by October 13th, 2009. Filed under: teenage pregnancy.
My teacher told me that back in the fifties teenage pregnancies were much higher than they are today but it was hidden and backstreet abortions killed the young girls.
She also said STD rates were much worse all because of the stigma attached to sex back then no girl had any treatments or clinics.
So if the fifties were supposed to be all innocent and wholesome why were problems much worse back then?
1. No hormonal birth control.
2. Condoms weren’t widely available and had to be requested at the counter.
3. The main birth control methods were diaphragms and condoms — neither of which were extremely reliable (quality wasn’t as good back then) or very accessible to young people.
So most sex was unprotected, and pregnancy was quite likely.
(There were certainly many illegal abortions. There were all girls who were sent to ‘maternity homes’ and gave their babies up for adoption. And girls who had, and kept, their babies.)
There WERE treatments for STIs… if the girl sought them out. Antibiotics were available.
Filed under: teenage pregnancy
October 14th, 2009 at 4:45 am
mightve been a baby boom. and condoms wernt as effective
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October 14th, 2009 at 5:02 am
It wasn’t widely talked about. Back then, people believed you didn’t air your dirty laundry. If a girl "went abroad" to stay with family, lo and behold, about a year later, the girl came home and mom had a newborn….
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October 14th, 2009 at 5:48 am
1. No hormonal birth control.
2. Condoms weren’t widely available and had to be requested at the counter.
3. The main birth control methods were diaphragms and condoms — neither of which were extremely reliable (quality wasn’t as good back then) or very accessible to young people.
So most sex was unprotected, and pregnancy was quite likely.
(There were certainly many illegal abortions. There were all girls who were sent to ‘maternity homes’ and gave their babies up for adoption. And girls who had, and kept, their babies.)
There WERE treatments for STIs… if the girl sought them out. Antibiotics were available.
References :
October 14th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Because they didn’t have the abilities to treat STDs, and they didn’t have easily accessible abortion clinics.
References :
my grandma, she’s loopy though.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:27 am
They were uneducated about sex. They had an excuse. There wasnt birth control readily available to them. That is what makes this generations problems so much worse. You learn about condoms, birth control and stds…and yet you still defy the education and do what you want. They did not know or did not have those things available so of course they were going to do it and have repercussions. And like alot of the other people have posted it was swept under the rug simply because it wasnt talked about. Family pride was something a little more substantial in the 50’s.
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