LAW VS. MORAL VALUES

Quote:

Sorry. I was a kid in the 50's and there were no inhibitions of any kind on reporting anybody who was behaving improperly. And we did. And I think we had a much better sense of what was right and wrong too, and we were perhaps more naturally inhibited from getting into compromising situations just because of a strong sense of right and wrong. Prudish? Perhaps some of it was. But in a day where abortion was mostly illegal and the schools would never pass out (or even discuss) condoms, teenage pregnancy and/or STD was extremely rare and, as I said, we were safe.

Whose version of knowledge is this?
You're just citing the ideology.
Fair enought to say you were safe, but if sexuality was a taboo and never talked about, then how do you know 'we' were safe?

We just didn't see sex outside of marriage as something to covet or brag about. Difference of the times. (That's probably why women generally married much younger then than they do now.)

Social customs vary, in other words, and they’ve always varied over time and from place to place. People have a large bias toward the status quo, so if customs today are different from customs a generation ago that seems alarming. But “traditional” age at first marriage only arose in the west in the 19th century. For about two hundred years before that, it was falling, and the current situation in the United States resembles what Gregory Clark describes in 17th century England.

But in a day where abortion was mostly illegal and the schools would never pass out (or even discuss) condoms, teenage pregnancy and/or STD was extremely rare and, as I said, we were safe.

Pre 1960's: Syphilis and Gonorrhea were the only major STDs
1976: Chlamydia first recognized
1981: AIDS identified
1982: Herpes became very prevalent
1992: PID or Pelvic Inflammatory Disease recognized
1996: HPV or Human Papilloma Virus recognized as the cause of 90% of all cervical cancer, and is the reason for yearly PAP smears.
1980-present: 8 NEW diseases identified including HIV

* It is important to note that this is not just a case of medical science diagnosing what has existed all along. These are NEW diseases, caused by sexual activity with multiple partners. Viruses continue to mutate and multiply, all the while becoming more resistant to treatment.
http://www.carenetabq.org/stds.shtml

Major STD rates highest in women and minorities; decade's trend continues,
CDC reports
OB/GYN News
Feb 1, 2009 by Jeff Evans

The rates of three major sexually transmitted diseases in the United States in 2007 continued to follow a nearly decade-long climb that has disproportionately affected minorities and women, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These trends in infection rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis are "not new, but the fact that they are continuing at such a dramatic level is really the major area of concern," said Dr. John M. Douglas Jr., director of the division of STD prevention at the CDC. All three STDs have long-standing federally funded control programs.
http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/obnews/article/PIIS0029743709700254/fulltext

Prudish? Perhaps some of it was. But in a day where abortion was mostly illegal and the schools would never pass out (or even discuss) condoms, teenage pregnancy and/or STD was extremely rare and, as I said, we were safe.

Correction: AIDS scare early 1980's......but other new STD identified had made folks more cautious before then. Schools were NOT passing out condoms during the time that the cases dropped off the most.

I wonder if you realize that I was talking about teenagers and not the population as a whole? Perhaps you could post statistics re unmarried teens in the 1950's vs unmarried teens now?

One reason people misconstrue teenage sexual behavior is that the system of dating and relationships has changed significantly. In the first half of the 20th century, dating was planned and structured " and a date might or might not lead to a physical relationship. In recent decades, that pattern has largely been replaced by casual gatherings of teenagers.

In that setting, teenagers often say they “fool around,” and in a reversal of the old pattern, such an encounter may or may not lead to regular dating. The shift began around the late 1960s, said Dr. Bogle, who explored the trend in her book “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus” (N.Y.U. Press, 2008).

<snip>

The reality is that the rate of teenage childbearing has fallen steeply since the late 1950s. The declines aren’t explained by the increasing availability of abortions: teenage abortion rates have also dropped.

.. unless it wasn't really Ginger Ale

More's the pity that you weren't privileged to experience a lifestyle like we experienced. I don't think my classmates were having sex while we imbibed the Ginger Ale. I would have noticed.

you turn around and call them a liar, as if you have any way to know

Our increased reliance on laws to regulate behavior is a measure of how uncivilized we've become.

The biggest danger in appointing the wrong people to the Supreme Court is not just in how they might vote on some particular issues " whether private property, abortion, or whatever. The biggest danger is that they will undermine or destroy the very concept of the rule of law " what has been called “a government of laws and not of men.”