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No-strings sex takes toll in UK
Waterbury Republican-American ^ | January 13, 2009 | Editorial

Posted on 01/13/2009 6:28:35 AM PST by Graybeard58

To the cheers of social scientists, Britain has been named the most promiscuous major industrial nation based on the "international sociosexuality index," which measures attitudes toward one-night stands, casual sex and numbers of partners. (The United States finished sixth.)

Researchers say Britain's ranking is empowering for women because it means they now are as able as men to engage in no-strings sex. "Historically we have repressed women's short-term mating and there are all sorts of double standards out there where men's short-term mating was sort of acceptable but women's wasn't," said lead researcher David Schmitt, a psychology professor at Bradley University in Illinois. They attributed Britain's ranking to the decline of religious scruples, the highly sexualized culture and other factors. All good things, apparently.

Missing from the study and the fawning news coverage were the collateral-damage data:

The Health Protection Agency says sexually transmitted diseases in Britain have never been higher. STDs in 2006, the last year full data were available, were up 6 percent over 2005; of the 380,000 new cases, 200,000 occurred among 16- to 24-year-olds.

Britain is fast becoming the abortion capital of the world. Government statistics show abortions in 2007 increased by 2.5 percent; the number performed on girls under 16 jumped 10 percent. Its abortion rate is No. 1 in Europe and No. 3 in the world, behind only the United States and Australia, where rates have been falling steadily for years.

The teen-pregnancy rate is soaring and is the second highest in the world behind the United States, a UNICEF study found. The spike is occurring even though the government has spent more than $100 million in the last three years to cut the rate in half by 2010.

The most recent report on social trends by the Office for National Statistics found a record 1 in 4 children in Britain live in households headed by a single parents — overwhelmingly single mothers. That's three times the proportion of 1972, while the rate of two-parent families has fallen from 52 percent to 37 percent, a new low. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says Britain's welfare system is second only to Ireland's in making it more lucrative for single mothers to stay on the government dole. And predictably, single mothers and their children continue to suffer from some of the worst social and cultural pathologies.

How exactly is any of this empowering for women?


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: british; greatbritain; moralabsolutes; promiscuity; promiscuous; sex; std; unitedkingdom
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To: hunter112
Either she's a supermodel, or you are someone less than secure about it, but not every single man wants to have sex with every woman he sees all the time. Stores are often seen as good places to buy things, not as pickup joints.

An abstraction used to make a point you're not grasping. Marriage restricts more bad than good and liberates more good than bad. Feminists want one side of the equation but not the other. They don't get the irony that by pushing their agenda in the short run, they kill it in the long run.

61 posted on 01/13/2009 8:34:50 AM PST by Poison Pill (Help, I've voted Republican and I can't get up!)
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To: Cronos; swain_forkbeard

Right you are. That very natural male feeling of “loose women are OK by me” lasts as long as emotional early adolescence does; for some, of course, a lifetime. But it’s usually superseded by the perspective of being a good brother, a good neighbor, a good father, or a good lover.


62 posted on 01/13/2009 8:42:14 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o ("It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that show us what we truly are. " -- J.K.Rowling)
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To: Graybeard58
Historically we have repressed women's short-term mating and there are all sorts of double standards out there where men's short-term mating was sort of acceptable but women's wasn't

It still take two people to 'mate'.

63 posted on 01/13/2009 8:46:49 AM PST by eclecticEel (In short, I want Obama given the same respect and deference that Democrats have given George Bush)
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To: Graybeard58
...short-term mating...

What a wonderful label to use when considering human beings nothing more than animals. It's like a documentary on insects or something. The secularity is here.
64 posted on 01/13/2009 8:51:00 AM PST by AD from SpringBay (We deserve the government we allow.)
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To: Cronos

bttt


65 posted on 01/13/2009 8:55:16 AM PST by Centurion2000 (To protect and defend ... against all enemies, foreign and domestic .... by any means necessary.)
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To: Graybeard58; 185JHP; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


66 posted on 01/13/2009 8:56:49 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Cronos

Yes, the traditional view of marriage was there to put restrictions on men’s actions. It said that in order to participate in a sexual relationship; a man had to grow up and take on the adult responsibilities of caring for a wife and a family. Today, men are told to remain at the adolescent stage for years or even decades, yet still having access to sex. It provides the instant gratification, but only by on the whole stagnating male maturity.


