A first date can be a moral minefield, particularly when it’s time to whip out the wallet.
Do you split the bill evenly? Or is up to whoever extended the invite?
Well, here’s a little factoid that might make that decision a little easier: go dutch and you’re more likely to get lucky.
Yep. According to research conducted by Nielsen and RSVP, 36.8 per cent of Australians who split the bill with their date ended up having sex with them that evening, compared to only 26.6 per cent of people who stumped up for the lot.
It will come as little surprise, then, that the study also discovered most daters opt to go even-Steven.
With the results of the study in mind, RSVP CEO Dave Heysen urges those to embrace the festive spirit.
“People are in a celebratory mood and have more time on their hands, so now is the time to get dating," he said.
"Not only that, now is also the time to try something different. If you’re always picking up the bill or always letting it pass you by, try splitting it. You never know where it could lead.”
Yeah we do, Dave. Yeah we do.
Top Comments
Oops - in my first paragraph I meant "I won't let a guy pay if I am not interested in properly dating him."
If I am insisting on paying my even-Steven amount, I am very likely uninterested. I won't let a guy pay if I am interested in properly dating him. It's a signal. I pay to send a signal. On the flip side, letting a guy pay is allowing him to entertain notions of romance between you. I won't lead a guy on. Letting him get the bill is unfair. Unless it was literally a $3.80 coffee. Most men I have met understand this signal. Very few do not. They are usually the less experienced ones.
If I am truly intrigued, impressed by and interested in the guy I will hold back from sex too soon - including the 2nd and 3rd dates. No matter how bad I want to, no matter how long it has been. I expect if he feels the same way, although I would offer my half, he will ensure he pays. It's a little dance of courtship that has nothing to do feminism / non-feminism, but to display that this thing has legs, that there is interest, GF-BF potential between you.
If I'm having sex on the first date - rare, very rare - it is because I am assuming that that is the peak of the "relationship", it is the best that we have to offer one another, so I would be more likely to pay. They are a lust prospect, an opportunity to scratch my itch, not a love / lasting prospect. It's casual. Its a limited exchange - the entire thing, not just the sex.
In my experience with regard to men's reactions - men who quickly take up your offer to pay half the bill are either uninterested or stingy (not just on that first date, and not just with money). I've seen both.