Changing Socioeconomic Gender-Relations Structures
Beth L. Bailey’s From Front Porch To Back Seat illustrates the changing modes of gender-relations structures over time. We see how dating has evolved from “a gracious ritual, with clearly defined roles for man and woman” to “a system of exchange best understood through economic analogies” (Bailey 28; 35). Involved in the dating process traditionally were men, women and parents before dating moved from the private to the public sphere. However, we see that as calling evolved into dating the conventional roles of men and women and parents altered dramatically in the courtship process. Using Bailey’s From Front Porch to Back Seat and David Blankenhorn’s I Do?, this analysis will review the changing socioeconomic gender-relations structures involved in courtship.
Prior to the early 1900s, dating as it is now known was known as calling. The process of calling, as we shall see in the process of dating, manifested various power structures among men, women and their parents of women, particularly the mother. Courtship in this era occurred in the private sphere, typically the home of the female. Calling was a social interaction under close parental supervision of a male and female. The social interaction had a firm set of guidelines and established codes of conduct. The female in this era had control of the courtship process because the social domain was controlled by females. Women controlled the days they would be accessible to callers. Gentlemen callers would present themselves with a card, and then be welcomed in or rejected by the family maid. The actual call was comprised of a variety of activities, but there were complicated and elaborate rules that were designed to structure the entire call “A myriad of rules governed everything: the proper amount of time between invitation and visit; whether or not refreshments should be served; chaperonage; appropri...