You hear today: “Whatever happened to men that ….”
Mostly, this is just a fairytale that didn’t exist.
For example, “chivalry.” Maybe there was something like it in the 1950s, but not in the 1990s. In the 1990s, “equality” was common. We didn’t go on dates. We went out to a restaurant together, and of course you paid for your own food, just as if you went with a guy friend. We did all kinds of things together. I went with girls to go skiing, or maybe make a dinner, or go to an antique store.
For the most part, people didn’t go on “dates” in the 1990s, at all. You did things together. Maybe, had a child together. But, you didn’t go on a “date.”
For example, here’s Kate Beckinsale, Gen-X (born 1973), one of Hollywood’s more-desirable actresses in her prime, married twice and with a child, who says that she never went on a date, although she was photographed many times in public with men.
I can tell you that these were not dates. I lived with my girlfriend for several years before we got married, but I can’t remember ever going on a “date” with her.
The other thing that rarely happened was “meeting in the wild.” Strangers generally did not talk with each other. If they did, it was most likely at a bar or some setting where it was expected that you would talk to strangers. Not a grocery store, or Home Depot. Or a bus. Actually, I did meet a number of people in the wild, but it was not “something that you do.” It just happened, without thinking about it.
Mostly, you met people from friends, relations, school, work or some other social setting where you would see people regularly. So, you already “knew” them. It was not a blind date.
Do you see “in Home Depot” here? That didn’t happen.
Cornerstone 