Great commentary, I liked it.

Really? I always feel really sorry for guys regarding the 'who pays' issue. Its perfectly fine when a guy doesn't offer to pay, but I don't resent it when they do. I always get the feeling they're just trying to be polite and do what they feel is expected of them, rather than gain power over me or play into a patriarchal system. I think the 'whoever asks for the date pays for it' method is fine, but I don't know how anyone could be annoyed by someone who's trying to make a friendly gesture in an awkward situation. Just offer to pay/go dutch/get the next round in, and it's not a problem.

So, what does this have to do with Prom again?

if girl empowerment is me not paying for their mcdonalds number 3 with a hi-c AND them initiating the after date cramming and/or suck-off then by all means empower till the fuckin cows come home.

Reminds me of the time my mother told me she married her first husband because they wanted to sleep together. I asked why they didn't just sleep together and she just laughed and shrugged her shoulders and said "That's how we did it back then".

I just laughed at her.

People were kind of nuts back in the old days.

Please date me.

My husband is incredibly shy. I knew if I didn't make the first move and ask him out, it was simply never going to happen for us.

I think it's sad that this dad assumes that not going out in public (but attending a chaperoned party with friends) means that they won't "see and be seen" and that they are just trying to have sex. I remember dances being extremely lame at school. There were always fights, HUGE fights, and you never really got to spend any time with anyone because it was so fucking loud with the crap-tastic music.

I'd have much preferred a smaller party at a friend's house, myself. If the daughter was truly disappointed, then she should have said something. Girls will be disappointed, sometimes by boys, throughout their lives.

He can't handle a chaperoned change of venue? What's he going to do when some guy dumps her or cheats on her? He should be more concerned with encouraging his daughter to stick up for what she wants, and less trying to get her to do what he wants.

this dad sounds like a tool.
the kids are dressing up to hang out at someone's house with parental supervision? oh, the horror.

my parents had the "six man rule", meaning i could go out with a boy, but only if there were four other people involved. they would have much preferred i go to a gathering like this one than go to a school dance and ride in a car with ONE boy.

I think he's just pissed that he had to pay for a dress and hairstyling and she didn't even go show off at school and when bitching about it to the boys parents didn't work he decided to be "Constructive" and write and "open letter" that veils his anger at being ripped off by the sixteen year old fruit of his loins. Either that or the girl came home in tears because she didn't get the "happily ever after" slow dance she thought she would because she didn't realize the boy wasn't going to shell out 50 bucks to see the gym decorated like a jungle or some similarly silly theme.

Yeah, I'd like to find one of these rare specimens.

Fathers: History's Greatest Cockblockers.

Ah, the "good old days" ... I'd rather go back to the 1750's to 1850's in rural America for my benchmark.

Life was hard (but more equally hard unless one belonged to the upper crust), not a lot of easy money floating around (so the things one did didn't require it), and folks were calmer about sexuality in several respects.

Out this way the Pennsylvania Dutch have a long-standing tradition of "bundling", which, although it's been trailing off this last century, is still practiced in some locales.

My idle speculation is if one were to outline this practice in modern terms, and speak about it rationally in the presence of Bill "Poppa Bear" O'Reilly, or one of the other arbiters of what is socially acceptable behavior their heads would explode.

Not that any of this ties directly into prom night, but, anytime I encounter someone pining for the "good old days" they nearly always turn out to be ignorant of history, even to practices which were common in the period to which they reminisce.

The Upper Crust, eh?

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