Friday, February 27, 2009

Dating In A Downturn


From the Atlantic.com by way of Instapundit
Feb 26 2009, 1:05 pm by Reihan Salam
Dating in a Downturn
In yesterday's Washington Post, Tara Bahrampour filed a dispatch on dating in an economic downturn.
From investment bankers to real estate developers to construction workers, no job means no buying rounds of $15 martinis for a pretty woman and her girlfriends. No hosting parties in the bachelor loft. And often, no idea how to present one's new self on the dating market.

The real issue is: will an economic downturn break the back of the regime in which women are expected to take, and are socialized into, the role of the provided-for party? Given the fact that women's rates of educational attainment are surpassing that of men, and the fact that the downturn will likely accelerate the decline of a number of male-dominated professions -- construction, finance, etc. -- will we see a sharp rise in the economic power of women that will lead to a corresponding change in the sexual marketplace?

We shall see...
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3 comments:

Susan B said...

I'm one of those women who never really "dated" in the sense of "expecting men to ask me out and spend a lot of money on drinks, dinner and entertainment." I just didn't tend to meet men in that socio-economic bracket, and most of my socializing has been done in groups. I've also always been uncomfortable with the expectations that seem to come along with drinks-and-dinner-from-someone-I-hardly-know. I guess I've been living in an alternate universe. ;-P

Belle de Ville said...

There has been a lot of commentary about this on the web including the webcast by Amy Alkon and Dr. Helen Smith on Pajamas Television.

It all comes back to how much the cost of dating is for men, which of course is certainly high. But I know women who can easily spend up to $1000 just to make a good impression on a first date.

Go ahead, add up the costs...
hair color $300
bikini wax $40
manicure & pedicure $40
injections $400
outfit $200? $400? $600? more?

Dating isn't cheap for anyone.

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