HEAR YE! HEAR YE! We present-eth thee and thine with the ultimate quandary that has set upon daters of yore and yonder like a Bubonic Plague (too soon?)! In this article, we at Modern Chic Magazine will attempt to alleviate thine wonderment!
Okay, we’re done with the Medieval speak. This is what happens when we binge too much Merlin on Netflix.
We have the answer.
Ready?
Ready?
The first person that does the asking…
…is the first person who has enough courage to approach their crush and ask.
We know. We just blew your mind.
It wasn’t so long ago—very not long ago—that the answer to the question posed in the title was unquestionable, indisputable, un-absolute-able. The man asked the women out. Period. In decades past, women were viewed as delicate flowers who would not even dare to approach a man with such blatant, wanton lust! A woman inviting a man out to walk along the promenade or have a picnic in the park wearing, like, forty pounds of underwear, a dress that weighs twice as much, and a hat the size of Texas? Preposterous! Hogwash! What gobbledygook! Bah Humbug! Where is our monocle? We must raise it to our eye in unabashed abashed-ness at even the barest implication that a woman could even speak to a man without being addressed first!
All right. Now that we have recovered, let us continue.
Even in the ‘50s, a girl asking a guy out for a burger and a cherry Coke at the drive-in (presumably while wearing a poodle skirt and saddle shoes) was considered outlandish. In fact, up until fairly recently, ladies simply did not entertain thoughts of doing the asking, unless it was a Sadie Hawkins dance or something along those lines. Men were just expected to sweat and stammer through the asking-out process.
Fortunately, for both sexes, things have changed. These days, women not only do the asking for the initial date, but some even deign to propose marriage to their would-be fiancés! It’s the new millennium, girl! Get yo’ boy! If you suspect that he wants to ask you out but lacks the guts, go for it! Or, if you see a hot guy sauntering down the hallway, ask him to grab a bite! The worst he can say is no.
Yes, rejection sucks. But it’s something that both genders have to deal with. Let’s take some of the pressure off the poor dudes’ shoulders, shall we? Ask him out! What’s the harm? It’s women’s lib, baby! The Time of the Lady is now! We are no longer inhibited and suppressed by the aforementioned forty pounds of underwear (corsets, amirite?), gigantic hats, poodle skirts, and names like Peggy Sue! Go on. Ask him out.
Go ahead.
We’ll wait.
Finished? Okay, good. Now that you have done what was unthinkable merely a few decades ago, what next? The other major question that has been boggling the minds of daters forever—who pays? That, much like the previous, has a simple answer—whoever does the asking pays. Sure, you can go Dutch. Or the guy may insist on paying anyway even if you invited him out—chivalry ain’t dead, folks!—but always, always, the person who did the initial asking should at least volunteer to pay in full before the other party does so. It’s only polite.
Now, have we answered your questions?
*photo credit: Sergey Sus via photopin cc
