# Who Won the Sexual Revolution? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 2, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593 "2011-11-02T04:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/41 "2011-11-02T23:15:02Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Girls are getting more knocked up and more STDs than before the sexual revolution. Yeah, they may have access to abortion clinics and treatments (especially as they get older - a 18 year old with a baby is still counted in the teen pregnancy rates) but get real. You think that girls giving blowjobs at 12 is a good idea?! I’d ask for a cite but since there’s really no reliable data from before the mid-20th century there’s no point. This reads like another “things were better back in the good old days” post, which leads me to my answer: Everyone who’s not anti-sex won in the sexual revolution. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/42 "2011-11-02T23:19:42Z")
> [@kenetic](#): > > I’d ask for a cite but since there’s really no reliable data from before the mid-20th century there’s no point. > > This reads like another “things were better back in the good old days” post, which leads me to my answer: Everyone who’s not anti-sex won in the sexual revolution. Agreed. [flick] [puff] Was it good for you, too? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/43 "2011-11-03T02:33:02Z")
The hedonists and libertines. Although that said fornication was quite common in the past and its trends have been cyclic. Hopefully it shall go down soon. ---
**Author:** ![vaguepretension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ba8739/32.png) [@vaguepretension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vaguepretension)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/44 "2011-11-03T03:15:19Z")
well, the men definitely won the heterosexual revolution…women kind of shot themselves in the face with the whole you-can-have-it-all attitude that made them have kids and get jobs and do everything else while the men sit on their arses. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/45 "2011-11-03T04:53:12Z")
> [@kenetic](#): > > I’d ask for a cite but since there’s really no reliable data from before the mid-20th century there’s no point. > > This reads like another “things were better back in the good old days” post, which leads me to my answer: Everyone who’s not anti-sex won in the sexual revolution. I wasn’t aware 12 year old girls were giving blowjobs in the 60s. Pardon my ignorance. Part of teenage pregnancy stats is that they’re calculating unwed mothers. So the rate of single mothers has gone up considerably. I really don’t think the ‘movement’ was intended to encourage younger premarital sex. A Google search brings [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_revolution_in_1960s_America)as a first hit - not always the most reliable thing, but. Teens now may be getting pregnant at 16 like they were 60 years ago, but teen moms now aren’t married and the rise of single households has tripled. [One third of girls are getting pregnant by the age of 20.](http://www.livestrong.com/article/12504-teen-pregnancy-rates-usa/) Not only are girls getting pregnant so young, but a woman may have children by two or three men…add that now it takes two incomes to raise a child, I’d say young girls lost. Girls aren’t allowed to be girls anymore - they’re supposed to be women by the age of twelve. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/46 "2011-11-03T05:23:05Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > Part of teenage pregnancy stats is that they’re calculating unwed mothers. So the rate of single mothers has gone up considerably. Because they’ve stopped forcing girls into marriage against their wills, or whisking them away for secret abortions. Teen pregnancy peaked in the 50s; it’s just that they weren’t given any choice about what to do about it since women & girls were regarded basically as domestic animals at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/47 "2011-11-03T05:38:14Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The hedonists and libertines. Although that said fornication was quite common in the past and its trends have been cyclic. Hopefully it shall go down soon. You post this just days after you tell us that you sent girls stories so obscene that you don’t even want to show them to us. You are going to make an _outstanding_ right-wing Christian politician some day. Your name will be among the greats, like Craig, Foley, Haggard. I’ll even vote for you if you send me a copy of the story. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/48 "2011-11-03T05:48:04Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I wasn’t aware 12 year old girls were giving blowjobs in the 60s. Pardon my ignorance. Twelve year old girls were giving blowjobs in 6000 BC. It was ever thus. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/49 "2011-11-03T12:47:07Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Although that said fornication was quite common in the past and its trends have been cyclic. Hopefully it shall go down soon. No, baby, let’s hope it goes **up** again soon, and **then** down, and then again but faster. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/50 "2011-11-03T13:12:05Z")
Has anyone ever seen CitizenPained and Starving Artist in the same room? > [@marshmallow](#): > > Twelve year old girls were giving blowjobs in 6000 BC. It was ever thus. World without end, amen. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/51 "2011-11-03T13:31:53Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Has anyone ever seen CitizenPained and Starving Artist in the same room? Given the thread topic, are you sure you want to? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/52 "2011-11-03T13:56:06Z")
