Men are manipulating women with sick new ‘penny dating’ trend

A woman has detailed a manipulative tactic men are using in the early stages of dating in order to get away with doing less in a relationship.

A new dating trend has emerged dubbed “the penny dating method” — a “manipulative” tactic men have adopted to win over women.

The technique, which has been widely criticised online, involves treating an investment in a relationship like deposits in a piggy bank.

Men adopting the method will put in a 100 per cent investment at the beginning of a romance, before deliberately dropping the level of effort until his female partner feels lucky to get the bare minimum, according to Indy100.

The unorthodox dating method has just garnered huge attention after a woman named Erika Tham explained the tactic in detail in a TikTok video that has gained 7.6 million views.

Men are using a manipulative new tactic called ‘penny dating’ to get away with doing less in a relationship. Picture: TikTok/@erikatham

Ms Tham said she was talking to a male friend about “love bombing” — the act of inundating a new partner with constant and extravagant displays of affection early in a relationship.

The friend in turn revealed men have their own twist on this dating trend, dubbed “the penny method”, The New York Post reports.

The pal explained that men imagine a woman is like “a piggy bank” and they adjust their investments accordingly.

“To get her interested obviously at first you have to be feeding her hundred dollar bills,” Tham said, recalling in detail what her male friend told her.

“Now here’s where it gets sick.”

The friend went on to explain the adjustments of attention over time. A man would deliberately decrease the amount of attention given to the girl, before inflating it again ever so slightly to appease her.

However, over time, the investments become smaller as the woman’s sense of self-worth is eroded.

Women are outraged after the trend was exposed by a woman named Erika Tham. Picture: TikTok/@erikatham

So, after putting in a 100 per cent investment at the beginning of a relationship and grabbing her attention, a man decreases his investment to 90 per cent.

“The next thing you do is bring it back up to 95,” Tham said.

“Instead of feeling like they’ve lost 5, suddenly she feels like she’s gained 5.”

“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,” Tham explained.

The TikTokker was left horrified by the man’s confession and implored her female followers to pay close attention to their partner’s behaviour.

“Never be accepting anything less than $100 bills,” Tham declared.

Tham’s followers were extremely disturbed by the video, leaving an array of outraged messages.

“Penny method is CRAZY,” one railed.

“Sociopath math,” another chimed in.

“You can’t convince me this isn’t psychological torture,” a third blasted.

“That’s literally breadcrumbing,” another said, referring to the “breadcrumbing” dating trend in which romantic partners settle for mere breadcrumbs of affection.

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and has been reproduced here with permission