My How Times Have Changed

The great sociologist/anthropologist, Margaret Mead died in 1978 at age 77. Mead once stated that she believed that the only American 'sexual revolution' occurred in the 1920's..those so called 'Roaring  Twenties.' For goodness sakes she lived during he 1960's and the infamous 'Flower Child' and 'Woodstock' generation.

Over thirty percent of American teens are sexually active today. The age group 15-to-24 have fifty percent of all STD's. Twenty-five percent of women will move in with a romantic partner before age twenty. I think it's safe to say that Americans' have lost the type of innocence embraced in the 1940's-'50's.

May I offer a generational perception conflict. Simply put, how my mother saw things when I was a teen versus my viewpoint today?  My mother told me back in the day and she would proclaim the same today, "Young kids can avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases if they placed God in charge of their lives. I don't disagree with that concept, however I just accept the fact that fewer parents have kids in a religious setting, therefore the teen has nothing to 'counter,' (if you please), the normal biological urges gripping the young. My mother would oppose the practice of making condoms available; she would propose abstinence for the young and unmarried. Since many cannot control such urges, I say offer condoms to avoid compounding society's problems.

Earlier I mentioned the matter of living together before marriage. That percentage has seen drastic change. Credit or blame (whatever your perspective) goes to the feminist movement. Again, it was the decade of the '60's, which gave the greatest impetus to that feminist movement. Before that movement the parents' warning to the daughter was simple: 'You may lose him if it's free.' I suppose 'gender equity' blurs many previously well-define folkways and mores.'

The United States divorce rate is the highest of any industrialized country. A few years ago, it was estimated that nearly forty percent of marriages would end in divorce. That statistic is coming down...perhaps due to fewer young people getting married versus 'living together.'

 Don't understand how Margaret Mead missed the biggest sexual revolution event. That said, I am not compelled to make judgments on either Mead or the 'movement' she missed.