Old Fashioned or Disney Brained?

 

 

We all know the old stereotypes about how a man is supposed to treat a woman. Tip you hat to her, pick her up at seven, don't have her out past 10, walk her to her car, open the door for her, etc.  

I am really curious if that is really being old fashioned, or if we are taught that is what is old fashioned and expected by Disney and the rest of media. Frankly, I don't know. We see lots in the media about how men are supposed to treat women. The 1950's had a massive media campaign for men to be over the top chivalrous, and by the 1960's, there was a rebellion against that. We are still suffering from the effects of the sexual revolution, the feminist movement, and the wussification of men in media. 

There has to be a happy medium. Expecting a guy to be over the top chivalrous with no reciprocation makes dating a pain for both. Is it any wonder that dating is becoming a lost art?

Really, I think "Old Fashioned" refers to a rather narrow time in our history. In the 1800's, in genealogy research, I have noticed that men and women coupled up much sooner, and often brothers married sisters from another family. It is like it was more out of necessity than "romance" People remarried, but 90% of the time, that was because of early death, not divorce.  By the time the 1950's rolled around, proper etiquette was in full swing. The full courtship routine and "traditional" dates were widespread. That phased out in the 1970s with the sexual revolution and feminism. Now, with cell phones, dating apps and hookup culture, dating is dead. Relationships are dying.

Necessity is the mother of invention, so they say. Maybe the traditional marriage relationship is dying because it is no longer necessary. I do not think we will go back to the long term marriage of the 1800's or the etiquette enamored dating style of the 1950s. Time marches on. People do not seem happy right now with the casual hookup culture, more and more single mothers are appearing, and men are becoming more reluctant to get into any serious relationship. One thing we do see, is the need for kids to be raised by a mother and father continues to increase. Etiquette in a casual hookup culture does not make sense. 

Perhaps in the future, the nuclear family will become more of the exception, rather than the expectation. Kids may become more transient, where being shuffled off back and forth between single parents will become the expectation. With that, would come more and more government intervention.