Game for Change

http://www.philome.la/koda330/the-dating-game/play

So it might seem kind of silly to choose dating (for girls in Provo) as a social problem to focus on, but it happens to be one of my biggest dilemmas, so it's important to me.  Dating is something that is stressed by our mission presidents, by our church leaders, by BYU, by your parents, by empty weekends.  It's something that all BYU students feel pressure from, but it's a bit different for women than men.

Traditionally, the guy does the asking out.  That's just how it is.  According to many Daily Universe articles, girls might not do the asking out, but they can show interest and to things to get asked out.  But ultimately, the guy still does the asking.  The guy gets to be as judgmental and choosy as they want (because they ask the girl out) and once the girl gets asked out, she does have the choice of accepting or declining.  But not really.  She can say no, but usually that doesn't happen.  Usually she goes on dates with guys she doesn't really want to go out with.  She can say yes or no, but she still doesn't get to pick with whom she actually goes on the date.

So what if the girl asks the guy out?  Well, this is definitely not the norm, but possible.  There is some risk involved because this goes against the social norm, and the guy might assume that you're madly in love with him, so you couldn't wait anymore and just asked him out yourself.  Or, he could be totally cool with it.  The thing is, we live in a culture where the guy asks the girl out, and that's how your dating life will mostly be, even if you ask guys out.  If you do all the asking, that might be weird.

This might be mostly from personal experience, but this is a personal thing.  Dating seems like this trap where girls don't go on dates, or they go on dates with guys they aren't interested in.  I wanted to show this through the choose your own adventure format because you might be "choosing" your adventure, but you're really not.  And when you do, it usually ends with you having a dateless life.  The choices you make as a girl, really come down to saying yes or no, or asking a guy out yourself.  It really doesn't have much choice.

I think this is a really cool idea to use in the classroom. Students have the opportunity to look into a social problem, but instead of just reporting on it, they show it through a more personal medium.  You become part of it, and by creating the project, you have to look at more than just what is in front of you; you have to see it on all levels.  You have to understand the problem and its effects.

http://universe.byu.edu/2014/04/10/1marriage-on-the-mind/
http://universe.byu.edu/2014/02/10/dating-conference-gives-guidance-on-age-old-story/
http://universe.byu.edu/2013/11/05/weekly-five-things-girls-wished-guys-knew1/