(3 of 10)
Even so, some statistics indicate that a glacial shift toward conservatism is under way in sexual matters, and probably has been since the mid-'70s. Weddings and births are up, divorce is down, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. A record 2.5 million couples were married in 1982. It was the seventh annual rise in a row and an increase of 16% over 1975; the marriage rate, with the exception of two years in the early '70s, was the highest since 1950. The number of divorces dipped slightly, to 1.2 million, in 1982; that was the first decline in 20 years. The total number of births, as well as the birth rate, was the highest in a dozen years. Births to women in their 30s are still on the rise, one sign that doubts about motherhood are fading among females exposed to the heaviest antifamily criticisms. The birth rate for women 30 to 34 stands at 73.5 per thousand, up from 60 per thousand in 1980.
In the late '60s and early '70s, marriage, motherhood and the "nuclear family" were scorned by the counterculture, feminists and radicals. Psychiatrist David Cooper denounced the family as a "secret suicide pact" and "an ideological conditioning device in any exploitative society." Yet by the late '70s, says Writer Fran Schumer, "marriage became something hip, ambitious women could do." Most of those now divorced can hardly wait to get back into the game: some 60% to 70% of younger divorcees remarry within five years. One national poll taken in 1978 found that 23% of Americans said they would welcome less emphasis on marriage. Four years later, a follow-up poll showed that only 15% wanted marriage de-emphasized. Those who wanted traditional family ties rose 3%, to 86%, while people who wanted general acceptance of sexual freedom fell by 4%.
The shift in behavior extends to the young. Premarital sex is still prevalent—youngsters are starting earlier and marrying later—but some polls are picking up signs of sexual conservatism. A July 1983 reader survey by Psychology Today reported considerably more conservative attitudes, particularly among the young, than a similar poll taken in 1969. Half of those under age 22 felt that sex without love is unenjoyable or unacceptable. A survey of a group of juniors and seniors, selected last year from Who's Who Among American High School Students, found that only 25% had experienced sexual intercourse. A similar survey in 1971 found that 40% were nonvirgins. In 1976 one-fourth of the 300 Yale students who enrolled in Philip and Lorna Sarrel's course, Topics in Human Sexuality, said they were virgins. In 1983 one-third of the 259 students in the class said they had never had sex. Says Mary Olsen, director of the health center at Wheaton College in Massachusetts: "When you reach a certain age, it's a natural thing to explore your sexuality. The difference now is that things are not so casual. The women I speak with seem to want to know their partners." At Northwestern University, the director of the student health service, Helen Wilks, says, "Students on campus today are just more serious in general."