Role Reversal ... ._,,., ____________________________________________ Women need to take initiative in dating emember, Cathy, young ladies don't call boys!" Mother sweetly, but firmly, suggested from the next room. As I replaced the receiver, I decided right then and there that my mother either had x-ray vision or bionic ears. Like many women on Harding's campus, I was raised to be the prey, not the hunter. This factor made it very awkward to me when I first asked a guy to my club Christmas party, two years ago. I must have turned ninety shades of red by the time I gathered up enough courage to blurt out, "I need to talk to you:' When he said, "OK, what?" I totally forgot what I had planned to say, so there I was, the idiot (or so I felt), in all my flaming glory. Just for What a catch! During a Kappa Tau Omega mixer, queen Courtney Cheyne, a sophomore from Granbury, Texas, literally picks up junior Rick Frazier, from Lathrop, Missouri. Sometimes, Harding women were so frustrated with dating that they actually felt like they had to pick up a man to date. - photo by Bill Tripp. 28 Role Reversal the record, the young man did escort me, and I truly enjoyed the evening. Since then, I have somewhat adjusted to the more-than-occasional opportunities for role reversal. There were such events as Pledge Week, the fall hayride, the spring banquet for my club, and Sadie Hawkins Weekend. I think most of the Harding women spend belabored hours trying to decide what man to ask to which event. This is, by no means, an easy task. The various options have their pros and cons. For example, if you ask a friend, there is always the possibility that he will think that you "like" him. On the other hand, you could really risk it and ask the "man of your dreams:' Then again, you could go the safe route and ask a "buddy;' being assured of a wonderful evening. When it comes down to the wire and a woman is at her rope's end, what else can she do but take physical attributes into account? It is then, and only then, that the man's natural photogenic ability becomes the deciding factor. ~ The peculiar thing about Harding seems to be the actual role reversal when it comes to dating. As a matter of fact, the men don't even worry their heads over who to date, because the women do it themselves. For example, one sophomore guy went to seven hayrides in one semester. His nickname became "Mr. Hay:' Also, a senior transfer acknowledged to me, with a humble spirit, that he had been "asked out" by three different women in two consecutive days. Well, bless his heart; what a terrible thing to have to deal with.~ - Cathy Spivey --"'-
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