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Sam Choi Moffett Ap Eng 11/2 5/19/11 Courtship Essay

As time has progressed, the role of lengthy courtship in relationships has decreased dramatically. Instead, the attitude toward relationships has become densensitized, allowing what was considered liberal in the past to become even more so. The courting of the past has lost much of its romantic flair and become much more informal in today's fast-paced, modern society. In the earlier mid 20th century, the dating scene was already seen as very liberal for the time, just as it is seen right now in the modern world. Similarly, couples took part in "promiscuous dancing" and started dating earlier than normal--traits common to today. As they do today, couples had more privacy and got more intimate due to the technological advancement of cars and began to have sex at earlier ages because of the development and widespread use of contraception. As in both eras, dating found more freedom and less formal commitment than in the past since peers began to institute rules about relationships instead of the church and community. The similarities between the style's of courtship and dating of the two different time periods were only different in the extremities of the situations. Nowadays couples are having sex at younger ages and there is even more freedom and leeway in the dating world than ever before in the 21st century. Such freedom has been derived from the frequent use and desensitizing of sex of the media. The television and movies depict courtship quite accurately in that most characters are involved in now common scandalous affairs or impulsive flings. The high divorce rates reflect a change in time where separation has now not only become acceptable when it once wasn't, but also ordinary. While a boy and girl could only spend together usually through dates especially set aside, today's co-ed schools and colleges as well as Facebook and text-messaging have decreased the need to set up dates substantially. There seems to be no point in setting aside a day to be alone when a couple sees each other almost every day of the week and texts outside of class as well. Although idealistically valued, romance and

2 lengthy courtship rituals have been pretty much discarded from today's relationships. While success has still always been an important basis for marriage, due to an increase in wealth over the years, economic dependence has pretty much ceased to be the leading reason for matrimony. The equality of women in jobs and education has lead them to no longer aspire to marry the richest man but the ideal man that they can emotionally connect with. Now, of course couple still go out on dates and marry. In the past, commitment was treasured and the single man or woman pitied. Courtship was taken seriously and was romanticized. Nowadays, the fast paced world, has dramatically changed society's view on dating. Once cherished, courting has now become a thing of the past, and may even become a relic in the future.

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