I can honestly see how it could be considered a form of manipulation, just by the sheer pressure it exerts.
The problem here is that, much like a lot of "feministy" points, is that it ascribes intentions when there are none. No guy who is willing to go through the effort of including the whole family honestly thinks he needs to use them, he is doing it because he is certain she will say yes and he wants to make it extra special.
So, like always, its women creating a problem with men trying to do nice things for them. Up to and including having a relationship where there is such a disconnect that he can think something so wrong.
To allow them to completely remove the possibility of agency from women, rendering them basically cattle - and this is how feminists think of women, not me, although feminists, of course, play word games to avoid confronting this - they must then ascribe the most malicious, spiteful motivations possible to men to account for feminism's many failures.
I can honestly see how it could be considered a form of manipulation, just by the sheer pressure it exerts.
The problem here is that, much like a lot of "feministy" points, is that it ascribes intentions when there are none. No guy who is willing to go through the effort of including the whole family honestly thinks he needs to use them, he is doing it because he is certain she will say yes and he wants to make it extra special.
So, like always, its women creating a problem with men trying to do nice things for them. Up to and including having a relationship where there is such a disconnect that he can think something so wrong.
It's part of the trade feminists make.
To allow them to completely remove the possibility of agency from women, rendering them basically cattle - and this is how feminists think of women, not me, although feminists, of course, play word games to avoid confronting this - they must then ascribe the most malicious, spiteful motivations possible to men to account for feminism's many failures.