JJR512
New Member
The media attention and comments on this site regarding Alaska Governor Palin's teenaged daughter Bristol's pregnancy have made me curious. Bristol Palin is 17 years old.
Wasn't it once common for girls of 16, 15, maybe even younger to get married and start their families under the age of 18? Partly because people didn't live as long so it was good to start earlier, and partly so the fathers could stop bearing the expenses related to putting up their relatively less-productive* female offspring. [*Please note that IS NOT my own opinion, just what the thinking was at the time!]
Those times are long gone by and those reasons don't exist anymore, and now it's taboo for girls under the age of 18 to get married and/or get pregnant. And there is also the issue that Bristol Palin isn't married, like those girls back in the "old days" were when they got pregnant, but the outcry doesn't seem to be as much about premarital sex as it does about pre-age-18 pregnancy.
So how do morals change over time? How does something that was once commonplace and no problem become such a big deal?
Wasn't it once common for girls of 16, 15, maybe even younger to get married and start their families under the age of 18? Partly because people didn't live as long so it was good to start earlier, and partly so the fathers could stop bearing the expenses related to putting up their relatively less-productive* female offspring. [*Please note that IS NOT my own opinion, just what the thinking was at the time!]
Those times are long gone by and those reasons don't exist anymore, and now it's taboo for girls under the age of 18 to get married and/or get pregnant. And there is also the issue that Bristol Palin isn't married, like those girls back in the "old days" were when they got pregnant, but the outcry doesn't seem to be as much about premarital sex as it does about pre-age-18 pregnancy.
So how do morals change over time? How does something that was once commonplace and no problem become such a big deal?