| I wonder if what you're observing is the result of stronger commercialization in the US. In Europe, my impression was that most "dates" are just hiking or bicycling together, or cooking together, or in university you'd study together. For a cooking date, of course one has to buy slightly more ingredients. But I would have been very upset if you would call that "spending money on a woman [..] in hopes of sex" or "a polite form of prostitution", because I'll usually share my food if I have visitors, no matter which gender or intention. My opinion is that most of the dating that you see in movies is quite impractical, because all of it prevents an honest and intimate discussion. Plus I don't know any couples who met that way. Shopping? Noisy, crowded, too many distractions. Cinema? It's either too noisy, or everyone else will hate you for talking. Restaurant? Why make things unnecessarily awkward by having a private discussion in front of 20 strangers? In short, my impression was that the woman sizing up the man if he will be a good provider only happens after the blossoming relationship is already working on a sexual level. And I'd say that is reasonable and not offensive. If you plan to move in together or want to have kids in the future, you'll want to have a teammate that can support you. |