The Decline and Fall of the Double Standard

Abstract

The limited available information on premarital, heterosexual behavior of young people in the United States reveals that the changes in sexual behavior which took place in the 1920's have changed only slightly in the 1960's, and that this slow change is continuing. The belief that a gradual transformation is taking place (except in overtness) rests on a comparison of the early studies on sexual behavior, the data from attitudinal studies, researched from 1940 to 1963, and observations of the current scene. Conclusion: the double standard is declining but has not yet fallen.