The “sexual revolution” was a combination of many different things, and it’s necessary to split up these things to talk about what happened. The gay rights movement was one of these. To understand what has happened with it, it’s necessary to look at the overall movement and not each specific battle within it. I’ve heard about a study which looked at all the various sorts of rights and attitudes being fought for within gay rights - the legalization of homosexual sex, the banning of discrimination against hiring someone who was known to be gay in various professions, the legalization of gay civil unions, the legalization of gay marriages, the attitude toward electing a openly gay official, the attitude toward having a relative coming out, etc., and this study found that in each region in the U.S., on each of these issues, the opinions were moving towards more rights and more accepting attitudes at about one to two percent points per year on average. So it doesn’t tell us much about the overall change in attitudes to talk about whether a particular ballot issue won or lost in a particular state in a particular year. You have to look at the overall trends, and those are clearly towards more rights and more accepting attitudes, but the changes are slow. All of these changes have taken decades. I always have to say in discussions like this that I am only talking about the numbers here. I don’t have any interest in discussing whether these trends are good or bad. My personal opinions are irrelevant. Another trend being thrown around in this thread is the frequency of teenage pregnancy. The percentage of teenage women who get pregnant has, in fact, been slowly dropping since the late 1950’s. While we’re at it, let’s get another trend correct. The percentage of marriages ending in divorce peaked in the early 1980’s and has actually dropped a little since then. The clearest trend though is the decrease in the percentage of people getting married. For the past several decades, the percentage of people who ever get married has been dropping. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/53 "2011-11-03T14:31:18Z")
Oh, one other trend: The decline in the percentage of people getting married in the U.S. is clearest among the poorest people. The percentage of upper-middle-class to rich people ever getting married has only decreased a small amount. The percentage of poor to working-class people ever getting married has decreased by a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/54 "2011-11-03T14:40:06Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The hedonists and libertines. Although that said fornication was quite common in the past and its trends have been cyclic. Can you explain why this is a bad thing without invoking God/religion, I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/55 "2011-11-03T23:13:57Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > Can you explain why this is a bad thing without invoking God/religion, I wonder? The Confucian value-system includes pretty strict sexual morality for a culture that tolerates courtesans – at least, Confucian student-boys used to be kept carefully sexless by their tutors – apparently because acting on the sexual passions without restraint is considered, well, not immoral in the Christian sense, but undignified and ungentlemanly. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/56 "2011-11-04T00:48:14Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > You post this just days after you tell us that you sent girls stories so obscene that you don’t even want to show them to us. > > You are going to make an _outstanding_ right-wing Christian politician some day. Your name will be among the greats, like Craig, Foley, Haggard. > > I’ll even vote for you if you send me a copy of the story. I just stated what happened. I wasn’t making commentary and I certainly do _not_ support government regulating people’s (consensual) sex lives. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/57 "2011-11-04T00:49:15Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > Can you explain why this is a bad thing without invoking God/religion, I wonder? STDs, pregnancies leading to abortion, and similar wonderful stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/58 "2011-11-04T00:58:27Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > STDs, pregnancies leading to abortion, and similar wonderful stuff. Considering birth control was legalized in many states, and for non-married couples, and we saw the advent of the Pill, can you back that up with a cite or two? ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/59 "2011-11-04T01:01:06Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > STDs, pregnancies leading to abortion, and similar wonderful stuff. Naw. That stuff is cool. Allegedly. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593/60 "2011-11-04T01:04:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Considering birth control was legalized in many states, and for non-married couples, and we saw the advent of the Pill, can you back that up with a cite or two? To give an example, teen pregnancy rates are highest among developed countries in the sexually free United States and UK as opposed to the more conservative Japan and South Korea [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen\_pregnancy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_pregnancy) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-won-the-sexual-revolution/601593.md?page=4)