Is it normal to not be allowed to have a boyfriend?

You are allowed to have a boyfriend.
I hereby officially give you permission.

How exactly do your parents have any control over this situation?

My parents tried to pull the same thing, when I was younger I had to lie about guys I liked or was talking to. I can understand where they're coming from, teenage relationships can be intense and distracting, but at the same time I feel like making you wait to date at all til you're 20 would mean you'd be behind on your peers in knowing how to have successful social interactions with romantic intent attached to them.

Parents who shelter their kids tend to be shocked when their kids get out from under their wing and make lots of mistakes. But they're making all those mistakes because they never had the chance to learn any better in a safe and supportive environment.

Source: Was raised by extremely overprotective, sheltering parents, ran off when I turned 18 for a few weeks and got myself into an abusive relationship that went on for almost a year.

Assuming you're 18+ I would say your parents have no real say over your life anymore. (I had to have a serious talk with my parents about that one, at 23 they still try to shush me lol.) That said, if you live in their house and plan to stay there, gonna have to follow their rules.

If you are under 18, boyfriends are nice distractions but really the likelihood of a teen relationship lasting is minimal, so there's no great loss there. But you may want to sit with your parental and discuss why they made that rule... If its things like "staying out late" and "low grades", those are things you can fix by showing you're responsible.

OR depending on your age they may just be saying it to keep away the boys for as long as possible, but do not have plans to actually enforce that rule.

Yes I would say that overprotective parents are normal. But no its not really good because they are showing a lack of trust.

I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend until I was 16, and by the time I was allowed to have one, I didn't want one anymore.

Not normal.

And probably counter productive.

It is extreme, but respectable. You can get a large chunk of your education out of the way and should prevent you from making the dumb high school mistakes many young ones do. Sounds like you have good parents.

It's extreme.

Tell them you need this period of light pair bonding ( ie dating) to help you develop the necessary social and communicational skills to have an eventual long term committed relationship...dating enables you to practice various ways of inter personal relationships in order to learn about you and potential partners...to find out what works and what doesnt work for you in relationships...allowing you to hone these skills into creating long term relationship ...if they do not let you date you may develop ingrained patterns of relating and communicating that are dyfunctional and then carry these maladaptive behvior into later relationships thereby damging them.....also sexual interactional skills are developed...its part of your sexual social development..

in other words tell them if they dont let you date...you will never get married , have kids and move out of the house

Your parents are right!!! Teenagers are not emotionally mature enough to have a healthy, stable romantic relationship. Don't worry, sit tight -- don't do anything you might regret in a few months. You'll be twenty in no time. How old are you now? It's not that long untill you get 20, you know. It'll happen faster than you know it. And when you are a twenty-year old virgin, you'll be thanking your parents for having kept you from making the biggest mistake of your life.

Sexual relationships are strongly overrated. Nobody tells you about the pain involved (and I mean emotional pain). And a lot of teenaged guys are just interested in sex. They don't and won't care for you as a person. They lie. And it hurts. It hurts a lot. Don't get into a relationship if you aren't ready to deal with the pain.

my mom is the same way but they dont have control over that

Clearly you live in an immeshed. family. Even if your bf. is a scum bag the encroachment. on your free will as an adult is not normal and is probably harmful. If your parents are using financial or other means to unduly influence you or is using some form of duress. to make you comply with this demand then this is abuse and is harmful. Assuming such is so as it appears to be, at best what your parents are doing is unethical. Depending on where you live it may even be criminal to do so.

I don't think that's all that normal but every family is different I guess. If you're 18 and over you legally have the choice to do as you wish, and I think your parents should think about that.

They mean well i'm sure but its a bit too harsh. =/

Thank you all for your opinions! We're going to make some changes around here ;)

I'd be so pissed if I was in your shoes.

It's becuase they want you to be a 20 year old virgin.