Children of the ’80s more sexually aware than parents’ generation
By Branyd Jones

Isn’t it funny how quickly things change. Our parents’ generation survived an era consumed with change. Civil rights, Vietnam, women’s liberation and so on. All contributed to the overall “rebellion” of the ’60s and ’70s.

And with these various political changes came another important social change: the sexual revolution. Maybe it wasn’t your parents, maybe it wasn’t my parents. Regardless of your own parents’ activities during their adolescence, someone’s mother discovered the birth control pill and someone’s father experimented with homosexuality. Historically, our parents’ generation is thought to have followed the theme of “Free Love.”

One would assume that “Make Love, Not War” would have been a mantra to transcend generational barriers. Perhaps, as a member of a generation still searching for its niche in history, I don’t understand the concept. Maybe “Make Love, Not War” is a lofty notion that can only really be appreciated by those who fought for peace and harmony.
We children of the ’80s are now adults of the 21st century. We are still searching for our sexual identity. We know about safe sex. We know about AIDS. We know about STDs. We know about unplanned pregnancies, we know about abortions. Where do we fit in? Should abstinence be our sexual identity or should we be forever known as “Generation Why Not”?

Once upon a time, it was generally conceived that you were destined to meet your future spouse in college. You’d be engaged by senior year, married right after graduation, and be living the good life with your 2.3 kids and a puppy dog by the time you’re 30. Perhaps one of the reasons that our generation is so sexually – and quite possibly mentally – confused, is the fact that that has become so rare. Granted, it can happen, but when it does, the announcement of the news is usually followed by a breathless, collective “No way!” or the ever popular “But they’re so young!”

These are not responses elicited by the parents of the affianced, but rather by their peers. One of my friends from high school is engaged. She is not yet 21 years old. Fifty years ago, maybe even 20 years ago, no one would bat an eye. Nowadays, young people all over the world are screaming, “You’re too young to be tied down! Make the most of your adolescence!” Does this idea lead to promiscuity, justified by the “you only live once” maxim?

So many of the students here are destined for medical school, law school, graduate school and high-paying jobs in the global business community that not much thought is given to marriage. Who can afford to settle down right after graduation when there are still eight more years of schooling to complete or a secure little nest egg to build? Most students are not ready to settle down, hence the practice of casual dating (a trip to the Mag Room for a romantic lunch) and the more common, ever-popular weekend fling.
This is the reality of life not only on our campus, but also on college campuses across the country. People our age are just not ready to settle down.

As Will Smith so eloquently put it, “Parent’s just don’t understand.” How many of your parents met, courted, and married during their college years? Is this where the generation gap begins? Has sex become such a taboo topic because it is no longer restricted to the confines of the marriage bed? Perhaps. Have our liberal, free lovin’, hippie parents become domestic and therefore conservative?

I tend to think that the heightened awareness of sex, the dangers and the variants, is directly proportionate to the way in which our generation talks about sex. We understand that it is a big deal, that there are consequences and that we must protect ourselves against them. But really, we have been talking about sex since about the fifth grade, sometimes earlier. We didn’t have to rely on the infamous “sex talk” to know the basic facts. We were probably presented with the facts before our parents were ready for us to know about them.

Every day, we are confronted with sexual images. Whether it is on television, in the movies, or in classic literature such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, we are accosted with images of intercourse, homosexuality, impotence and desire. Our generation has become almost desensitized to sex.

This is the generation gap. We are Generation Informed. Trust me, it could be worse. After all, we could have been Generation Why Not.

“Sex and the Campus” is a regular column exploring the sexual climate at the university. The column is written by a junior under a pseudonym in order to maintain her sexual anonymity.