With Homecoming right around the corner, students’ minds are tied to Twitter and Instagram as they anxiously await the time when posts of elaborate proposals begin to roll in. Although the proposals are all unique, one fact reigns true throughout: it always seems to be the guy asking the girl. Perhaps it’s a matter of tradition, or maybe the reasoning is deeper than that. Nevertheless, one question stands: why do boys always have to be the one to ask?

        Regardless of whether two people decide to go as just friends or make it date, the pressure of asking silently falls on the guy’s shoulders, and the girl is left patiently awaiting a unique and creative proposal. This prospect doesn’t stray far from the normal expectations of boys when it comes to relationships: the male is always the one who is supposed to take charge. Maybe he’s supposed to, but that doesn’t mean he has to, or even that the expectation is fair.

        Gender roles are subject to change. The fact that men have been seen as the dominant counterpart of a relationship for centuries does not remain the social norm in the world today, nor should it. Changing this prospect starts with the little things, such as girls asking guys to Homecoming instead of waiting to be asked.

        When it comes to these elaborate proposals, girls can easily be painted in a bad light when they choose to turn someone down. To some, they appear disdainful and highly selective in whose proposals they elect to accept. After all, the boy didn’t go through all of the tedious work of formulating an idea, creating a poster, and putting his heart on the line just to face rejection, did he?

        The common belief is that girls fear this rejection, and it is simply easier to sit around and wait to be asked rather than be courageous and ask the boy whom they want to accompany to Homecoming. Obviously this concept is false; it isn’t the crippling fear of rejection which poses opposition to girls asking boys, it’s the social standards which have been set in place through the years.

Why not break these standards? Challenge society’s implicit code of gender roles. Boys aren’t the only gender capable of conjuring up a Homecoming proposal. Girls can do that too.