What was dating like in the 1940s?

Answer 1

Dating was a new trend in the 1920's. It was also the start of fashion dressing, lipsticks, dancing and booze.

Answer 2

In middle class America, dating in the 1940s was a much more formal activity than it is today, with very strict rules. Boys asked girls out on dates, or telephoned them just to chat, and boys paid for the dates, never the other way around. Dates at the malt shop or drugstore soda fountain, drive-in movie, or school dance were typical of this era. Sexual desires were as powerful then as they have ever been, but ruining one's reputation (the girl's), and the scandal and shame unwanted pregnancy would bring kept many a yearning in check. In a rather prudish society, Baseball-oriented slang for sexual activity came about in the post-war years. "First base" means French kissing, "Second base" refers to fondling or kissing of breasts or genetalia, clothed or unclothed. "Third base" means oral sex, and "Home base" is intercourse. "Nice" girls didn't "put out," i.e., do any of these things, therefore their boyfriends "struck out."

The code of conduct was unwritten, because sex education was not taught in most schools, and the topic of sex was too embarrassing or awkward for many parents to discuss with their children. In all likelihood, no one had taught them either, so kids learned from each other, spreading misinformation and old wives' tales. Condoms were the only Birth Control method that was readily available, but in the hands of inexperienced and nervous boys, the failure rate was high.

Watching movies made in or depicting the 1940s, or leafing through magazines or scrolling through retro websites can bring about a wave of nostalgia, even for people born long after the period. The clothes look fun, the dating activities seem fun, and the times seem so innocent. For many people they were. Society was much more modest and restrained; discussions of sex were inappropriate everywhere except a doctor's office, and maybe not even there. Maintaining a good reputation and respectability was important to both boys and girls, which is one reason millions of couples in the late 1940s got married right out of high school. The children they began having shortly thereafter were members of the Baby Boom, one of the largest population expansions in modern history.