I narrowed down my topic ideas for my paradigm shift paper/TED-Talk to dating simply because it is something that as a female college student I have seen truly shift over the years.
My first source is one by “Mic” on how each first date has looked over the course of the past century. In the early 1900s, women were often set up in an arranged marriage by their parents. They would then be put in a room with their suitor and the man and woman would be chaperoned as they spoke until a proposal was in agreement between the two. This source analyzes how it goes from this to modern day hook-up culture. Over the course of time it seems to go from no romance (more of an economical prophecy), to romance shown with flowers and women being housewives, to modern day hookups for any sexual orientation via an app or website.
https://www.history.com/news/1949-dating-etiquette-school-health-film
My second source is from “History” on an article on the surroundings of 1940s and 50s dating culture. In Fact by the 1950s, men and women were averaging at 23 and 20 as the average age of marriage. When dating in this time period, men were expected to pick up the girl, meet her parents, and then take her out. This is when “going steady” first emerged in which female teens only went on dates with one man at a time rather than go on multiple dates with different suitors as their parents had in years past.
https://scholars.org/brief/rise-hookup-sexual-culture-american-college-campuses
My third source is on how colleges have shaped how dating culture has evolved. In the 1920s, more men and women were going to unsupervised universities for the first time. Then in 1978 the movie “Animal House” portrayed the normalcy or partying, premarital sex and other once “sins” as a normal part of college life. But has this grown toxic? Many students are saying that non exclusive relationships, hookups, and so forth are more popular than the usual two person relationship.
With these sources and maybe a couple others that I find along the way, I’m hoping to successfully portray how dating culture has evolved over the decades. Its changed for the good as it is more progressive for women, same sex couples, and for the most part have become an equal 50/50 relationship. However, I also want to bring in how hookup culture has made the dating scene quite toxic in which chivalry is slowly dwindling. Also, I want to bring in the biggest difference which is that people are starting to date to simply be in a relationship whereas in the past people dated to marry (and did so at a very young age and in a short period of time).
I am really excited to see where this paper will take you. Like you said, being a female college student right now, it is clear to see how much the idea of a relationship has changed in the last 100 years. I heard the stories of how my parents met and what their few weeks of dating were like and I just sit here thinking, never in a million years would something like that happen in today’s society. There is no more going on dates, just two people, then meeting the parents and then going from there. Now, we live in this hook-up culture, where neither the man or woman involved is really treated right. We are so used to just seeing hook-ups and no one really falling in love. It is truthfully really sad. I am excited to see where you can find that pivotal point in a certain decade where there started to be a shift in the idea of a relationship.
This is an interesting topic that I frankly never would’ve thought of analyzing, but you are completely right: there has been a huge shift in dating culture. Your sources look great and another one you could maybe find is one of those videos on Youtube that shows changes in society over the last 100 years, I’m not sure if there’s one for dating, but you could always take a look.
This is a super interesting topic! You should find stats from dating apps like how age has an effect, or how many people actually end up in a long term relationship. I also think it would be interesting to talk about how dating and marriage have now become a source of entertainment… like that one Netflix show Love is Blind.