# Are teenagers having more sex today then they were in the '40's and 50's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 17, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470 "2003-12-17T04:29:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/1 "2003-12-17T04:29:39Z")
Trying to salvage [this thread that I accidently hijacked,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=228842) I’m starting this one. Prompted by this quote: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mehitabel \* > \*\*Yeah, sure, with nobody owning cars and nobody having a room to themselves and Mom home all the time and no birth control and the poverty and disgrace of being a teen mother…sure, they all screwed around just like we all do :rolleyes: \*\* I posted this: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > \*\*Just to shed a few facts on that hazy, crazy nostalgia. > > [The rate of teen childbearing has fallen steeply since the late 1950’s, from an all time high of 96 births per 1,000 women in 1957 to an all time low of 49 on 2000.](http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/gr050107.pdf) > > They was doin’ it like bunnies. \*\* Which, in turn, prompted this: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JThunder \* > \*\*Abortion had a lot to do with that decline in childbearing, gal. I don’t think you can conclude that sexual activity among teens in the 1950’s are comparable to those of teens today, based on the statistics which you provdied. > > Mind you, I’m not saying that they _didn’t_ do it back then. I’m just saying that we can’t conclude much based on your stats. \*\* Which lead to. . . ultimately this thread. I say the sexual activities of post adolescent teens has not wavered much in, well, all of human history. Once we, as humans, reach sexual maturity we find ways to have sex whether by dictating social norms to ensure that those who want to have sex can (early marriages), circumventing social norms (and suffering the consequences) or changing the norm. What say you? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/2 "2003-12-17T04:35:04Z")
I can’t believe the sexual revolution of the 60s and the lowering of social barriers to promiscuity at about that time in the West had no effect. I would be amazed if the % of teenagers who are virgins did not significantly drop between 1960 and 1970. But I guess you can search the Web for hard data as well as I can. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/3 "2003-12-17T04:41:33Z")
Well, the point about abortions is moot. People had abortions back in the 50’s as well. It was just illegal. It’s not like abortion fell out of the sky the day after Roe v. Wade went through. In fact, it was common enough in that period to inspire the debate that ultimately led to that case. That said, the relative availability of reliable contraceptives does make such a comparison iffy. Teenagers these days can get their hands on much better contraceptives, and do so more easily. But yes, teenagers had sex in the 50’s. In fact, teenagers always had sex. That’s why the age of consent in most states has historically floated around in the 14 to 16 range. Because that’s the age when people are deemed ready to go at it. And if drinking age teaches us anything, that means that most people have historically started going at it a couple years before then. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/4 "2003-12-17T04:50:19Z")
I’m sure that **AndewT** is correct. There’s a reason why it was called _the sexual revolution_, after all. Also, as I pointed out in the earlier thread, there are several reasons why the relative teen birth rates in the 1950’s and the 2000’s should not be used as measures of teen promiscuity. The legalization of abortion is one reason. So is the availability of contraception. Finally, don’t forget that teenagers in the 1950’s were much more likely to be married than they are now, so of course the married ones were sexually active! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/5 "2003-12-17T04:56:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by laigle \* > \*\*Well, the point about abortions is moot. People had abortions back in the 50’s as well. It was just illegal. \*\* No, it’s not moot. Abortion is much more common and much more easily available now. ERGO, simple logic dictates that we cannot directly compare the teen birth rates in the 1950’s with the teen birth rate today. Now, if you can prove that there were 1.4 million abortions being conducted each year in the 1950’s, then I’m willing to reconsider that position. You’ll have a very hard time finding any justification for that claim, though. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/6 "2003-12-17T04:58:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by laigle \* > \*\* > But yes, teenagers had sex in the 50’s. In fact, teenagers always had sex. \*\* THAT’S NOT THE POINT. Yes, teenagers had sex. That’s not the issue under debate, though. The question is whether they were just as sexually active in the “good old days” (as **BigGirl** described them) as they are now. None of the evidence presented so far even remotely suggests that they were. