Retro Moral Panic: “Sexual Behavior Among Teen-Agers”

In the wake of graduation I started working part-time as a Personal Assistant and Organizational Consultant. Last weekend, one of my clients decided to purge an interesting and sizable book collection. The biggest perk of my work? First pick of the donation-destined books.

My client pulled a tattered, yellowing paperback from the shelf and grinned. “You might like this one from the 60s.”

"Sexual Behavior Among Teen-Agers"

My jaw dropped and I might have drooled a tiny bit. I tucked the book safely into my take-home pile, eager to peer into the perspective of 1960s psychiatrists and panicked adults.

Notice the newspaper clippings on the left? "4 Girls Held In Sex Orgy Quiz." Uh, woah.

Turns out, it’s the same tired tune sung by today’s pop-psychologists and panicked parents: Our girls are having sex! We must DO something! The fabric of society! Morals! Ad nauseum!

The book title says teenagers (er, teen-agers) but means young females. The entire book is about rising promiscuity among girls in the 1960s. Misleading title FTW.

From the introduction:

Fear of Teen Sex

I woke up this morning with wicked stuffed sinuses and headed to the gym to try and run from the sickness. My mode today is sloth and I stepped on the treadmill just in time for midday trash TV. Nestled in between CNN and Martha Stewart was Maury Povich and his headline scare topic of the day was teen sex parties. Sorry, make that, TEEN SEX PARTIES: AN ALARMING NEW TREND.

This is not new and endemic to the current generation.

Sex Educators: Cleaner Minds than the DMV

I love reading FAIL Blog (I am a proud LOL-lover in general) but when I saw this clip I was just confused. Not until the very end did the aha! moment grab me.

I’m not sure if I should be ashamed or worried that the DMV has a dirtier mind than me.