[ottbmare]

Much of the western world has a serious problem of segregating its boys and girls, so they have minimal chaperoned contact with each other until they turn 18, at which point they are supposed to spontaneously date, fall in love, get married and have children.

What? Where do you live, that segregates boys and girls? Saudi Arabia? I live in America, where boys and girls are together all day at school and then afterward at sports activities, shopping, eating out, movies, etc. And we do not expect them to fall in love and get married and have kids the minute they turn eighteen since usually they can't make enough money at 18 to support themselves, much less a family. Whatever are you talking about?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

You assume that they are interacting, but most of the time they aren’t. Left to their own devices, they self segregate by gender. And when adults are in charge, they keep them so busy they don’t have time to get to know each other. After elementary school there are so many different classrooms and teachers that it becomes rare that a boy and a girl will share more than a single class.