kids these days

Compared to previous generations, today's teenagers are exposed to violent video games, sexually explicit rap music, infinite internet porn, and sexually explicit text messaging ("sexting"). Not only is marijuana more accesible than ever, there are a plethora of new illegal recreational drugs you've probably never even heard of ("syzurp" and "molly").

And yet... the U.S. teen pregnancy rate has plummeted in recent decades. Separate data shows this has coincided with dramatic drops in the teen abortion rates. Why? Are today's teens more responsible than teens of yore? Are teens have less sex? Are straight teens all becoming gay? Are teens using more contraceptives? Or are they too busy surfing the internet to bother with the hassles of the real world?

You might be being facetious with your “time on the internet” comment, but I wonder if that doesn’t play at least a small role in things. I know even with my slight, ten year gap to kids today, I see a vast difference in time spent with peers. Can’t be knocking boots through an ethernet cable. At least, not yet.

But I wonder if it’s what I say about everything from drugs to guns. Maybe, just maybe, it’s education. Having lived through the sort of “sexual openness generation”, we were constantly subjected to PSA’s and other propaganda educating and reminding us kids how bloody horrible having a kid as a kid is. Couple that with the other side of the sexual openness generation’s penchant for performing acts other than reproductive intercourse, and viola! No more babies having babies.

I think one thing that happened was that use of condoms became more socially acceptable after the mid-1980s. They were always available, but they were often "hidden" in some corner of the store. When they saw hookers in movies demanding they be used it was no big deal.

Quote: Face

But I wonder if it’s what I say about everything from drugs to guns. Maybe, just maybe, it’s education. Having lived through the sort of “sexual openness generation”, we were constantly subjected to PSA’s and other propaganda educating and reminding us kids how bloody horrible having a kid as a kid is. Couple that with the other side of the sexual openness generation’s penchant for performing acts other than reproductive intercourse, and viola! No more babies having babies.

I think it is more the second part than the first one. In my experience, women do not really think about timing when having kids. If they want kids they will let themselves become pregnant whenever it happens. Not sure if the "prom baby" thing is real or not, but I can see some girls thinking motherhood is easier than college then work.

Guys sometimes see the financial drain from knocking the girl up and take precautions if they are smart. Many are not smart and have a 19% drain on their paychecks. Some are really stupid and nail more than one woman.

I think education works only on borderline cases. With really poor kids who's mothers are on assistance they just try to get knocked up so they can get their own place and a check.

i think there are a number of factors at play.

First, sexual education is up.
Second, birth control is more readily available and widely acceptable (and distributed) at schools.
Third, other acts besides intercourse are become much more socially acceptable with the widespread availability of pornography to give the kids "other things to do".
Fourth, plan "B" though it doesn't count as an abortion, is available.
Fifth, there is a direction to less social interaction between the opposite sexes due to the internet.

Quote: boymimbo

i think there are a number of factors at play.

First, sexual education is up.
Second, birth control is more readily available and widely acceptable (and distributed) at schools.
Third, other acts besides intercourse are become much more socially acceptable with the widespread availability of pornography to give the kids "other things to do".
Fourth, plan "B" though it doesn't count as an abortion, is available.
Fifth, there is a direction to less social interaction between the opposite sexes due to the internet.

I think boymimbo has mentioned exactly the same factors I think are in play, along with two others not mentioned. I would add the distraction of cell phone/texting/phonecams to the internet and weight that one most heavily by far. People are not interacting: they're second-handing their experiences and concentrating on their gadgets, not the people around them. It creates a distance that makes it harder to know someone well enough to become that intimate at a young age.

The first of 2 factors not mentioned are the wholesale losses of social interaction that went along with many non-basic subject activities, from school sports, to band/music/art/theater/clubs, to groups like Scouting/4H/Indian Guides, and even Gym period, which has been abolished in many schools. Losing the funding in public schools to support and develop these activities is costing kids social skills like teamwork and group interaction that led to stronger and more personal relationships.

The second factor not mentioned (though could be encompassed in "other acts" as he referenced) is the geometric rise in peer acceptance of young teens who consider themselves gay, and so are not having hetero interactions kids of previous generations had, especially kids confused about their sexuality trying different partners or trying to overcompensate for what they didn't want to be. Might be a small factor, but I bet it's significant.

Supposedly college girls can't even get dates anymore, its all sexual hook ups or get lost. There is no time for dating.

Take it down a few years and it remains: competition to get into a good school is high, time is managed better and there are hookups arranged by cell phone not endless dating. In private schools some term papers are ghosted to save time. Travel is cheap and kids now go to Guatemala and an age we used to go to the grocery store.

S. E. Hinton writing a best seller as a teenager is no longer exceptional; girls in high school now have fashion businesses on the internet or escrow closings on their retail businesses. One of the best suppliers of apparel for "The Green Hour" that celebrates the consumption of Absinthe is a teenager. One woman had a business involving doll clothing, her daughter started seeing what ebay did for her mother at an early age. No dreams of a Prince or a Movie Star, girls these days dream of positive cash flow and being serviced by Cabana Boys. Girls either market fashions or themselves, but its done efficiently via the internet and "being appreciative" for tuition assistance. When grade school girls wear underpants reading "who needs credit cards when you have this" its not such a great leap to a reality of marketing sex with men rather than being pawed by over-awed boys. By the time girls do get serious about marriage, its a matter of contacting their existing lawyers and existing CPAs.

Quote: Fleastiff

Supposedly college girls can't even get dates anymore, its all sexual hook ups or get lost. There is no time for dating.

Take it down a few years and it remains: competition to get into a good school is high, time is managed better and there are hookups arranged by cell phone not endless dating. In private schools some term papers are ghosted to save time. Travel is cheap and kids now go to Guatemala and an age we used to go to the grocery store.

S. E. Hinton writing a best seller as a teenager is no longer exceptional; girls in high school now have fashion businesses on the internet or escrow closings on their retail businesses. One of the best suppliers of apparel for "The Green Hour" that celebrates the consumption of Absinthe is a teenager. One woman had a business involving doll clothing, her daughter started seeing what ebay did for her mother at an early age. No dreams of a Prince or a Movie Star, girls these days dream of positive cash flow and being serviced by Cabana Boys. Girls either market fashions or themselves, but its done efficiently via the internet and "being appreciative" for tuition assistance. When grade school girls wear underpants reading "who needs credit cards when you have this" its not such a great leap to a reality of marketing sex with men rather than being pawed by over-awed boys. By the time girls do get serious about marriage, its a matter of contacting their existing lawyers and existing CPAs.

Fleastiff when is your book coming out? :-)

Quote: theodores

Fleastiff when is your book coming out? :-)

I ain't writin' no book. And if I did... no one would read it.

There's this myth that kids these days know too much about sex, but in the old days children were shielded from adult activities.

Here's some trivia: the age of consent in 1880 was 10 years in most U.S. states. (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming.)

In Delaware in 1880, the age of consent was 7 years old.

Having sex with a child wasn't legal everywhere, by the way: in 1880 Chile, the age of consent was 20 years. Sweden, Turkey, Romania, & Luxemburg put the limit at 15.