leahmbello

I don't think men should pay on a first date. I think each party should offer and it should never be an expectation that a man will pay simply by virtue of being a man. Although I think it is always nice for people to offer to pay for you, especially as a gift or treat, I think women have moved beyond this archaic view of what chivalry is and should be.
Most women now have the financial autonomy to no longer rely on man - in a dating context or otherwise, and I think we shouldn't hold on to these narrow minded expectations of what men should or shouldn't do on first dates.

I think dating apps have undoubtedly turned love into a marketplace. Not only does it give its users too much choice, but it also focuses too heavily on appearances.
Whilst the latter is unavoidable (i.e. you can't show a true personality via a dating app), it encourages a level of superficiality that is perhaps damaging when trying to form meaningful relationships.
In terms of choice, the swiping function of these apps dehumanise men and women alike, and the user is left to feel either constantly rejected or constantly judged. There is too much choice that you feel like you are having the user experience of a clothes marketplace: judging the style of the profile and how it may fit you...
It is also a strange 'numbers game' of the more likes you send, the more likely you will get in return (mainly based on the algorithms that lurk behind the most popular apps). This means that you are not really looking for love, but rather validation of your profile and what you think it represents about you.
Though I can accept the pandemic has made dating apps the only feasible way to find 'love', I think it is more of a place to find validation than meaningful connection.

It has been routinely found that men are more likely to cheat on their partners than women. The reasons for this have been linked to their 'natural' recklessness towards sex, and a biological desire to avoid monogamy. Though there may be some truth to this, I think we are all natural love cheats.
Defining love cheats in both emotional and physical terms, I believe women have both the natural desire to form emotional and romantic connections with people other than their partners, and also the more opportunity to do so. Whilst a lot of women do not act on these compulsions, and may only explore the emotional and less morally reprehensible side, I think that it is wrong to say men are more natural love cheats.
For me, a love cheat is all encompassing, and although I think men perhaps engage with the physical element of 'cheating' more openly and regularly, women are equally likely to cheat, but perhaps in less obvious terms.

The contraceptive pill should not be so widely promoted as it not only endorses the implementation of unnecessary hormones into women, but it encourages the onus of sexual responsibility to be entirely on them too.

Acne? Go on the pill. Boyfriend won’t wear a condom? Go on the pill. Irregular periods? Go on the pill. Since its introduction in 1967, the contraceptive has been viewed as a 'magic pill' that can solve all our problems. However, by solving our social problem (controlling pregnancy rates), it has caused personal, physical problems: headaches, nausea, tenderness, weight gain, high blood pressure and mood swings: not to mention the long term risks of blood clots and breast cancer…

The stark irony, however, is that the common argument against the male contraceptive pill is that it has too many side effects. This represents not only a patriarchal infrastructure that our sexual politics operate in, but also a flawed pharmaceutical system. Though this is perhaps unsurprising when a recent BioPharma Dive analysis revealed that only 15 of the leading 180 biotechs were led by women. Whilst there are other alternatives to contraceptive pills, such as the coil, implant and injections, they all are either overly intrusive or pose similar side effects to those of the contraceptive pill.

Nevertheless, in common sexual freedom rhetoric, we are told that these risks outweigh the gains made for women and their sense of liberation. Last month, the UK Government suggested that the ‘mini-pill’ (progestogen-only pills) could be sold over the counter without prescription. Though some described this as "a landmark opportunity in women's health", I question whether it is only widening the chasm between men and women, and the power plays behind sex.

Although I am aware of the inherent biological disparity between men and women, I am inclined to believe that the majority of our sexual norms are societal rather than natural. Since the 1960s, we have perpetuated the culture that it is a woman’s problem, when it should in fact be our problem. Or if it is not our problem, we should provide women with a more robust solution for how to navigate a sex life without having to pump her body with artificiality, and accept an uncomfortable existence.

The argument here is not about the contraceptive element of the pill, but rather the dangers it presents to women, and ultimately how we need to try harder to give women sexual freedom.

Relevant links:

• https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180822-the-birth-control-pill-can-have-male-side-effects
• https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/combined-contraceptive-pill/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56054265
• https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/female-biotech-ceos-bio-efforts-diversity-goals/558604/
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03532-6