I'm sorry but I don't agree with the idea that men want to pay because they are providers and women because they want to feel empowered. I'm a person with a vagina and I love to pay on first dates. Not because I want to show off my "female power", not because I'm trying to affirm myself as a feminist, just because I enjoy giving. I love the feeling of being able to offer a gift to someone, to show some care for the person who I'm dating. And I never understood why men, in this day and age, can't just gracefully accept the kindness, the way women are taught to do.

I think these are things that we learned as a society that have nothing to do with our sexual identity. Furthemore, these concepts only work in a binary perception of gender. So I'm non-binary, dating another non-binary. Who then, will feel more compelled to pay the bill? Of course, we can split it. But isn't it a nice feeling to offer something to someone, as much as it is to be offered something?

I respect your views. I just think it's time we start stirring the conversation on these topics in a different direction, one that encourages change and evolution instead of re-affirming outdated mentalities...