Masuk Free Press

These days, showing up to your beloved’s house with a huge teddy and a sign that reads “Prom would be unBEARable without you,” is the pinnacle of romance. 

Finding a guy to go to prom with is the springtime mission of many girls. To some, not getting a date is the worst of fates. It is a fate that has befallen your devoted author, but if I’m being honest, I’m not all too torn up about it. 

I have a (fabulous) dress, I have my girls, and if I do not end up getting a man to coordinate his tie color to my dress, I will be able to live another day. 

I can easily recognize that for some, not having a date would be far more discouraging. Honestly, in an alternate universe, I would have lost my mind.

Feeling incomplete without a date is totally understandable. In the media we grew up watching, take Disney Channel for example, the girl always gets the guy. She walks down a spiral staircase to her long-time crush waiting for her with a corsage. While this is a sweet image, we have to ask ourselves: is it a realistic one? For example, do you even HAVE a spiral staircase? Real-life teenage boys are often disinterested at worst and awkward at best and will behave nothing like our beloved Ross Lynch on Austin and Ally. 

Many who find themselves uninspired by Masuk men turn to social media apps, such as Snapchat, in an effort to meet someone. And while anything could happen and you could meet a twin flame, there are a lot of bad fish in the Snapchat sea. When you really think about it, bringing somebody you have met online to the prom could be an awkward endeavor. 

There is a high likelihood that you would be the only person there that he knows, and you would therefore feel obligated to stick by his side all night. If you really like this person, that is not such a bad thing. But imagine trying to dance to a song with your friends just to see him in your peripheral standing to the side like a sad puppy.

Is getting the Instagram post really worth risking a special night on a complete stranger? People are different online than in person. It would be a shame to spend your prom night with a thorn in your side.  

Skipping out on prom simply because you do not have a date is a terrible waste. You would miss out on memories that you cannot make anywhere else. Not going just because nobody asked you is a lame throwback to the 1970s, where without men, women did not mean much. If we have defeated that mindset literally in every other aspect of our lives, why is it still so important for a silly school dance?

Let me make it clear: you are not silly for wanting a date. Love and partnership is one of our most natural and commonly shared desires. But it would be silly to ignore that love and partnership are sometimes the strongest in your platonic relationships. No prom date will know you as well as your friends do, so use your night to celebrate with them. When you are old and nostalgic, you will not remember the lack of a date, but you will remember the faces of your friends under the strobe lights and the exhilarating feeling of platonic love and youthful energy. 

I can understand that this article might come off as vindictive, but you need to take my word that that is not my intention. I also know that after reading this, you may just pawn me off as a jealous girl, but that is not the case nor the reason for the article.

Attending prom with a date that you know and like could be fun and fabulous, so to the girls with dates, from the bottom of my heart, godspeed. 

My purpose is to simply remind the girls without one that it does not make them, or their prom night, any less fun and fabulous. Enjoy the night as it was meant to be enjoyed. Dance until you are red in the face, kick off your heels and let loose with your friends. Be young, outrageous and unapologetically yourself. This time in your life is a gift, and you should try not to miss a moment.