Changing Teen Relationships Over Time

7 Pages 1691 Words

We live in a world today where everything is faster, more intense, more demanding, and more intimate. These items have combined to put tremendous pressure on relationships today and in some cases create serious problems. The relationships today are significantly more complicated and potentially more stressful than those of fifty years ago. In order to better understand the differences, we must compare the teenage relationships from the 1950s and today, to determine the cases.
Terminology over the decades has changed in phrasing, as well as meaning. In the 1950s, “necking” was defined as “caresses above the neck,” while in today’s society, it is referred to as “making out.” Both terms refer to partners kissing and touching above the neck. More serious terms in the fifties were “petting” and “heavy petting” which were described as “caresses below the neck,” often closer to intercourse. Today, both kinds of “caresses” are referred to as “hooking up” (Sombat). “Hooking up” can always mean casual dating, kissing, or engaging in sexual activity with other people.
Titles and places have also changed since the 1950s. For example, serious dating used to be referred as “going steady,” whereas in today’s terms it is referred to as “going out.” Both terms involve the titles of boyfriend and girlfriend but “going steady” usually meant the couple was on the path to marriage, whereas “going out” just means a serious relationship (Sombat). Although the terminology has changed, the meanings are often similar. Some sexual phrases today are not taken as seriously as they were in fifties, but that is how teenage relationships have evolved.
Teen relationships are not taken as seriously as they were in the 1950s. When teenagers were dating in the 1950s, it was never acceptable for them to be alone in the house or in a bedroom. Today, it is an almost everyday occurrence that teenage...