PREMARITAL SEX AND GENDER BAHAVIOR

American has changed their views of sex, sex role, and marriage in the last several decades-and many have also changed their sexual behavior.

New Attitudes toward Premarital Sex

Premarital sex is more widely talked about than it was several decades ago. Among young people there’s less belief in the ‘double standard’ that says premarital sex is all right for men but not for women. More unmarried college woman today say they’ve engaged in sexual intercourse – the number has moved from about 40 percent in the 1950s to at least 80% in the 1970s Teenagers, too, may be more likely to approve of premarital sex, and some may be more likely to engage in it if there is an emotional commitment between the partners – though the widespread notion of promiscuous teenager is a myth

New attitudes Toward Gender Behavior

Traditional expectations for ‘male’ and ‘female’ behavior have also begun to change, both in marriage and outside marriage. It is now more widely recognized that environment plays an important role in shaping each individual’s identity as a male or a female, and more people now realize that if men and women are different, it isn’t because they’re just born that way.

There are some inborn differences in the way male and female babies behave that are noticeable shortly after birth, but these differences are not as great as people one assumed. Meanwhile, from the first announcement of a baby’s sex, society imposes different expectations depending on which sex it is. The baby gets either a girl’s name or a boy ‘s name, either a pink blanket or a blue one.

The parents tend to talk more with a baby girl and to roughhouse more with a baby boy. When small girls flirts with her father , he may flirt back. When a small boy wants to play with a ball, Dad play catch. These responses contribute to the child’s growing sense of being male or female. Even by the age of three or four, most children have a strong gender identity and have begun to learn behavior appropriate to their gender.

Today social conditioning that shaped the typical man and typical woman of yesteryear is changing. Little girl are now encouraged to be more physically active, even to join Little League teams. More mothers are working and they provide different role models from the homemakers of several decades ago.