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/7 "2003-12-17T05:35:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JThunder \* > \*\*Finally, don’t forget that teenagers in the 1950’s were much more likely to be married than they are now, so of course the married ones were sexually active! \*\* This seems like a red herring. The question is whether teens were as sexually active then as they are now, not whether they were as “promiscuous” or had sex outside of wedlock. Teen marriage could just as easily be an _effect_ of teen sexuality rather than a cause. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/8 "2003-12-17T05:59:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr2001 \* > \*\*This seems like a red herring. The question is whether teens were as sexually active then as they are now, not whether they were as “promiscuous” or had sex outside of wedlock. Teen marriage could just as easily be an _effect_ of teen sexuality rather than a cause. \*\* I disagree. First of all, the original thread specifically said that teens in the 50’s “screwed around,” which implies more than just marital sex. Second, in that same thread, **Biggirl** specifically said that she was “I’m just injecting a little realism into the idealized idea of ‘the good old days.’” Clearly, the discussion was about behavior which society looks askance upon, rather than sex within the confines of marriage. Ergo, the context abundantly shows that we are talking about teen sexuality in the sense of screwing around before marriage. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/9 "2003-12-17T06:01:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr2001 \* > \*\* Teen marriage could just as easily be an _effect_ of teen sexuality rather than a cause. \*\* Sometimes, it probably was. Still, it’s common knowledge that people got married in their teens much more often back then, pregnant or not. I myself know several older people who affirmed that to be true. Talk to some people in their 60’s and they’ll probably confirm that as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/10 "2003-12-17T06:19:42Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by JThunder_ > **First of all, the original thread specifically said that teens in the 50’s “screwed around,” which implies more than just marital sex.** That’s not how I read it. The original thread was about what teens did for fun in the 40s and 50s, and **Mehitabel** ’s comment (quoted in the OP here) was in response to “I bet they liked fucking.” Sex can be done for fun whether you’re married or not. > [@](#): > > **Sometimes, it probably was. Still, it’s common knowledge that people got married in their teens much more often back then, pregnant or not.** Well, a “shotgun wedding” was one thing I had in mind, but not the only one. If sex outside of marriage was frowned upon then more than it is now, and the biological drive to have sex was the same, then more people may have gotten married in order to have a socially-approved context for sex. From the OP (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Once we, as humans, reach sexual maturity we find ways to have sex whether by **dictating social norms to ensure that those who want to have sex can (early marriages)**, circumventing social norms (and suffering the consequences) or changing the norm. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/11 "2003-12-17T11:39:09Z")
I was a teenager during the fifties. Among boys back then, the chief topics of conversation were sex and cars, usually in that order. To listen to the guys, sex was rampant. To listen to the girls, it just didn’t happen. The truth, as always, was somewhere in between. Sex did happen, and I suspect it happened just as often as it does today. I think that the typical girl from my era maybe had fewer partners than today, but I don’t know that for a fact. Teen marriage was not unusual, at least not in Texas. I knew one guy who married at sixteen; his bride was fourteen. That was a little extreme, but not by much. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/12 "2003-12-17T12:33:56Z")
Pretty much what **LouisB** said. There was a fair percentage of girls that were sexually active in my Jr. High school. That was 1955/'57. Everybody assumed most boys were. Frankly, over time I’ve been amazed by the number of young people that post on this message that _aren’t_ sexually active. It may seem like the dark ages to some of you, but condoms were readilly available then, and NO, you didn’t have to show proof of age to purchase them. 😉 I think the term Sexual Revolution referrs more to the openess and ready availability of casual sex, rather than any increased levels in the number of people partaking in the joys. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/13 "2003-12-17T12:53:30Z")
I’m thinking of the grandparents of a dear childhood friend of mine, who secretly got married in the spring of their senior year of high school, just so they could have sex without feeling guilty, and then went back to living with their parents, had a “real” wedding later, and remained happily married until the husband passed away. And someday I’ll get Mom drunk enough that she’ll let slip when she lost her virginity, but I’m about 99% sure it wasn’t with her first husband on their wedding night. My guess is that people were less casual about it, since the prevention was less reliable and the consequences far more severe, but it still happened plenty. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/14 "2003-12-17T13:08:16Z")
