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The American college girl is not the shining example of Victorian morality that she used to be according to two polls on the extra-curricular sexual activities at women's colleges conducted recently by Dartmouth and University of Pennsylvania students.
The poll taken by the Daily Pennsylvanian, undergraduate newspaper, produced the more definitive results. The editors reported that they had asked questions about kissing on first dates and the advisability of petting of 292 girls at New England colleges and scores of others at neighboring schools.
Geographically the results indicated that the New England girls were inclined to be more frigid than their sisters farther south, 57 per cent of the New Englanders polled thought that petting was not immoral; 24 per cent, believed in kissing on the first date; but only 17 per cent thought that petting on head a girl's reputation.
The Penn poll discovered that of the 241 girls questioned in the Philadelphia area, 59 per cent were in favor of putting; 54 per cent like to kiss on the first date; and 43 per cent consider petting an asset to a girl's popularity.
Don't be Cold
Of all the school investigated in the poll. Bryn Mawr showed itself to be the most liberal-minded. Out of the 50 girls queried there, 30 said they liked to put; 20 thought that kissing should start on early in the evening as possible: and 16 believed that petting and popularity were partners.
Students at Centenary College also signified their amiability towards inter-out relations. One Centenary girl said, "Petting is a natural occurrence, as is kissing, though I would be the first to deny that it enhances a girl's reputation."
One Penn co-ed remarked that "everything depends on the circumstances. Promiscuous petting is immoral. A girl doesn't have to pet to be popular, but she should not be completely cold and responding."
Petting Accepted
According to the Daily Pennsylvanians, the predominant opinion in the survey seemed to be that petting is, as a general rule, a thoroughly acceptable by product of dating. Kissing on the first date is subject to the approval of both parties involved, or as one girl put its "If it's evitable why forestall it?"
But not every girl takes such as optimistic view of things. For as a Carnegie Tech co-ed put it recently. "Out here things are tough for a girl. On the first date you kiss, on the second your neck on the third you pet, and on the fourth you fight for your honor."
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