Staggered about the Stag?

My other half is away on a friend's stag do this weekend which got me thinking about the origins of stag dos (more properly known as a Bachelor Party). From what I've read, it seems to have originated back in the Spartan days (that's quite a long time ago) where the friends of the groom would get together to celebrate the groom's "last night of freedom". What started out as a toast and a dinner in the groom's honour has through the ages, declined to a night (and sometimes a weekend) of debauchery and uhm...raucousness.

I've heard numerous accounts of excessive alcohol intake, grooms being stripped, humiliated and tied to lamp posts, blue midgets and of course, strippers. I do believe stag dos can be fun (these days, there's an element of healthy sport involved before the debauchery begins - for e.g. go-karting, paint-balling, something that involves competition and games) but of course some can spiral out of control (did you watch the Hangover?) and end of majorly upsetting the bride-to-be (if you follow celebrity news, you'll know what I mean).

So what is a bride to do these days? Would you go to the extent of forbidding your soon-to-be husband from enjoying a night with his mates? Or would you let him go and agonise about the consequences and regret it the moment he steps out of the door?

I say neither! One hopes that you know your man well enough (to marry him!) and trust that he'll do the right thing. Most stag dos end up being quite innocuous at the end of the day. Plus, if your future hubs would so easily cheat on your with a random porn star (Nick Lachley, are you reading this?) or a random stripper, then guess what? Your marriage isn't going to last long anyway. In this case, prevention is merely a delay of the inevitable. And don't give me the "men are visual and therefore have no control over themselves". Yes they are visual, but if you're saying that your line of defense is constant surveillance, well that means you don't trust him and you've just committed yourself to a lifetime of checking up on him!

I hear people throwing the "oh she's so naive" at me as well, guess what? I just sleep better at night. I know while my hubby-to-be is out with his friends, I'm out on my hen night, having fun as well, knowing full well that at the end of the night, we are as committed to each other as we were before the celebrations of our final night of freedom (so to speak!). And that night of fun, festivities and bonding with mates was exactly that, and nothing more.

Update on the stag night: I feel really jealous. Mostly because I love go-karting. Not so much on the dodginess which I cannot divulge because apparently stags are supposed to be a secret. Oops. All I can say is, I bet the groom needed a few days to recover from his debacle.