“Homecoming?”
The question arises as early as a month before the dance, leaving students to get the courage to ask, who they like, out for a date. A majority of time, girls are asked out by boys, and in a society that wishes for a fairy tale ending and a romantic gesture from the one asking for the date, if a guy goes through with asking a girl, she is practically expected to answer positively to the event.
However, reality is different, and sometimes we are disappointed, but we have to remember that the other person has feelings too.
Some people ask a girl out in public, but if the girl does say ‘no’, she is almost immediately the villain. Not only does she deal with disappointing the asker, she also deals with her peers that slowly gathered, fearing that she has made more than one person disappointed.
She may have a serious reason for saying ‘no’, but honestly she doesn’t need a reason. She is allowed to answer the way she wants, yet she is treated as the problem because of that.
This mistreatment is wrong. Yes, the guy was hurt, but in the end the girl was too. She felt guilty, and then she gets more baggage from other students. It isn’t fair to push all the blame onto someone who stated their feelings and did what they were asked to do: answer.
The idea that the girl is the blame needs to change. This is an age where gender roles and gender equality are trying to change, to actually become equal and hopefully develop into a society in which it doesn’t matter if the girl said “yes” or “no”, she gave an answer, and that is okay.
People should try to avoid asking people for homecoming dates in public if it’s someone that it was never discussed with or who already have established a romantic relationship. It leaves too much pressure on a person and even if a majority of students think it’s cute, for others it just becomes a problem.
Eventually, students get tired of seeing people getting asked out in public too. It isn’t as creative of an idea anymore, and it can neglect the person in question’s feelings. At the same time, people who end up rejecting others should at least be polite about the subject.