Age-old advice: Teen barred from beach fears social repercussions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/08/2019 (2629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From Sincerely Edan Wright, published in the Winnipeg Free Press on Oct. 3, 1962

Dear Miss Wright: My parents wouldn’t permit me to go to the beach during the summer without a date, and I could get very few dates because I went steady with a boy and, when I broke up, I was out of circulation. This made me mad because I had bought a new bathing suit out of my meagre allowance. Gads!

I’m not a biddy or boy-crazy girl. I am 17 and will soon be a freshman in college. Also, I didn’t intend to skip off to the beach alone, I was going with a group of five girls or more.

Now, I ask you, why did my parents think this was so dangerous? And why should they act this way when I did nothing to bring it on?

I’ve had a very dull summer and lots of ridicule from my friends. I feel that I’m going to meet a similar situation back at school, so I’ve got to find a solution.

— White as a Sheet and Just as Blue

Dear White: Now look, I don’t know any girl who has good sense that goes to the beach to get back into circulation. With the school associations of your years, you shouldn’t have to resort to pickups — and that is certainly what you had in mind.

So, I think your parents were wise in banning this deal without a date.

Also, you’d better start to see things their way because I doubt that you’d be at a loss for dates if you had listened to them from the start.