By AlaskaWatchman.com

A new Gallup report reveals that Americans are increasingly rejecting traditional views regarding sex and marriage.

The recent Gallup study focused on six behaviors related directly to sexual practices and marriage. It found that Americans are more likely to say that all six are morally acceptable compared to their counterparts 20 years ago.

“Views that gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable have increased from 40% to 69%, having a baby outside of marriage from 45% to 67%, sex between an unmarried man and woman from 53% to 73%, divorce from 59% to 79%, polygamy from 7% to 20%, and sex between teenagers from 32% to 43%,” the report states.

This could have “consequential” negative impacts “for society as a whole,” Gallup states.

The Gallup report notes that the increase in people saying the six behaviors are morally acceptable “indicates a significant change” away from traditional heterosexual views about marriage.

“Views on ‘having a baby outside of marriage’ provide a good example,” Gallup states. “Twenty years ago, 45% of Americans said this behavior was morally acceptable.” Today,  67% of Americans say it is acceptable.

“In other words, the social shame heaped on the act of having a baby outside of marriage today is significantly muted from what it was 20 years ago,” Gallup states. “In a similar fashion, Americans can engage in other behaviors relating to sexual relations with less concern about societal disapproval than in years gone by.”

If these trends continue, Gallup predicts that American society could undergo a fundamental shift in the decades ahead.

While public approval of once frowned upon sexual practices has increased, marriage and birth rates have dropped, the report observes. This could have “consequential” negative impacts “for society as a whole,” Gallup states.

“Evidence shows clearly that marriage is associated with a number of positive health and wellbeing outcomes for those involved and presumably for society as a whole,” the report observes. “It is also clear that a drop in the birth rate can have serious economic consequences for society, ultimately limiting the pool of available workers, which in turn can limit economic growth and strain the income transfer programs put in place to support older citizens.”

In the future, “if Americans increasingly do not feel they need the sanction of marriage to engage in sexual behavior, marriage rates may decline” even further, the report notes. “And, the decline in marriage may be associated with fewer babies (even if it is increasingly acceptable to have a baby out of wedlock).” This is because fertility is often directly linked to a couple committing to marriage.

“As one economist and analyst for the Institute for Family Studies concluded after studying the marriage and fertility data in a paper aptly titled No Ring, No Baby,” Gallup states.

In examining why Americans are abandoning traditional views of sexuality, Gallup points to the loosening of morals in the late 1800s in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, and the decades following.

“There were certainly changes in what was deemed morally acceptable in the Roaring ’20s some 100 years ago,” the report states. “Aging baby boomers can remember the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s when the age of ‘free love’ was coupled with the advent of more widespread birth control, feminism and the general concept of protest against societal norms engendered by the Vietnam War.”

If these trends continue, Gallup predicts that American society could undergo a fundamental shift in the decades ahead.

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Report: America’s traditional views on marriage & sex are devolving fast

Joel Davidson
Joel is Editor-in-Chief of the Alaska Watchman. Joel is an award winning journalist and has been reporting for over 24 years, He is a proud father of 8 children, and lives in Palmer, Alaska.


12 Comments

  • Neil A DeWitt says:

    How about we do away with abortion? How about no sex unless your married?? How about if you have a baby out of wedlock you go to prison for 18 years. How about teaching abstinence in schools? We as Americans have no moral value anylonger! We need to change drastically the other way instead of teaching sex education to what is it 4th graders? Let’s put some GOD back in out lives! Believe or not we are way worse off now than anytime is history!

    • Proud Alaskan says:

      AGREE

    • Patrick Messmer says:

      How about we learn some tolerance. It’s none of your business who someone chooses to sleep with or make a life with. But the hell out and don’t force your religion on others.

      • Proud Alaskan says:

        Patrick’
        As my mother would say it’s all about choices. But you won’t let God be taught or told. So you want me, to let you have your say, on things, I don’t agree with. But I can’t say things that you don’t agree with, that’s only one sided.
        I have to except things that are So Stupid and wrong in this world we live in.
        Go put your Diaper mask back on, and quit tell me how to run my life.
        May God bless your heart. You believe your way, I’ll believe my way, then we can live in this world together peacefully. But when you start forcing all these Stupid rules on us. Boys can use girl baths, must I go on. End of story

  • Steve Peterson says:

    This is a direct result of parents abdicating their responsibility of socializing their own children and handing them over to a godless indoctrination centers known as public schools. It’s been going on for half a century or more and this is where we now are. John Dewey, father of public education, said this was the goal. Average people just couldn’t believe that the state was out to get their children, but that is what has been happening, and with great success. I’m so glad I got myself out of public school teaching and got my sons out of public school as well. Some of the best choices I ever made.

  • Jen says:

    It has a lot to do with men choosing not to be a husband and dad.

    This was a perfect day to wait before publishing this subject on Fathers Day.
    The underlying main subject topic is Genesis 3:9 “But the LORD God called to man, ‘where are You?”

    It appears when man fears something like the responsibility being a dad and husband he hides which allows evil to destroy what is his. Adam’s response fits how majority men (past, present) respond he was afraid and shamed so he hid himself.

  • Jen says:

    You know what! the local Youth Centers (boys and girls club) they need more Men volunteers down there for the boys and girls dropped off by hiding dads and alone single mothers. If you are Real man who is waiting and praying for your own adult child to be reconciled back to you after you werent the best dad figure for them or you are the single man without a child. You can be a ‘Dad’ authority figure for boys and girls without one.

    • Jen says:

      ***I shouldn’t say hiding dads but Neglectful dads. Because of single mothers their child’s dad is hiding.

  • G Aleution says:

    Merely clapping groins with someone else’s husband doesn’t bring parenting commitment. Spiritual stupidity doesn’t vitiate consequences for a unwise person which will last thirteen lifetimes in a “family”. In Isreal God Himself commanded a bastard to stay out of the temple. Why? Because that person would be raised with permissive standards. That bastard will not participate properly within a family unit. Can’t. Can’t say marriage is good. It’s what kept the impregnator from “marrying” mom. So she can’t be a wife. Her ensuing bastards will all never marry. If they do the man or woman won’t be honorable to a mere mate. These insatiables read voyeuristic “romance” genres fantasizing endlessly and grossly. And society is denied the gift of family for 13 generations for each instance. So keep it zipped jentlemen. Just the spiritual facts ma’am.

  • Mo says:

    Liberalism is a mental disease.

  • G Aleution says:

    God is not a hiding Father. Any may approach in spirit and in truth. Scriptures gives authority in all spiritual difficulties. One may break a mold or pattern and teach children this. Do the right thing for one’s health, happiness, family blessing, and state and nation strengthening.

  • John J. Otness says:

    All these societal woes are woven deep within the Communist Chinese Parties Plot of overthrow. We all know now that. Fauci is a treasonous bastard that was working with the Chinese Communist and that ties in all that were complicit with the Corona Act of Biological war and who instituted Unconstitutional MANDATES that restricted our Freedoms as citizens of this Nation. The Governor Dr Zink and all who were just following orders are to be held accountable for the devastation their actions provoked. The irreparable damage and business lost . The absolute evil of the psychological damage by these things we called leaders done to our children by their action… The suicides… All fell in line with this Communist Chinese act of war and Dr Fauci. We are at war with China as I type you had better get ready…. PS DOMINION is still owned by the CCP and your governor and Legislature wont even say its name….. You the United States Citizen are in Peril by this evil so now is a great time to wake up