67 posted on 01/13/2009 9:07:30 AM PST by eclecticEel (In short, I want Obama given the same respect and deference that Democrats have given George Bush)
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To: swain_forkbeard
"Sex without love is an empty experience. But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best."
Woody Allen
68 posted on 01/13/2009 9:14:34 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
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To: Graybeard58
I think the beginning of this behavior was during the Second World War. Lots of social mores among the middle and lower classes in Britain were cast aside during this time, because folks were just trying to survive.

When there were fewer men, after the war, they took advantage of the changed sexual attitudes of the women, and got this whole thing rolling. Out of wedlock childbirth started increasing, without any seeming negative repercussions, and a generation or two of that would do the trick.

We've seen this same thing happen in our own country, with the advent of welfare to unmarried women with children.

69 posted on 01/13/2009 9:23:06 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: swain_forkbeard
As a man, I find it hard to come out against lots of women willing to have no-strings sex.

As a man, if find that (common) attitude disgusting.

70 posted on 01/13/2009 9:29:45 AM PST by don-o (My son, Ben - Recruit training at Parris Island from October 20)
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To: hunter112

Africa and Latin America have lower teenage pregnancy rates than USA? As said, I’m skeptical.

According to Wiki, the highest teen pregnancy rates are in Niger, where 53% of women have given birth before the age of 18.

The US teen pregnancy rate, which includes the ages of 19 and 19, is 8.6%. Slightly lower than Niger’s. But we do lead the world among “advanced” countries. USA, USA ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy


71 posted on 01/13/2009 9:30:49 AM PST by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: Monterrosa-24
Instead of feeling sorry for women in the double standard they should have felt sorry for men for falling further short of what God wants.

The whole point of feminists pushing easy sexuality for women is that they want God OUT of the picture. To hardcore feminists, God is a negative, because belief in Him causes people to rein in their more base instincts, which to feminists is a BAD thing. God is patriarchal, thus 'man' centered, which is anathema to feminism. They want people to engage in whatever behavior makes them feel good, and to be able to do it without consequences. That's why they push abortion; it enables women to have all the sex they want, without the consequence of children.

72 posted on 01/13/2009 9:31:50 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: dfwgator
BTW isn’t that the chick from Frazier in that pic. I know she started out on the Benny Hill Show.

I didn't know she started out on the Benny Hill show! When I looked at the picture, and before I read your comment, I was trying to place her, then, in my mind, I heard her voice, from the few times I've seen parts of the show, and realized who she was.

Benny Hill was ok, but we could only take it in small doses. A little TOO sophomoric for us.

73 posted on 01/13/2009 9:35:49 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: Aquinasfan

Prescient, wasn’t it?


74 posted on 01/13/2009 9:37:18 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: Sherman Logan
According to Wiki, the highest teen pregnancy rates are in Niger, where 53% of women have given birth before the age of 18.
The US teen pregnancy rate, which includes the ages of 19 and 19, is 8.6%. Slightly lower than Niger’s. But we do lead the world among “advanced” countries.

How many of those teen mothers in Niger are actually married? Very few of those in the US are.

75 posted on 01/13/2009 9:42:41 AM PST by SuziQ
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To: the_devils_advocate_666

Finally. Someone with a sense of humour.


76 posted on 01/13/2009 9:54:32 AM PST by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: don-o

Do you find sex disgusting?


77 posted on 01/13/2009 9:55:38 AM PST by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: Theophilus

First, what exactly is irrational about my attitude?

Second, what’s rationality have to do with it anyway?


78 posted on 01/13/2009 9:56:44 AM PST by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: SuziQ
How many of those teen mothers in Niger are actually married?

Acording to Wiki, 87% of women in Niger are married by the age of 18. That's probably a higher percentage than ever get married here.

79 posted on 01/13/2009 10:25:51 AM PST by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: Sherman Logan
According to Wiki, 87% of women in Niger are married by the age of 18.

That certainly gives a different spin on 'teen pregnancy', which, to most Western readers, assumes 'unmarried'.

80 posted on 01/13/2009 10:39:26 AM PST by SuziQ
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