Random Politics & Religion #00

Me too. I think it says a lot of things about the parents in this situation being potentially disconnected from their daughters life.

Having a mother basically tell you you're going to start spending your free time seeing boys sounds
A) boring
B) slightly creepy
C) no aspirations for her to do anything productive on the weekend

I don't know about others but my weekends were busy (sports, a job, homework, clubs, etc) in high school and any free time I had I wanted to spend with friends, boyfriend (who I did not meet in the city while seeing boys), or alone.

I'm the first to have talked about how people push on me to marry have children(my father even tried to arrange me marriages when I was little. However, the fact that teens are interested in sexuality(with whichever gender)is not driven by anything other than their hormones.

I don't really like teenagers anymore I'm too old for the craziness.

Wait a minute there is a girl on the internet someone alert the proper authorities.

This is a day that will live in infamy.

Now if there was only a way people could prove their "gender identity" on the internet....

POIDH.

Honestly, I can see both sides of it here.

It is normal for teens that age to begin having sexual thoughts and desires, and we are really no more than a generation removed from even basic public acknowledgement of homosexuality. We still struggle withthe duality of sexuality overall, both glorifying it whilst still treating it as taboo. And the mother certainly intended no offensive or presumption. She was just speaking from her own experiences and expectations she's come to have as a part of "regular" society.

It's just that, well, things change. And younger people are near always the first to embrace it.

Yeah. For all you know I'm Jennifer Lawrence.

Well, maybe it does have to do with the parenting and having different areas of interests to explore.

Anecdotal, but I think there was more interest in finding an identity in the realm of "girly-dom" from ages eleven to thirteen that gradually falls away as you reach a level of comfort/affirmation with yourself. That level of comfort ends up being the cue to return to/rediscover your prior hobbies/interests or expand them. I think it happens at different ages with different girls, maybe in different atmospheres among different peers?

I can't think of too many girls who reached high school that were overly enthusiastic about and emphasized use make-up and constantly preening. I remember there being more "So-and-so is cute!" and passing notes with boys in middle school than anything else. Then again, I graduated in a class just a hair under 150 where most of us all knew each other from extracurriculars from early-childhood on. Maybe we all knew each other enough not to give a flying ***, given the span of time we all interacted with each other made us all overly comfortable with each other (guys and gals alike)?

I think I need to backread to see what all this hub-bub is about.

I had friends once and it was awesome !

150? That's like 162% of my graduating class! (93)

I don't remember high school I was a traditional non conforming conformist !

So you spent it blasted-drunk at woods parties is what you're saying.

Only on the weekends !

When I went to school dating started in middle school, so by 14 all girls already acted like "experts"(not so much boys who looked like babies so everyone dated older guys...sorry boys).

Also I think I mentioned it before but there's this strange ritual where I live which repeates every saturday night:

girls gather in the main square of the town and stand there even for hours doing absolutely nothing, while boys circle around them on scooters, and I mean literally circle aroud them cause they do laps around town on their bikes trying to pick up girls. As the night goes on some girls have been picked up while others unimpressed by guys leave with their friends. Then everyone find themselves again at the clubs where they dance and drink..

Ah, youth...

Scooters you can't pick up a girl on a scooter... I reckon you'd get your man card taken away !

Eh. I never got invited. Being visibly into sci-fi and fantasy (and, later, a band geek) is a quick route to being sort of...not really picked on after a while, but just sort of invisible. Didn't matter really, probably would have ruined me to start drinking heavily that early.

The nice thing was, though, once high school started, we all kind of got along for the most part (except a few specific rivalries; for instance, one of my rivals is doing 10+ years for dealing heroin and I think it's hillarious). By senior year we all had a blast together and I did get invited to that stuff, though I was actually too busy to go most of the time.

...because I was also that weirdo that started hanging out with college kids way too early and, uh. Started drinking with them, instead.

I would guess this return to hobbies/interests really only occurs though once you've abide by the social pressure to find a mate.

Well Americans can't because we're too fat. We can't fit two people on a Vespa.

The people I see at bars etc use backwards baseball caps to try to get women. I'm not sure if it works but they are trying at least !

The amount of bros I see frightens my sensibilities. And I wish someday the bros would build their own bro bar.

I don't know about that, my interests helped me find my mate in the first place.

That said, I can give anecdotal creedence to girls paying more attention to you once you're actually taken. At least in my case. Including the girl I was infatuated with before I met my now-wife.

But I behaved!

...which is damned impressive for a seventeen-year-old boy.

I don't so much look down on backward hats, but for ***'s sake you tools bend the brim and take the sticker off, you look idiotic.

Probably more successful than fedoras.

Which is truly unfortunate.

*** dudebros ruining perfect good headgear.

The odd part is that the bar (heavy craft selection) I frequent doesn't really cater towards bros but they are migrating like giraffes looking for Coors Light in the promise land !

Dudebro wears a beret.

I was referring to girls more than boys in that case, but I could see how one would apply to boys as well.

I was picturing a scenario in which boys who don't date, or don't date often focus their attention on learning science and math to make money (if they don't end up committing suicide or homicide first). Whereas girls would try to learn and pursue other things, only to put that part of their lives on hold once they've 'settled down' with someone.

There might be a case of some girl who has advanced herself through life, made a successful career, etc. and doesn't have a boyfriend, but I'm not aware of such an instance offhand.

I prefer people who take off their hat, whichever it is, when they enter a place.

And eats his: