Points of View

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Fallout from the Birth Control Revolution

By JOHN BALDWIN

Have you ever wondered if some of the low-rider pants that young people wear might slide off, because they keep riding lower and lower? Have you noticed that wild sexual messages seem to be ever more common in the media, when most people–young and old–still see sex as a private act?

Sex in our society has been changing rapidly over the past four decades, in part due to the advent of the birth control revolution. Today many young people can realistically engage in sex without major fears of pregnancy. Some teens, young adults, and product designers are exploring sexual possibilities that were not available to prior generations.

Before the 1960s, few people had access to effective methods of birth control, and adolescent sexual exploration could easily lead to pregnancy. In those days, many young people and their parents worried about the consequences of premarital sex, and the mainstream media did not present many messages about "free love" or "wild and wooly sex."

It was not until the contraceptive pill and other new birth control technologies became available in the 1960s–with improvements in the following decades–that people gradually began to have fewer fears of unexpected pregnancies and became more playful in exploring sexual possibilities.

From 1970 to 1990, the new sexual freedoms led to a gradual increase in adolescent sexual intercourse, pregnancies, abortion, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). As the real risks of carefree sex became ever clearer, there was an increasing emphasis on responsible sex. This shift became visible after the early 1990s, when there was a significant decline in teen pregnancies and abortions as well as HIV/AIDS, and sex education better communicated the need for greater caution about sexuality.

Nevertheless, we are living at a time in which the countless contradictory social messages about sex can confuse both teens and adults. Some youth-oriented media, products, and services are exploring the fantasies of wild and wooly sex; while caring parents, sex educators, and worried peers push for responsibility.

Fortunately, increasing numbers of young people are discriminating the difference between fantasy images and the responsible behavior needed for safety in a complex world of unwanted pregnancies and dangerous diseases. For example, at UCSB there was a gradual but steady increase in condom use between 1988 and 2002, along with a decline in sexually transmitted diseases.

However we still have a long way to go. At UCSB last year, students used condoms only 50 percent of the time.

All of us who care about the next generation should appreciate that youthful fantasies of wild and crazy sex can be fun. Clandestine sex at a disco fits the fantasies; an unwanted pregnancy, or STD, does not. Low-rider pants may fit into the fantasy; being raped does not.

We need to reinforce societal messages about responsible sex. We can do this in a positive way by showing the youth that we care about their health, safety, and having beautiful, loving relationships–without harping on or nagging about the horrible consequences of "worst case scenarios."

Young people find the positive approach to love and caring relationships much more acceptable than guilt trips–which often turn them off to adults and the messages we have to offer.