Strictly speaking, we can define courting as the period between engagement and marriage. It is supposed to entail a period of time when a couple gets to know each other really well and decides, in fact, if they will actually live together, forever or not. Courting is to be a very public affair and is supposed to meet with the approval of the parents in every case.
Courting is a rather old-fashioned word and rarely used these days, except of course if you are of a generation where it was a fully expected procedure. Remember, the the word “courting” arose during times when an intimate affair of any kind was definitely taboo before marriage and as such, to define courting would be to emphasize the formal nature of the relationship.
Only a few generations have elapsed from the time we were able to define courting very strictly. Today, it seems very quaint, but nevertheless there is still an average of two years between a time when a man and woman get engaged and when they actually marry.
There are some societies where traditions remain very strong. They define courting in a strictly regimented fashion and there are repercussions to wait those who do not follow the process. There are very strict rules in these societies.
When the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s changed everything, we could no longer define courting quite so clearly. After this time, old-fashioned dating activities started to wane and we turned our attention to a great deal more choice and a feeling that today, “anything goes.”
Some creative college students of today seem to be trying to resurrect a trend toward traditional dating, as they want to define courting once again as a very structured procedure. It’s true to say that more girls than guys are looking at this and it actually remains to be seen whether it will ever catch on, or not.
If the Internet is starting to rule our lives, we would not be able to define courting very much longer. Internet speed dating is undergoing a significant rise in popularity, especially as we become more busy and have less time to devote to planning social activities. Traditionalists will no doubt be unhappy with this news.
Just look at the rise of agencies and commercial dating services in our modern society. You certainly can’t define courting to include services such as these. It appears that we are all becoming just spokes in some giant wheel?
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