This article is aimed at younger generations who may be misled by older storytellers trying to take advantage of their lack of knowledge. I believe there are many falsehoods being spread about past generations. Fortunately, it’s difficult to lie about the past since evidence can be found online.
In the sixties, people used to marry at a very young age. As shown below, the average age of first marriage did not exceed 22 years old before 1980. In fact, people in the 60’s and partially in the 70’s married earlier than they did between 1890 and 1940! This means they didn’t have as much dating experience as people do today. I have researched whether people engaged in group sex or threesomes after marriage, but found no evidence of such practices. Therefore, if a man started dating at 18 years old in 1967, he was likely to marry at around 22 years old in 1970. This means he would have had only 4 years of sexual freedom? I will explain later why this is unlikely.
The trend also suggests that the real sexual liberation came after the 70’s, as people started marrying at an older age. The average age at first birth logically followed this trend. In 1970, the average age of a mother at first birth was only 21.4 years old. It seems unlikely that a young mother at 22 years old would be participating in group sex.
The big lie about the people of the 60’s and their behavior towards traditional wedding:
Here’s a rewritten version:
The chart below shows the historical average age of first marriage in the USA. As you can see, in the 60’s and partially in the 70’s, men tended to marry earlier than they did between 1890 and 1940. This suggests that the generation of the 60’s was actually more conservative than both previous and later generations when it comes to traditional marriage. Therefore, it’s unlikely that they could offer us any valuable lessons on breaking free from traditional marriage norms.
The female / male relationship wasn’t what it is today
Check out this home movie footage from the 1969 Woodstock festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rlz9ZMqWKxs. Contrary to popular belief, the event was not the free-love utopia that it has been made out to be. As you can see in the footage, men outnumbered women and the crowd appeared shy and disciplined. There was little interaction between men and women, and those who did interact seemed to be shy and hesitant. Additionally, the Woodstock movie itself reveals that young women at that time were quite reserved when it came to talking to men. Monogamy was also the norm at that time, as can be seen in the footage.
In the 60’s they had less sex than we think
Older generations often tell stories to grab attention, and I have fallen victim to their tall tales as well. Some men from previous generations took advantage of the fact that I wasn’t born yet to check the validity of their statements. However, when I looked at US statistics and the median age for first marriage, I discovered they had lied to me.
Moreover, when I asked them if they engaged in libertinage after getting married, they said no. Therefore, I believe that if those generations of men didn’t lie, they wouldn’t have any exciting sexual stories to tell because nothing significant happened during that time.
I highly recommend purchasing the Woodstock movie and observing the interactions between young men and women during that era. You’ll notice that both genders were shy and hesitant to talk to each other. When I watched the movie, I realized that it was implausible that they suddenly went from being afraid to talk to each other to having group sex. The moral and social pressure was much stronger than it is today, and the generations of the 60’s and 70’s were not part of a drastic shift in male/female relationships.
My understanding
It’s my belief that both men and women of that era were heavily influenced by the conservative culture of the 60’s and 70’s, and were therefore strongly tied to traditional moral values. Movies have perpetuated a false narrative by portraying the 60’s and 70’s as a time of sexual liberation, but it’s important to remember that Hollywood movies are not reliable historical sources for understanding the complexities of male-female relationships during that time period.