This year has seen a variety of dating trends, but the latest ‘penny dating’ craze is likely to be the most toxic of them all. This trend is all about weaning someone off the effort that was originally required to win them over at the beginning of a relationship, both intentionally and methodically, until they’re satisfied with the bare minimum. The objective is to withdraw effort in such a way that your partner does not notice you removing effort and is content with the very minimum they receive.
After hearing about the penny dating strategy from one of her male friends, TikToker Erika Tham published a video detailing the method on social media. According to the New York Post, her video has received over 7.6 million views on the video-sharing app. It even sparked controversy on Instagram, where it received over 2.7 million views.
What exactly is ‘penny dating’?
Ms Tham stated in the video that she was discussing “love bombing” with one of her male friends when he told her about another approach known as “the penny method.” Her companion said that males perceive a woman as a “piggy bank” and change their investment accordingly.
“In order to get her interested, obviously, at first you have to be feeding her hundred-dollar bills,” Tham explained. “But putting in hundred-dollar bills is a lot of work, and you don’t always want to be doing that, so eventually you reduce it to 90,” she said.
The next thing you do is bring it back up to 95. Instead of feeling like they’ve lost 5, suddenly she feels like she’s gained 5.” Ms Tham explained, adding, “Basically, you just keep repeating this cycle and weaning her off your effort until you get to the point where you’re giving her pennies, and suddenly, she’s excited to receive a nickel.”
Ms. Tham was outraged by the man’s confession and urged her female followers to pay close attention to the behavior of their partners. “Never accept less than $100 bills,” she stated at the end of the video. Internet users reacted quickly to the viral video. While some were extremely concerned by it, others couldn’t believe that this dating procedure actually occurred. “Girl math is silly and cute; boy math is straight-up harassment and abuse,” one commenter remarked. “That’s terrifying. “It sounds like narcissistic sociopathic manipulation,” another person said.
“This just proves men would do anything but actually put in some effort into a relationship,” said a third user. “Heartbreaking, this is a “method.” This is manipulation,” added another.
