First things first, should you, if you're a girl, ask a guy to prom? Short answer: absolutely. Long answer: Things aren't what they used to be, and no one will look at you funny for asking--by now, you know that as well as we do, so if you have any doubts, forget about them. And if you want some "sociometric" proof (yeah, I know, it sounds heavy), then consider the Morp phenomenon.

What is this prom/morp thing? Morp is "prom" backwards. What it does, is it reverses the traditional roles between guys and girls, so that instead of him asking, she asks, and then she pays and she handles the morp night arrangements, etc. Morp is a recent idea in our schools (with a couple of exceptions), and not too many places have them, at least not yet. My question is,

Should you, if you're a girl, ask a guy to prom? Short answer: absolutely. Long answer: Things aren't what they used to be, and no one will look at you funny for asking--by now, you know that as well as we do, so if you have any doubts, forget about them.

why should Morp appear in the first place, why not just leave it at Prom? My answer--the sociometric answer--is that Morp has appeared because the traditional way of doing things is breaking up and new traditions are appearing to take their place. What does this mean for you, particularly if you want to ask a guy to regular prom? It means that you would be perfectly okay in doing so because the traditions that once said "no" to that, either have changed or are in the middle of changing. Proof of this change is the spontaneous appearance of Morp. The way of finding this proof is by counting the frequency of Morps today versus ten or twenty years ago and dividing it by the number of regular proms today versus ten or twenty years ago--in other words, sociometry. Does this sound good (even if a little over the top)? I think so! To but it another way, if you think people will look at you funny because you ask him to prom, then forget about it; people won't look at you funny because it's becoming really and truly normal for the girl to ask (the sociometric stuff is just to make it sound highbrow and scientific).

Another thing about what's becoming normal--the question of girls paying. As I've said here and there in this Perfect Prom section, it used to be that the guy paid for prom night itself, including tickets, dinner, transportation, and everything else. Well, just like the thing about asking him, who pays has really changed too, because today couples tend to split the cost. Sure there's still lots of times when the guy pays everything, and even insists on it--and if you have a guy like that, fantastic!--but it won't always be the case, and it won't be wrong for you to help out with the cost.

In case you're wondering why this splitting-the-cost pattern has appeared--especially since it's only about ten or fifteen years old--the answer is simple. Twenty years ago, the total cost of the night, including getting your dress and everything else, was less than half what it is today. It was affordable then for a guy to pay everything, even if he only had a part-time job. Today, no way. Unless the dude has plenty of money, it won't happen.

Now, if you've already read our section on budget and paying for the night, you know that we believe that no matter how much the cost has gone up, the guy should still pay for the night, for tickets, transportation, and everything else. Our reasoning is that, even if the cost of the night has gone up radically in the last twenty years, the girl's personal expenses for the dress and accessories have gone up just as radically. The problem is that we never take this into account when planning our prom costs, so although the guy might worry about how much he has to pay, and the girl might worry along with him, neither of them might remember that the girl also has to pay so much just to get ready.

Next >>