They forfeited some traditional date protocol and made the affair very simple for the guys: Girls invited them and even paid for dinner. In a Rosedale Street apartment before the formal, the sorority sisters, with blow-dried hair and smoky eyes, decked out in black dresses, chat with boys, some wearing sports coats, others in shorts.
The girls treated their invited dates to champagne and a pasta feast from the Italian restaurant, Buca di Beppo. The night was promising. Unfortunately, the majority of the couples never made it to the party. Jean Spangler, 77, lived in a suburb of Cleveland, so her fiance hitchhiked miles to take Spangler to dinner and out dancing every Saturday night. During the week, they wrote letters to each other every day. Where has the romance gone? According to a report from the Institute for American Values in , only 50 percent of female college seniors have been on at least six dinner dates during their four years at school.
Yet 95 percent of Americans age have had premarital sex, causing an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Nancy Merrill, co-medical director and part time physician at the SMU Health Center, said 70 percent of college students contract human papillomavirus, which is the most diagnosed STD on campus. The high-risk strand of HPV can cause cervical cancer and the low risk strand causes genital warts in males and females.
Outer-course, involving oral sex and rubbing, along with intercourse, can spread both viruses despite the use of condoms, Merrill said.
Growing up, Spangler, who now lives in Dallas, did not know anyone who had sex before marriage. She and her friends could only date people their families knew and had a 12 a. More often, people meet up at bars in herds and might have sex later, once the bars close.
