Paying for Gender (In)equality: The Individualization of Commodified Dating Rituals in South Korea

In contemporary South Korea, the expectation that men should pay all, or the vast majority, of the costs of dating and courtship is shifting. Young women are increasingly achieving parity in educational achievement and employment with men, causing singles to see a more equal and individualized division of dating expenses align with their aspirations for an ingly equitable division belies the less obvious costs of dating, such as investments in cultivating body capital for women and men's often greater graphic fieldwork, interviews, and survey data to examine emergent ideologies and practices for sharing the costs of dating in South Korea and the implications for gender equality more broadly. We interpret these shifting practices and ideologies as part of a process of individualization in which the hegemony of certain patriarchal gender norms is wholly or partially rejected and new norms are negotiated by couples themselves. Ultimately, der equality in their romantic relationships despite the individualization of relationship norms. By further contextualizing decisions about the division of dating costs, we draw attention to the need for broader awareness of inequalities that continue to trouble the romantic pursuits of Seoul's youth. Our findings challenge more positive theorizations of the individualization of intimacy (e.g., Giddens 1992) and highlight how this process can just as easily reinforce, rather than challenge, existing patriarchal gender norms.