EDIT: I am talking MERELY about courtship and how it compares to FDS guidelines. I am not talking about society as a whole. Also, please bear in mind that there are many countries and cultures in the world, and not every culture was as oppressive to women as the US.

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I was just thinking about how courtship happened before (like before the 1900's, early 1900's). Based on books I've read written in that eras, show and movies set in that era, etc, there was no such thing as boyfriend-girlfriend.

If you were a woman, you were single and courted until one of your suitors proposed and you accepted, at which point you were engaged, and then you were married.

If you were a man, you were single and courted a lady (or ladies, I suppose) of your choice until you proposed to her and she accepted at which point you were engaged, and then you were married.

A woman was courted by several men at once until she accepted a marriage proposal. She wasn't having sex with any of these men, but they were still excepted to treat her well, respect her, and generally show her that they were worthy of her affections, trust, love, and the rest of her life.

This dynamic was quite beneficial to women. Women didn't end up wasting years in "boyfriend-girlfriend" relationships that ended up going nowhere. They didn't end up getting attached to men who were not serious about them, or putting in time, money, energy, emotional labor, sexual labor, manual labor, etc into men who weren't serious about them.

Today, even when you've vetted a man and determined him to be a HVM, you never have 100% guarantee that he will marry you. A guy might be a decent man, but for whatever reason doesn't want to get married. Even if you have the "where is this relationship going" talk 6 months into a relationship, you've still wasted 6 months and worse, have grown attached and put in the work.

FDS strategy of dating several men at once until you get commitment is as close as we can get to this old fashioned courtship. But it's not perfect because we define "commitment" as "exclusive, committed long-term relationship" and only THEN we expect (read: hope) that the man proposes within 1-2 years.