Paying the price of love

In the ever-changing world of teen romance the simple question of who should pay at the end of a date is continuing to challenge the old norms. 

The days when the answer to this question was given are farther and farther in the past with each passing day. The teens in today’s society are navigating new views of equality and expectations everyday.

“They shouldn’t feel forced to pay for everything because the lady doesn’t want to,” Bri Rasdon, freshman, said.

Since women primarily used to stay at home during the day, they didn’t always have jobs to go make money. This is where the idea that the man should pay came from. 

If a woman didn’t have a job, and men made the money for the household, how were the women expected to pay for anything?

“The guy should be the one who asks the other out and whoever asks for the date to happen should pay for the date,” Bailey Wright, 8, said.

Many teens and young adults in recent years are more likely to be open to the idea of splitting the bill on dates and even in some situations the woman paying for the whole thing. This showcases how gender roles are becoming more and more obsolete.

“I think sometimes the guy should be willing to let the girl do something gentleman-like for them so they know how it feels,” Annabelle Tappe, freshman, said.

Splitting the bill doesn’t put all of the responsibility on any one person in the relationship and allows everyone to be held accountable for part of the date. 

In a recent poll, 207  students were asked who they thought should pay on a date. 56% said the guy, 5% said the girl, and 39% said other. 

When asked what they meant by other most explained that the bill should be split 50/50 or whoever asked for the date should pay.

However, some did mention the fact that there are some non-hetero relationships. 

In these relationships there may not be a specific person in the male or female role so these standards simply don’t apply.

“I believe that both should pay, if the guy asked out the girl he should pay since he is taking her out but it works both ways. If she gets treated like a ‘queen’ shouldn’t he be treated like a ‘king’,” Cassey Boling, freshman, said. 

While more people may be open to the idea of the women paying or splitting the bill now, there are still plenty that think that the guy should be paying.

“The guy should pay because they need to always be a gentleman,” Noah Akers, freshman, said. 

But this isn’t the only reason that people may still want the guy to pay, sometimes the topic just doesn’t come up and if it does it can make the conversation a little awkward. 

In many cases it is the guy that asks the girl out, takes her somewhere nice to eat, buys her flowers and holds open the door. These things can all be seen as a stereotypical date. 

But asking someone out takes a lot of courage, so why would someone want to take on the added stress of asking a girl to pay rather than just taking the bill?

“I think the guy should pay because I feel like it is just weird for me to say the girl should pay as a guy,” Talan Montgomery, freshman, said. 

While making sure that you are both putting effort into the relationship and making a point to go spend time with each other on dates is very important, sometimes that isn’t the only thing that matters.

“In a relationship, money isn’t the most important because being in love and having that special feeling for someone is cherishing and very special,” Summer Chang, freshman, said.