Treating (dating)
In the social context of dating, treating is the practice of providing companionship and intimate activity in exchange for entertainment outings, gifts, and other items of monetary value. The activity was prevalent in the large urban areas of the United States from the 1890s to the 1940s and was most commonly engaged in by young working-class women. As treating became more widespread, the activity acquired the label "charity," and the young women who engaged in the more risqué aspects of the practice were often called charity girls. Although some reformers in the early 20th century equated treating with prostitution, the young women who engaged in the activity strongly rejected this view and drew sharp distinctions between the two. As social dating between the sexes became more standard in the 1920s, treating began to blend with the system of dating and by the 1940s the specific language of treating had largely disappeared. Etymology and usage The word "treating" began as a political term with the practice of "providing" understood as a means to influence people and gain benefits. In modern usage, it is generally defined as the act of providing food, drink, and entertainment to an individual or a group free of charge. The word's use as a verb in a social context is believed to have originated in the male sphere of saloons when individuals would treat each other to another round of drinks. Around the turn of the nineteenth century, young working-class women who were seeking language for their interactions and bartering with young men adopted the word. Similar to the activity in the saloon, the practice of "to treat" evolved to mean the providing of something by a man to a woman, the women being the recipient of the "treat." Origin Treating came about with the birth of leisure time in the late nineteenth century. It emerged about the same time cheap amusements in cities gave working-class men and women opportunities to enjoy new aspects of city life away from cramped tenements and noisy, oppressive workplaces. For young women, the issue was how to afford the new entertainments, and one solution which materialized was treating. In the late 19th century, inexpensive entertainment venues, such as public dance halls, amusement parks, and nickelodeon movie theaters, emerged and flourished in large American cities. At the same time, changing societal mores allowed more young women who previously had to be escorted in public more freedom to go out on their own or in same-sex groups. Although the cheap amusements were a major draw, going out for young working-class women still proved difficult due to their low wages, a portion of which was more often than not handed over to support the family. This lack-of-money issue was dealt with in various ways: some women refrained from going out altogether or limited going out to special occasions, while others depended on friends or their male counterparts to finance their entertainment pleasures. Inevitably, as more young women regularly went out, some found it necessary