elizabeth: Well, well, well.  How things have changed since I went to the prom. Our biggest worry was getting home from the beach before our fathers went to work, hiding hickeys successfully from our mothers (I had a friend who wore a turtleneck in July to hide a hickey from her mother.  Mary: I don’t think your mother knew anything was awry. So how is your job as Bureau Chief at the CIA going?) and not throwing up our eyeballs from too many Harvey Wallbangers. Ah, prom night. I can remember it as if it was yesterday. I will get back to  you as soon as I have my stomach pumped.

Laurie:  I was never keen on proms.  I just went to my Senior Prom because Little Anthony and the Imperials were the entertainment.  I whipped up a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy (quite like my first husband, come to think of it), dressed him up and told him we were going to a dance.  Was I a prom slut?  I don’t remember so I suspect some drinking may have been involved.

elizabeth: So what is with this new term “Prom Sluts?” I remember the “sluts” from my high school and they didn’t go to the prom. They were too busy shooting pool and giving CPR classes in the back of some guy’s Mustang.  I remember Heather with her blue eye shadow and her teased hair was so high that her family did not need a TV antenna. She scared the crap out of me and yet she handled teenage pregnancy as if it was her birthright. I bet she wished she went to the prom before motherhood came a’knocking up.

Laurie:  Girl, my hair was so high that my date needed heels!  And it lasted for months with all the spray I had on that creation.  But did I look like a slut?   Nah, I had on a pale yellow sedate dress with little flowers embroidered on my never-did-develop bodice.  Would have made any mother proud.

elizabeth: Why are they letting themselves be called prom sluts?  I googled the word “sluts” and quite honestly I did not want to open any of the links.  I felt violated just reading the links’ headings.  Wikipedia to the rescue: Slut or slattern is a pejorative term meaning an individual who is sexually promiscuous. The term is generally applied to women and used as an insult or offensive term of disparagement, meaning “dirty or slovenly.”

Just a side note – the first four letters in promiscuous is prom.  I don’t think there is any hidden meaning here but maybe I will do the research.

Laurie:  Slut research – ya gotta love it!

elizabeth:  So why the hell would anyone want to be known as a prom slut? Okay, here it goes – it ain’t cute, it is certainly not sexy and it is not what we as women want to be called. Trust me on this. I have been here on this earth a long time before some misguided egg and sperm came together to form your sorry butts. I am calling your mothers. They got to put some sense back into your heads. Before your prom pimp picks you up.

Laurie:  Would those be the same mothers who bought the trashy little dresses?  It is doubtful that high-school students are earning enough money for fancy slut ware.  The mothers probably got the fashion ideas from Dancing with the Stars (are those really costumes or just pieces of strategically-placed sequins and fringe?  And yes, I’m jealous as hell that they can wear them) and plan to borrow them as soon as Prom Night is over.  Can we even pretend that we are surprised when multi-colored bracelets have become the accessory of choice for our teenagers and they just happen to confirm the wearer’s slutism?

© 2010, Coaches on the Edge ™

If you would like to learn more about Laurie, please go to her site: Empowered Life Journeys.

Stop by at elizabeth’s site at: Branching Out Life Coaching