A plate for play: Women date for free food

While having a casual conversation with women friends, one lady, in her early 20s, said she would accept any man’s date, as long as he would treat her.

Annette (not her real name) accepts any invitation out as long as she gets to eat good food and take pictures of the expensive meals and in high-end places, of course, to show off to her friends on social media.

Research by three psychologists from the US released recently established that one in three heterosexual women have gone on a date with a guy they were not interested in, just for a free meal. The study was published in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology journal.

An article by the New York Post established women mostly make such a move when money is tight; when they want to try a new and expensive restaurant, take pictures to flaunt on social media or when they cannot afford the food, but they want to show the world they can.

“If you ask me out, I choose an expensive place I haven’t been - when a man asks me out, he shoulders the bill,” said Annette.

“The results are in: she only wanted to try that hot new restaurant,” the New York Post titled their article.

The US-based researchers, Brian Collisson, Jennifer Howell, and Trista Harig, conducted two studies.

In the first research, 820 women took part and the second some 327 took part.

They noted that they asked participants if they ever engaged in a plate for play: 23 per cent of the women copped to it in the first study, 33 per cent in the second.

According to the researchers’ findings, the women who felt dating for food was socially acceptable were more likely to exhibit the “dark triad” of personality traits.

In psychology, the dark triad is a composition of three traits - narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy. They are called dark because of their hostile qualities.

Moreover, Collisson (one of the researchers) said ‘foodie callers’ are fond of ‘one-night stands, faking an orgasm, or sending unsolicited sexual pictures.’