: Is it preferable to re-evaluate the entire concept of dating? Because on dates one is not necessarily showing standard behavior. It doesn't seem a very good way to get to know someone. 

 

The last time that I went out to dinner with a woman, she wouldn't split the bill. She paid for the whole meal. Who am I to argue? Feminism has its perks!