WrongSprite said:
Dutch.
Otherwise is sexist. If they want equality, they've fucking got it.
If (big if, BTW) I found someone who liked me, whom I also liked, and
assuming[footnote]For the sake of the thread[/footnote] that it was a woman/female/whatever-term-you-prefer, then I'd want to pay. There are a couple reasons, so time for a new paragraph!
First reason, if I liked someone enough to want a romantic relationship with them (complete with dating and dinner), then I'd want to give them everything I could, to the full extent of social allowance (so I'd pay for dinner in this scenario). Second, assuming the other person is female, then building off the first idea of "I like this person a huge amount, and I mean
HUGE AMOUNT", then I'd want to set a good impression so that I don't screw it up. Thirdly, I'd conform to social norms to avoid
any potential awkward moments where her desire to pay for herself, her desire to not make an awkward scene where we fight over who gets the 'honour' of paying, and the overall social inclination for the male to pay conflict. So I'd prevent the conflict by solving it pre-emptively.