I have seen them, the bachelors out chasing the parties of drinking bachelorettes like lion stalking zebra on the savannah. They are not as funny as Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, though.

I join the ranks of broadsheet readers who have participated in bachelor/ette parties. Our friends asked to have strippers, but didn't want some random people coming by to make everyone feel awkward. So we, the friends and wedding party, did the stripping. Granted, it was pretty PG-13, but we all had a good time, and gave us a chance to make the happy couple feel the love from their friends. Plus, it added that element of pre-wedding naughtiness that some crave in these events.

Turns out I can rock out standing on a bar, dancing to George Michael...

I love the atmosphere, especially in the middle of the day--it's like another world. I ask you, what could be better--naked women, aroused men, blacklights, ZZ Top...

Too bad my soon-to-be-ex-husband was too sensitive to go to one of those "sordid, depressing" dives, but then, it's indicative of why our nearly 20 year marriage finally failed.

What a brilliant, tongue-in-cheek sendup of--lemme guess-- Nerve?

In the unlikely event that you're not simply trolling, I hope you found someone more acceptable to your tastes. Maybe one of those guys hanging out in the tittie bar in the middle of the afternoon.

I live near Boston and actually subscribe to the daily, paper edition of the Globe, so I got to see the comments published alongside this article, which were... depressing, to put it mildly. There were a few that were similar to what's already been said here -- that the coed party is not new, and hence not news. But the depressing ones were (mostly) men, saying that coed parties would be boring because having the "girls" around would ruin all the fun. Sigh.

For the record, my husband and I did not have a pre-wedding party unless one counts the many, many friends who came over to help get the house ready, since that's where we had the wedding. We treated them to a BBQ and low-key party afterwards. Strippers would have been a distraction no one needed...

I don't get you women who are proud of your husbands/boyfriends for eschewing the obligatory visit to the tittie bar (er, I mean "gentlemen's club"). I love the atmosphere, especially in the middle of the day--it's like another world. I ask you, what could be better--naked women, aroused men, blacklights, ZZ Top...

Too bad my soon-to-be-ex-husband was too sensitive to go to one of those "sordid, depressing" dives, but then, it's indicative of why our nearly 20 year marriage finally failed.

I love the coed party trend, I just don't like the idea that it's one's last gasp of freedom. The couple who goes to strip clubs together might just make it.

When my best friend got married a few years ago, we went to Vegas for the bachelor party. Sure, there was drinking, smoking, and gambling, but we didn't do the strippers or porn, so there was absolutely no reason besides convention why any woman shouldn't have been there too. (And of course some women are fine with the strippers and porn too.) It's not like 60 years ago when nice ladies didn't drink or smoke (?)--okay, well sure they did, even then. So what's with the separation? We're just gambling, drinking, playing a round of golf, and seeing the Blue Man Group.

On various blogs dealing with weddings, I often see all this female angst about wanting to be the "cool fiancee" who doesn't mind her betrothed going out to watch other naked women gyrating lewdly right before they get married. I just don't get this. Why would you want to marry someone who hadn't gotten all that out of his system long ago?

My fiance had a bachelor's night out, sort of, but it involved all the men in the wedding party (three recent college grads and two 13-year-old boys) going out for pizza, video games, and a late night viewing of Star Trek IV.

(And no, he hasn't gotten any of that out of his system.)

Good friends of ours had a co-ed bachelor party in 1997. I've also been to co-ed wedding and baby showers. And this is the midwest (Chicago). Apparently the trend-watchers haven't been paying very close attention. Most women I know got married a little bit older (late 20s to 30s) and were really not interested in a cheesy embarrassment like a sterotypical bachelorette party. My "bachelorette" event was an evening of dinner and theater with my best girlfriends.

I too have attended the co-ed bachelor/ette party in the past few years. It's the most normal thing in the world - since most people live together first this "last night of freedom" crap is a load.

Also, since people are getting married older, they are over the tacky stripper parties.

I didn't find it all that unusual, but then of course, I'm not from Boston.

--

ps - better tone later this week Broadsheet - thanks for tightening it up a bit.

Yeah, I call bullshit on this article too.

So granted, it was only as long ago as 2004. But the bride and groom were both part of a big co-ed circle of friends. So I (female, and largely a just-one-of-the-guys type) attended the bachelor party trip to Vegas. And went to the strip club. Though most of the time was spent sitting at the blackjack table and boozing. I wouldn't have missed it for the world...

Though my dad still has trouble wrapping his brain around guys and girls being platonic friends, all of this traditional single-sex stuff is crap...

I am lucky enough to be marrying a man who loathes strip clubs and most dumb laddie behaviors. Because of our mutual friends and interests, we're having a party together. It's no big deal. Actually, I think the notion of the "bachelor(ette) party" is quite stupid, should you really be doing it at all if you can't do it with your spouse? I've seen way too many parties spiral into the "last night of freedom" BS, and it's nice to see this is a trend. Maybe it's a sign that people are taking marriage a lot more seriously than the right wants to think, despite the really negative influence of all those darn gays :-)