Thanks for the reply. At least you are aware and conscious of the costs of “dating”.

I don’t date anymore, but when I did and was meeting someone for the first time, my invitation was never for dinner. A walk, a coffee, a street fair, a museum where I held membership and could bring a guest for free.

I got tired of meeting someone very briefly, feeling there might be a connection, asking them out, having what I thought was an interesting evening over dinner, only to get ghosted.

I remember a particularly awful incident. She was ONLY going out with me for the free meal. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. We were supposed to meet at a wine bar for drinks (at $15 a glass) and then she got hungry.

She stiffed me for the $80 bill with the promise to “get you the next time” and of course, there was no next time.

I was looking for a relationship, not quick sex. She knew going in she had no interest in me. Showed up late. Left early, after I had fed her.

I am a feminist. I really want equality between the genders. Furthermore, I would love to be asked out by a woman and I would pay half. It will be a thrilling time when the United States has a female president because I think the whole country and world might benefit. Equal pay for equal work should be the law, and it should be enforced. I think women should have the same freedoms sexually that men enjoy. The second best manager I ever had in any job was a woman.

Discrimination in employment is soul crushing. I felt the effects myself once I got to a certain age where I was no longer employable due to age discrimination.

In a culture where there are more females in colleges and universities than there are men, certain “traditions” as to gender roles need to be thrown on the scrapheap of history.

Women should try asking a man out for a change and feel the elation of a “yes” and the “bubble bursting” of a rejection. And the concept that the man always pays as some kind of hidden test of his generosity or chivalry needs to end.

Women will have the equality they seek when they stop giving “subtle signs” of interest, communicating with their body, and acting coy. I learned this from a feminist I dated briefly.

She wanted absolute and total equality, and she lived her life as an equal. She even insisted on paying her half of the gas and bridge tolls whenever we went out. Likewise, she asked for what she wanted, hoping for a yes, but not expecting one. And accepting a “no” graciously.