# Teen Promiscuity, Past and Present **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521 "2013-04-23T18:53:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/21 "2013-04-24T16:00:19Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > When I went to the counter to pay, the cashier was horrified until she saw the ring on my finger and said, ‘Oh! You’re engaged! That makes it okay then’. > > Attitudes were very different in the 70’s. Heh, yeah a lot of that ‘engagement’ stuff. A friend of mine wasn’t allowed to bring his girlfriend up to his rented room until he told her they were engaged. My wife and I got married pretty early just to make life easier, you couldn’t get a joint checking account or sign a joint lease if you weren’t married. Some rentals didn’t allow unrelated people to share an apartment or house. Sometimes the good old days were kind of stupid. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/22 "2013-04-24T16:04:10Z")
When I was in college (mid-70s), my then-girlfriend told me that, if not for the _Roe v. Wade_ decision (then only four or five years back), she would never have let me touch her. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/23 "2013-04-24T16:13:46Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > The clients of a sex therapist! That is about as far away from a random, unbiased sample as you could get. > > Why am I not surprised? 🙂 First of all, he said it was informal. He wasn’t planning to publish it or anything; he simply told us about it at a party. As for not being surprised, there really are social circles where few kids are or have been sexually active. In some cases, it’s because they can’t find partners (ask me how I know about that) but it’s also heavily influenced by whether the kids are involved in the use of drugs or alcohol, which are great inhibition removers. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/24 "2013-04-24T16:24:55Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Pfft, the cinnamon challenge is so, like, _yesterday_! These days the cool kids are all doing the [condom challenge](http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/people-doing-the-condom-challenge). Don’t kids do sex, booze and drugs anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/25 "2013-04-24T16:30:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Why am I not surprised? 🙂 He’s a bit below the median first time age, IIRC ( **Qin** , you’re 14 now, right?), so it shouldn’t be that surprising in any event. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/26 "2013-04-24T17:34:08Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Don’t kids do sex, booze and drugs anymore? Nope. My kids are 16, 14, 13 & 12–they all swear up and down they are not interested in these sorts of things. Thank goodness! shut up. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/27 "2013-04-25T12:54:40Z")
I went to boys only schools, but I have no reason to doubt the friends from co ed schools that told me it went on a lot “behind the bike shed”. Back then of course, there was no abortion or morning after pills, so if the girl got pregnant they usually had the baby adopted. It was also shameful to become pregnant out of wedlock, and there were many many “shotgun” weddings. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/28 "2013-04-25T13:01:53Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > I remember when I got my first prescription for BC pills filled. The druggist had known me since I was 7, I got a raised eyebrow. When I went to the counter to pay, the cashier was horrified until she saw the ring on my finger and said, ‘Oh! You’re engaged! That makes it okay then’. > > Attitudes were very different in the 70’s. There was still a very big “bad girl” reputation thing going on back then. In my neck of the woods it was particularly nasty. Being called a “slut” by someone’s parents (because, in almost all situations, people were caught) was the least of it. I knew a few girls who were actually shunned by their friends because the friends didn’t want to tarnish their “good girl” reputations. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521/29 "2013-04-25T16:46:40Z")
Here’s the statistic I was looking for. In the 1950’s the median age of a [woman’s first marriage was 20.3 years old](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005061.html), the lowest since statistics were kept. It stands to reason that teenagers were having sex, since a lot of them were getting married. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teen-promiscuity-past-and-present/656521.md?page=1)