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Show 24 can still remember when "keeping company" A large young lady was quite literally true. company of parents and other chaperones were usually around. "Dating" entered the picture in the 1920's. Young couples were allowed to make a date and go some where alone, without an army of parents, relatives, or The new freedom had many roots--big city friends. was living making close surveillance of the young more difficult; the automobile was here to stay, and so were the movies where the adolescent could learn the art of courting from the silver screen; co-education was the thing, and people were staying in school longer; the feminists were urging girls to be more independent, and as industrialism grew, women joined men in the factories and the offices. Grandpa with his Then came the '30's and '40's of "Stardust" and big bands and the proms where a girl measured her sex appeal In by the number of times the boys' stag line "cut in." those days to Il go steady" meant the girl or the bOY was rather an oddball and perhaps not too of the oppos i te sex. The idea in the to date many boys and girls and, says Sherwin (1967), the rational means of selecting protected most young people Robert early marriages, although and greater petting. attractive f 30' sand to most f 40 '_S was family specialist pattern provided a fairly mate. "Playing the field" from great intimacies and there was increased flirtation a many parents, "going late '40's. Their a one at and was time or person dating just girl boy Flirtation became a lost a over long period of time. art, cutting in at dances all but disappeared, and With all this ritual breakups could be fairly stormy. a in was rise there heavy petting or pairing off, but intercourse" the and "everything "making out," sexual pattern began, according to Kinsey (1948) in his Premarital famous study conducted during this area. pregnancies rose slightly and earlier marriages increased But to steady" the became surprise the "in and of in the dismay thing" sharply. experts believe this new pattern of sexual courtship which has continued into the '60's places a "Choosing a great emotional strain on young people. Most is a serious matter for the person and "breaking result in physical or mental bread9wns especially the girl, who must often act as sex policeman with neither parent nor community to do it for her steady" off" .... can (Education U.S.A. Special Report, 1969, pp. 1-2). - |
