The History Of Dating

History Of Dating
Have you ever wondered what Dating was before your time?
I found a website with interesting info:
Courtship from Colonial Times to 1830
During Colonial times, marriage was clearly encouraged.
Singleness was seen as a sign of laziness.
The ability to support a wife and family was very important.
It was seen as the single most important basis for the timing
of marriage.
Love was something that developed after the marriage,
not before, as a natural outgrowth of the commitment to
marriage.
Partners would meet in church, the neighborhood and at home.
They were not strangers, but grew up together in unchaperoned
interaction.
Premarital pregnancy was seen as a sign of weakness.
Courtship from 1830-1880
During the 19th Century, the idea of the separate worlds
for men and women began.
A woman's nature was virtuous and angelic- she was
the moral superior to the man.
This separation also limited the ability of adolescent boys
and girls to get to know one another.
At puberty, girls entered the female world and boys in the
male world.
Permission to marry was sought many times after the
engagement.
Courtship became more formalized, romantic love began
to flourish and was viewed as the only acceptable basis
for marriage.
Romantic love with elements of passion, but also mutuality,
communion, sympathy, and openness became important
to women.
It gave them an assurance of long-term commitment.
Courtship from 1880-1920
While the idea of separate spheres continued, the view of
men in this era degenerated.
Men were now seen as depraved and their immorality became
a major social problem.
Men had to learn to control their animal passions- this could
only be accomplished through a woman's modesty.
The lives of young men and women rarely mixed.
When they were together, then they were required to keep
their distance from each other.
Chaperones became a fixture, especially for the upper classes.
The young man and woman had to be formally introduced
before speaking to each other.
Most courting activities were done in the girl's home.
There was a system of etiquette that showed whether the
boy was welcome to continue the courtship.
After engagement, the couple could spend more time alone,
however, chastity was still valued.
Sexual expression in courtship began to increase at this time.
However, a virtuous woman still only had sex with the man
she was about to marry.
Courtship from 1920-1945
By 1920, Dating became informal, unchaperoned and
male- female interaction with no specific commitment.
The rules were not established by the community, but by a
peer group.
Some have also seen this rise as coming from the freedom of
women to own cars, and emergence of motion pictures, all of
which decreased the community control on the young couple.
The most popular activities on dates during this time were
dancing and movies.
Dancing allowed a young man and woman the excitement
of physical closeness without the dangers of sex.
Another major influence on dating was the automobile
which allowed the couple a great deal of privacy and intimacy.
As such, the practice of petting spread.
It was noted that petting parties became common in the high
schools of the 1920's.
Dating became a vehicle for getting to know someone before
settling into an exclusive pairing.
Men were presumed to want sex, women were expected
to control this and say no.
The 1920s represented a period of sexual and social revolution
unmatched till the 1960's. Premarital intercourse was on the
rise.
This was especially so with the additional pressure dating
and money bore on the woman.
The man spent money and expected something in return.
Even so, most women who engaged in premarital sex did so
only with the man they were going to marry.
Virginity, while still desirable in a bride, was no longer a
requirement.
Courtship from 1945-1960
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the age of first marriage
dropped drastically and the number of marriages increased
dramatically. By 1950, the age was at its lowest point in
history, 22 for men and 20 for women.
Dating began earlier, in the junior high schools.
Normally, these younger teens would meet in groups, then
pair off with each other.
More earnest dating would occur in high school,
and going steady became popular.
Going steady brought new rituals to the scene, the exchange
of tokens …class rings, pins, telephone calls and dates
each week, and greater sexual intimacy.
Most youth would go steady numerous times in high school,
each entailing strong affection and love for the partner.
The good girl engaged in every form of petting except
intercourse, at least that's all she admitted to doing.
A woman was still likely to engage in intercourse only with
the man she was to marry.
Love was still the primary basis for marriage.
Marriage was seen as what produced happiness and
fulfillment.
In courtship this meant that women had to
demonstrate their frailties and reinforced a man's right
to be dominate and made female submissiveness a
requirement in a date.
The vision of a perfect relationship was avoidance of
conflict and lots of togetherness.
Courtship from 1960-Present
All was not well in the 1950's.

Discontent with the restricted role of wife and mother

led many young women to question
the role of marriage.
Many postponed marriage to explore college and career.
Marriage and childbirth were seen as oppression and
exploitation of women.
This feminist reexamination of marriage and gender had a
pronounced effect on courtship and dating.
Significant increases were seen in the incident of sexual
behavior.
By 1980, 80 percent of male and 65 percent of female college
freshman indicated sexual experience.
Some of the dating patterns of the 1950s continued in the
1970s and 1980s, but with different twists.
Dating and going out were still central, but the frequency
decreased and the ages increased.
Even though the age of initial dating increased from
13 to 14 for girls, the age of their first steady decreased
from 17 to 16.
It has been noted that dating changed in
three major ways- greater opportunity for informal
opposite-sex interaction, dating became less formal,
and there was no set progression of stages from first
meeting to marriage.
This means it became more acceptable for women to initiate
a dating relationship and to be responsible for paying at
least a portion of the cost.
Something else came into being cohabitation.
Recent studies show that 40-50 percent of all young people
will live together at some point before age 30.
It is interesting to note that a seemingly contradictory trend
is occurring, more older youth are staying home with their
parents.
In the last decade there have been inklings of a return
to a more conservative system of courtship.
Messages have been sent in popular literature for women
of finding and keeping a man and that women could have
education or marriage, but not both.
AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases have caused
a renewed interest in monogamous sexual relationships.

link:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/5894/datinghistory.html