# What did teens like between 1947-1954. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571 "2003-12-12T12:26:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**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, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/41 "2003-12-17T04:47:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Priam \* > \*\*I’d just like to pop in and point out that my Human Sexuality textbook states that the number of abortions in America has been in constant decline for decades. I would say _Roe v. Wade_ has less to do with declining teen births and convenient, reliable contraceptives a whole lot more. \*\* First of all, that’s irrelevant. Abortion is available now, and it wasn’t available in the 50’s. Hence, one should not draw hard conclusions about teen sexual activity based solely on the relative birth rates of these eras. _The recent decline in the abortion rate is simply irrelevant, for the purposes of this discussion._ Second, it has NOT been “in constant decline for decades.” (Remember, Roe v. Wade is only 30 years old!) [The abortion rate has only been declining for about ten years now,](http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2002_News/02-207.htm) and not “for decades.” Possible causes may include the increased availability of contraception and the reduced number of women of childbearing age (a likely side-effect of the Roe v Wade decision!). [http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/01/06/abortion.scene/](http://www.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/01/06/abortion.scene/) ---
**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, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/42 "2003-12-17T11:23:28Z")
I was born in 1940, so I survived the general time frame under discussion. I was 14 in 1954 and that was a great year for me. I got my first car, my first job, my driver’s license and lost my virginity. I had my own room, too, as did most of my friends and all of my girlfriends. However, mothers didn’t work as a rule and were nearly always home, so sex in somebody’s bedroom was most unusual. Thank God for the automobile. **straykat23** did a good job on the music of the day. **Hail Ants** , a dance card was as has been described above. The purpose of a dance card was to give a young lady a means of remembering to whom she had promised a particular dance. The assumption was that young gentlemen would not monopolize a young ladies time, giving both an opportunity to converse (and dance) with others. Remember that most dances were at least semi-formal, and most of the music was of the slow-dance variety. Another use of the dance card was this—the young lady could pencil in various names and when asked to dance by someone she preferred to avoid, she could show that person her dance card to explain why she couldn’t dance with him—her dance card was filled up. Swearing in public was most rare, and almost unheard of if ladies were present. In my day, in Dallas, a girl who presumed to wear jeans, or any other type of pants to school would be sent home to change. If anyone, boy or girl, had worn shorts to school, the scandal would have made headlines. ---
**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, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/43 "2003-12-17T13:32:06Z")
At the risk of going off topic… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JThunder \* > **First of all, that’s irrelevant. Abortion is available now, and it wasn’t available in the 50’s.** You yourself said that abortions occured, possibly illegally, prior to _Roe v. Wade_. I’m sure it was quite possible to get an abortion in the 50s. > [@](#): > > **[The abortion rate has only been declining for about ten years now,](http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2002_News/02-207.htm) and not "for decades."** Read that cite again. The only thing there that backs up your statement is this: > [@](#): > > The abortion rate for Washington state residents in 2001 was 20 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 compared to the 2000 rate of 20.2 per 1,000 women. This decline continues a decade-long trend. First, it only applies to Washington state. Second, even if we only consider Washington state, you can’t draw the conclusion that the abortion rate has only been dropping for the past decade. If it went down every year since 1950 _except_ in 1990, it would still be accurate to say “This decline continues a decade-long trend”. It is true that the reported number of legal abortions in the U.S. peaked around 1990 and has been declining since then. However, it’s hard to determine the overall trend since the 1950s when the legal changes are taken into account. [Planned Parenthood](http://www.plannedparenthood.org/library/ABORTION/HealthBenef.html) cites sources that estimate between 200,000 and 1.2 million annual illegal abortions during the 50s and 60s. For [comparison](http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0764203.html), ~1.3 million legal abortions were reported in 1980, ~1.4 million in 1990, and ~900,000 in 1999. (Also consider that the [U.S. population](http://www.censusscope.org/us/chart_popl.html) was around 275 million in 2000, and only 175 million in 1960.) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/44 "2003-12-17T13:51:10Z")
My dad was a jazz drummer and was way into the be-bop thing. Big bands were cool as well, but his taste had a bit of an edge. My folks worked together. They’d go out on Saturday night to any one of the great jazz clubs in Chicago. Then my dad got drafted. He was released from the service in '51 and they were married in '52. My folks were born during the depression, so they were less likely than today’s kids to blow their money on fun. And my dad helped support his family until he married my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/45 "2003-12-23T13:51:38Z")
As long as people are picking nits, I think the dance-card thing was phased out very shortly after WWII. Also, as AuntiePam notes, the fifties saw the rise of the “sock hop”. You danced in your socks, obviously (I guess so you wouldn’t mess up the hardwood gymnasium\* floor), and you only needed a record player, not a live band. The whole thing could be organized with only a day or two’s notice, not the time it would take to hire a band and decorate the room. It took a long time, but little by little, bit by bit, formality started ebbing away post-war. \*And it’s also my understanding that abbreviations were much less common in those days. Gymnasium, not gym. Telephone, not phone. Hamburger, not burger. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/46 "2003-12-23T15:14:52Z")
Meanwhile, down South, Bill Monroe was inventing a hot new music called bluegrass - jazzed-up, speeded up mountain music. And young kids like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis were listening to this music, and at the same time clandestinely listening to R & B (of which white Southern parents did not approve) and were getting some really strange ideas… ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/47 "2003-12-23T15:16:37Z")
Also a big hit with Southern kids of the era was Hank Williams, Sr. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/48 "2003-12-24T11:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > As long as people are picking nits, I think the dance-card thing was phased out very shortly after WWII. They were in use at my Junior and Senior Proms; 1957 & 1958. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571/49 "2003-12-24T12:58:22Z")
I stand corrected, then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-teens-like-between-1947-1954/218571.md?page=2)