Did The Sexual Revolution Of The 70s Lead To A Morality Decline In The US? Is Sex Morally Neutral?

There’s a lot to these questions, so let me do this piece by piece. But I’m going to start with the second question.

I believe that sex is morally neutral. And there are probably people who don’t agree with me.

For me, society attaches values to all things sex related. That can include saying that some behaviors are good, and that some are bad. Like who you should have sex with. Many Judeo-Christian cultures say that sex within marriage is ok. So that means that in those cultures, sex outside of marriage is not.

In all the things I’ve read, the one thing I consistently see is that every single culture has rules around sex. Every one! But those rules are not the same from one culture to another.

And most cultures aren’t stagnant when it comes to sexual values. They change over time.

And I think that’s what happened after the 1970s. It’s not that there was a morality decline, it was that the moral view of things shifted.

In the 1960s in mainstream America, women were expected to have one sexual partner – their husband. And they were supposed to get married right after high school. Which meant that most women didn’t really have an opportunity to get a college degree.

They were also supposed to stay married no matter what. It didn’t matter if there was infidelity on his part, or any type of abuse, she was supposed to stay in that marriage.

Today there is an increase in women who are choosing not to get married or even be in a committed relationship. And we’re seeing more women leaving marriages that are not healthy.

We are seeing an increase in women who are getting college and graduate degrees.

And we’re seeing an increase in the number of women who are either choosing to delay having children, or who are choosing not to have children at all.

While some might see these changes in women’s choices as straying from what might be more morally “acceptable,” others would argue that this is progress.

What I always find interesting is when people will look at a specific behavior, like premarital sex, and say that back in the day (whenever that was) that didn’t happen.

But that’s almost never true.

Premarital sex has always existed. So has extramarital sex.

There have always been people who engaged in a wide variety of sexual behaviors, including BDSM.

And there have always been people who practiced consensual nonmonogamy.

We just didn’t talk about it as openly as we do now.

Same thing with people who are LGBT+. They always existed. It just wasn’t safe for them to be out.

So I would ask you, do you think that a society that has allowed it’s members to live their best lives, one that has changed into a place where we can openly acknowledge that we’re all different. And that different people might want different things. Is that a sign of a morality decline, or one of society evolving?

If you want to listen/watch more about this, you might want to check out an episode I did on my podcast “Unzipping Taboos: Candid Conversations About Sex” on this called “Sex, Power, and Control: When Freedom Becomes a Threat.”

Two favors for anyone reading. Since these Q&As are based on actual questions asked either live or through my website, can someone please ask about what gender affirming care is? And also, ask about how people could have existed back in the day if the language is new (like pansexual, or trans). Thanks!

Until next time, be safe, and have fun!

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