I’d be pretty surprised if any hard and fast statistics were available about teen sexual activity in the '60s. I just don’t believe such stats were kept then. I do have some personal anecdotes that, while not speaking of **how** sexually active unmarried young people were, at least seem to present evidence that **some** of them were. The first thing is this: my mother was 19 when she married my father. My oldest sister was born 7 and 1/2 months later. My mother maintained, to her dying day, that her first child was premature, although she weighed well over 7 lbs.! My FIL had two serious girlfriends (both in their late teens when he dated them) before meeting my MIL, to whom he’s been married for 51 years. He swears that the previous two girlfriends broke up with him because he wouldn’t have sex with them. He’s never had sex with anyone but my MIL. My own personal thinking is that teen girls, especially, may have been less sexually active in the '50s because of the fear of getting pregnant, which, in those days, frequently led to social ostracization. ---
**Author:** ![lillyflower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@lillyflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lillyflower)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/15 "2003-12-17T16:58:48Z")
I think that yes, more teenagers are having sex younger and more often then in the 40’s and the 50"s. I think that this is because today there is not that “your a dirty, horrible person, for having sex young” kind of attitude. I think there is a difrent attitude toward sex. I heard somewhere that a survey of young students, as young as middle school felt that oral sex was LESS personal then kissing. This to me shows an interesting attitude toward sex and sexual acts. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/16 "2003-12-17T17:40:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JThunder \* > \*\*No, it’s not moot. Abortion is much more common and much more easily available now. ERGO, simple logic dictates that we cannot directly compare the teen birth rates in the 1950’s with the teen birth rate today. \*\* Except for that fact that abortions among teens have decreased along with their birth rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Teen pregnancy rates have reached histroric lows dropping 25 percent from 1990 to 199. the birth rate dropped 19 percent and the abortion rate was down 39 percent in this age group. more recent data indicate the teen birth rate has continued to drop through 2002-down 28 percent.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/17 "2003-12-17T17:45:52Z")
That should have read “1990 to 1999.” And the “t” and the “m” should have been capitalized. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/18 "2003-12-17T17:53:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earl of Sandwhich \* > \*\*Except for that fact that abortions among teens have decreased along with their birth rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention > > “Teen pregnancy rates have reached histroric lows dropping 25 percent from 1990 to 199. the birth rate dropped 19 percent and the abortion rate was down 39 percent in this age group. more recent data indicate the teen birth rate has continued to drop through 2002-down 28 percent.” \*\* Again, irrelevant. Those statistics only cover THE PAST 23 YEARS. They do not extend to the 1950’s, when abortion was illegal and far less readily available. ERGO, that objection simply has no bearing on the issue at ahnd. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/19 "2003-12-17T18:11:26Z")
Those figures are absolutely relevant, given your claim that fewer births among teens necessarily equals more abortions among teens. As the CDC’s data demonstrates, a factor other than abortion was responsible for the marked decrease in the teen birth rate from 1990 through 1999. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470/20 "2003-12-17T18:26:37Z")
Point of order, **JThunder** - (close to) abortion-on-demand was in fact legal in New York, California, North Carolina, and Colorado in 1972, before the decision in _Roe v. Wade._ That’s a significant portion of the US population. Some other states allowed abortion in varying circumstances. I’m trying to tack down the status of state abortion laws in the 1950s, but it is a misapprehension to assume that _Roe v. Wade_ legalized abortion - instead, it leglized abortion in the states where it was then illegal. Next, > [@](#): > > _JThunder_ > Now, if you can prove that there were 1.4 million abortions being conducted each year in the 1950’s, then I’m willing to reconsider that position. You’ll have a very hard time finding any justification for that claim, though. “From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, an estimated 200,000-1,300,000 illegal abortions occur annually in the U.S.” [http://member.plannedparenthood.org/site/PageServer?JServSessionIdr006=ckjzn1ynqe.app8b&pagename=1950s](http://member.plannedparenthood.org/site/PageServer?JServSessionIdr006=ckjzn1ynqe.app8b&pagename=1950s) I’m not taking that as definitive, but if true the high end is close to the 1.4 million figure you cite - and it does not include legal abortions. In the interests of full disclosure, antiabortion groups assert that the numbers were massively lower, with only 39,000 illegal abortions in 1950. [http://www.christiananswers.net/q-sum/q-life003.html](http://www.christiananswers.net/q-sum/q-life003.html) Quite the discrepancy there. Sua [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-teenagers-having-more-sex-today-then-they-were-in-the-40s-and-50s/219470.md?page=2)