[SuziQ]

Seems like it wasn't until just about 25 years ago that we really started having problems with teens and sex. Sure, kids in the 50's and early 60's did the deed, but they knew it was wrong, and they'd face consequences if they did, not the least of which was pregnancy. Long about the late 60's with the advent of 'free love', adults seemed to just give up on any sort of responsibility, maybe because they wanted an excuse to do the same thing. Kids got the idea they could do anything they wanted, anytime they wanted with no consequences. But dang, that pregnancy thing just kept being such a pain. No problem! Those adults just decided to push for legal abortion, anytime, anywhere, for any reason, whatsoever. Then they wouldn't be bothered by their kids , or themselves or their girlfriends, for that matter, getting pregnant.

Well, it turns out that pregnancy WASN'T the worst thing that could happen to sexually active teenagers, and that disease got it's own set of civil rights, but that's another story.

When kids are given the information about the dangers of early sexual activity, and are taught ways tools to avoid it, many will. There are many adults who will fight against the kids being taught these skills, though, many times because they're couched in religious terms. Forget about the fact that they actually WORK, it's just that whole religion thing that gets some folks all riled up.

[RochesterFan]

As one who grew up during this era (born in 1955,) I think you pretty well summed things up. I do think that in addition to the ‘free-love’ philosophy, that postmodernism caused an erosion in at least an intellectual agreement with the notion of true authority. As society became more postmodern, the mantra became, ‘If it feels good (to me,) do it.’ This has caused an erosion in sexual mores, civility, and many other areas.