American Pie: The Mating Game
...As a schoolboy who never saw any of my female counterparts in anything other than a knee-length gym slip, white blouse and tie, and black, lace-up shoes, it’s more than a little disconcerting to see a heavily made up 17 year old in 4 inch heels, a backless dress and plunging neckline, with a skirt split to her upper thigh...
John Merchant tells if an American ritual, the junior and senior high school prom. He suggests the contemporary prom is like a modern-day version of the maypole dancing that took place at this time of year on the village greens of merrie olde England and some European countries. "Young couples would twirl and rotate until they were dizzy, helped along by copious amounts of ale and mead. The dance would end with the young men carrying the girls off to a bower in the forest for some hey nonny nonny, thus ensuring a new crop of kinder the following spring.''
For more of John's perceptive accounts of life in the USA please click on American Pie in the menu on this page.
In all parts of the USA, late April through May is “prom time,” a time when Junior and Senior high schools have their big social event of the year. The format is pretty much the same everywhere, with slight variations. A dance is held in the school gymnasium with either a live band or a DJ. The girls and young women primp and preen, and wear gowns purchased at the local department store or boutique, or dresses made for them by loving mothers and older sisters.
The young males wear a suit and tie for probably the first and sometimes last time in many of their lives; and some schools even require a tuxedo and black tie. In addition to escorting their dates for the evening, the escorts’ obligations range from simply providing a corsage, to entertaining the girls to dinner before the dance. In the weeks before the prom, schools buzz like beehives with speculation about who will date whom for the big night.
Transportation to and from the dance and the restaurant used to be provided by parents, or even the students themselves, but increasingly, groups of six or eight students are sharing a limousine. This might seem to be excessive, but proms have been plagued by incidents related to illegal drinking and drug use, so many parents who don’t want to drive see this as a safer solution than having their children drive themselves.
Gradually, over the years, the ritual of the prom has become more elaborate. In the fifties and sixties the pre-prom dining might have consisted of a milk shake and a burger. Now it’s almost impossible for an adult to get a reservation at even the best restaurants in town on prom night. Dresses that were more often than not home-made, standard party garb, now would not look out of place on a fashion runway.
As a schoolboy who never saw any of my female counterparts in anything other than a knee-length gym slip, white blouse and tie, and black, lace-up shoes, it’s more than a little disconcerting to see a heavily made up 17 year old in 4 inch heels, a backless dress and plunging neckline, with a skirt split to her upper thigh.
Not having experienced a prom or anything like it myself during my English schooldays, the phenomenon comes across quite startlingly as a less than subtle mating ritual. Even without the enhancement of drugs or alcohol, the already raging hormones of the promenaders receive more stimulation in one evening than many teenagers can deal with.
The contemporary prom is like a modern-day version of the maypole dancing that took place at this time of year on the village greens of merrie olde England and some European countries. Young couples would twirl and rotate until they were dizzy, helped along by copious amounts of ale and mead. The dance would end with the young men carrying the girls off to a bower in the forest for some hey nonny nonny, thus ensuring a new crop of kinder the following spring.
Such rituals were probably necessary back then to overcome the stolid reticence of the country boys, and as compensation for the high birth mortality rate, but it hardly seems necessary today. The larger task is to keep the sexes apart until they are mature enough to make less impulsive decisions about their future.
Teenage pregnancy is endemic in many countries, and of the developed nations, only Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden have teen birth rates of fewer than 7 per 1,000 pregnancies, according to the UNICEF Innocenti Research Center.
According to the same report, the United States teenage birth rate of 52.1 per 1000 pregnancies is the highest in the developed world, and about four times the European Union average. I doubt that anyone has tried to find a correlation between a night at the prom and teenage pregnancy, but I’d be willing to bet there is one.
According to the Gale Group’s Encyclopedia of Public Health, “In the United States, 900,000 adolescents (fifteen to nineteen-year-olds) became pregnant in 1996. Teen pregnancy is one serious consequence of early initiation of sexual activity. Other serious consequences include an increased likelihood of late or no prenatal care, unattended births, reduced educational attainment, and decreased employment opportunities. Infants of teenage mothers are at greater risk of low birth weight and increased infant mortality.”
I’m no kill joy, but dare I suggest it might be time to rethink the prom ritual? I’m sure that no school would want to be the first to find an alternative, less sexually stimulating and enabling event, but if just one had the courage perhaps others would be more willing to follow. I’m sure a lot of thinking parents, who now lie awake hoping their daughter’s future won’t be compromised, would endorse the decision.
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