Sexuality - Our Changing Attitudes

If polls reflect reality, the American public has changed its mind about premarital sex. The data chart opinion between 1969 and 2001. In 1969, according to Gallup polling, 68% of us saw sex outside of marriage as unacceptable behavior. Thirty-two years later, 60% felt that premarital sex was not wrong at all. It took a while for this reversal in public attitudes. In 1987, it was still a toss-up, half leaning in one direction, half in the other. During the 1969-1987 period, the Baby Boom was coming into its own: it was in its teens and early 20's. The sexual revolution was in full swing. After 1987, Baby Boom attitudes probably dominated adult opinion, and we have a drift toward permissiveness.

Are polls on target? They appear to be. Charted as bars on the graphic above are the percent of all births to unmarried women. In 1969 one baby in 10 came to an unmarried woman. In 1987, a quarter of all babies were born out of wedlock; in 2001, fully a third. Single-mother homes have been on the increase — as have cohabiting but unmarried couples — one consequence of the new sexual freedom. Other consequences have been charted in the rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Sexual attitudes have also had a significant impact on the nature of families, as we shall see in the next chapter, Reproduction.

Source: "Majority Considers Sex Before Marriage Morally Okay." Retrieved August 23, 2001 from http://www.gallup.com. "Non- marital Childbearing in the United States 1940-99, National Vital Statistics Report, October 18, 2000, p. 28.