Sexual Anthropology, Tuesday, Period 2

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Brennan seemed to be in a good mood as she waited for the class today. She'd used part of her long weekend to solve a murder; that always got her cheerful.

"Morning," she greeted. "Today we're talking about courtship rituals -- dating, if you prefer. In traditional terms, 'courtship' refers to the time period between when two people become aware of each other as potential monogamous life partners and when they solemnify their bond, either with an engagement leading to a wedding or through some other step. Typically the word 'courtship' refers to a relationship that is known to the community, as opposed to an illicit affair."

"Courtship traditions differ in different societies. In ancient times, marriage by kidnapping was the norm. A hunter would simply walk up to a group and grab the young woman who most appealed to him, and she was his wife if he got her home and to the marriage bed safely. Later, parents and other elders selected for arranged marriages -- as they still do in certain South Asian cultures -- and the couple were consulted only for a token consent. This began to change in late medieval times, when the concept of romantic love was glorified. However, it was several hundred more years before romantic love was seen as the most important element in a marriage, rather than a happy coincidence. And even now, there's data suggesting arranged marriages to which both participants agreed are as happy or happier than love marriages."

"Modern courtship -- or, again, dating -- takes several forms. A traditional first date is coffee or dinner and a movie, and a normal modern courtship in the U.S. takes roughly a year to five years to get to the point of engagement. Most couples meet through friends, work, social activities such as religious services or community groups, but personal ads and online matchmaking services are growing in both popularity and acceptability. Also, many people, myself included, eschew traditional dating in favor of other arrangements that don't include the expectation of marriage as a goal. And, of course, gay couples also court and date."

"You've been assigned to pairs, and I would like for each pair to participate in some sort of mock courtship exercise to report back on during the next class. This can range from a token gift or conversation during this class period to a full date to any of the tactics described in your handout. I know some of you are otherwise committed, and others of you are paired outside your normal gender preference. If you cannot do the assignment for personal reasons, please see me after class to discuss alternate work, though there is nothing in this that should threaten your boyfriends or girlfriends."

"Also, please don't assume that the person in your pairing who is physically male has to play the male role for the purposes of this assignment, or the same for the physically female. This is a class exercise, not a true courtship; play the roles with which you are most comfortable."

"You have the rest of the class period to find each other and discuss how you wish to fulfill the assignment."

[OOC: OCD on its way is a go!]

Comments

DATES! [5/26]

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Not the fruit kind. The mighty RNG hath spoken, and the pairings for this (for both talking during class today, and something courtship-like later in the week) are:

Anemone - Angela Montenegro
Gwen Cooper - Dor
Eric van der Woodsen - Karla di Glacia
Joan Girardi - Ichigo Kurosaki
Valentine Wiggin - Chuck Bass
Jill McTeague - Tony Foster
Alex Karev - Leda
Sam Winchester - Zack Fair

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex didn't know who Leda was but he didn't really care either. He wasn't planning on exerting too much energy for this.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Hmm, she could certainly have done worse here. "Heya, I'm Leda. You're Alex right?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Last I checked," he said, glancing over at her. "Leda, I'm guessing?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"That's me McGee. So, fake date. Any thoughts?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Joan had no idea who Ichigo was and she had no intention of going on a date or doing anything date-like with him. Her life was complicated enough without fake dating.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

Seriously, dating Ino was complicated enough if you asked him. He stayed back long enough to see who didn't pair up. So that should be... "Joan?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," she said. "I guess you're Ichigo?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

He nodded and then had to ask; "Are these kind of assignments common for this class?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

As far as fake girlfriends go, Chuck could have definitely done worse. He actually liked Valentine and, damn, the girl was hot. He might actually put effort into this.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"And now the benefit of the TA thing becomes apparent," Valentine said, tilting a small grin at Chuck. "I get the pick of the litter."

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[rocksthescarf.livejournal.com]

"Oh, stop. You'll make me blush," Chuck said, doing his best to look shy. It wasn't working too well.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[glacial_queen]

It probably would have been asking too much to be paired with someone she knew, when they were outnumbered two-to-one by people she didn't, but Karla was uneasy about it anyway. Especially the idea of the pretend-date later on this week; depending on the timing, things could get very bad, very quickly.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[notasuiciderisk.livejournal.com]

"Uh, hi," Eric said, blushing a bit. "Karla, right? I don't think we've officially met yet. I'm Eric. I guess we're paired up for this?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[glacial_queen]

"Hi Eric," Karla replied, holding out her hand like she'd been taught in Practical Etiquette. Of all her classes, that lesson had been the most frequently practiced. "I guess we're courting. Kiss kiss."

Then she realized that in this situation, her favorite saying could easily be taken the wrong way. Even more easily that it usually was. "Not really," she amended hastily.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[talks2objects.livejournal.com]

Dor frowned a little. He doubted Irene would appreciate this exercise but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[likethegun]

Sam didn't really know Zack, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing with an assignment like this, as far as he was concerned.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[puppy_fair]

Wait, he wasn't paired up with a girl?

... Zack would cope! There was always the possibility of making a friend out of this assignment, yet. Right? Right!

"Hey! You're Sam, huh? Nice to meet you! I'm Zack."

Yes. Yes, he was indeed Zack.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[likethegun]

"It's nice to meet you," he said. "Is it okay with you that we got partnered up?" That seemed like an important thing to check first.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[wantstodirect]

Tony was going to have a date with a girl. First time for everything.

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[iamnotallgirl]

Had Jill been acquainted with Tony, and had this not been a class assignment, her neurosis about attracting gay guys because of Jack would have been triggered. As it was, she just said, "Hi."

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[wantstodirect]

"Hey," Tony said. "So, I'm Tony, I'm Canadian and I'm gay. Want to have coffee sometime?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[flashesforinfo.livejournal.com]

Oh, dating was something Angela was pretty confident with. She had no problem with this one as a class assignment.

So what if she didn't really know Anemone, that was the whole point of this, right?

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone didn't know Angela, but it wasn't like that had stopped her from going on random date-ish things with people before.

"Hey," she said, approaching the other girl. "So. Got any ideas?"

Re: DATES! [5/26]

[flashesforinfo.livejournal.com]

"I hear food or drinks is a pretty reliable staple," Angela said, and smiled at her. "Hi."

Normally the greetings came before that plans for a date, but who needed to be traditional!