SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Nearly a third of women say they’ve dated men only for the free food and the free food alone.
That’s according to a study published in the Society for Personality and Social Psychology journal.
Researchers at Azusa Pacific University and UC Merced conducted two studies, which surveyed a combined 1,147 women who were asked if they’ve ever engaged a “foodie call.”
If you didn’t know, it’s a play of the more familiar term “booty call,” but this time around “foodie call” describes a person who goes on a date with the sole purpose of getting a free meal.
The women surveyed answered a variety of questions to measure personality traits, beliefs about gender roles, and their own foodie call history.
A quarter to a third of heterosexual women have gone on a date with a guy they weren’t interested in all for a free meal, according to the study.
The researchers noted that women who felt dating for free food was socially acceptable were more likely to exhibit the “dark triad” of personality traits – psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism.
In the second study, researchers asked 357 heterosexual women about foodie calls and personality traits but did not mention gender roles. In this study, 33% of women had been on a foodie call, versus 67% who had not.
The researchers had said that dining out can be expensive, and women are still underrepresented and underpaid in the workforce, thus resulting in foodie calls.
“Several dark traits have been linked to deceptive and exploitative behavior in romantic relationships, such as one-night stands, faking an orgasm, or sending unsolicited sexual pictures,” one of the researchers, Brian Collisson, said.