Ross Douthat is 38 years old. Teens today are having sex later, using contraception more consistently, and having sex within relationships more often than they did when he was young.
Here's a fact most folks find surprising: The average age that an American first has sex these days is seventeen and a half.
Also: Most teens start having oral sex around the time they start having intercourse. And for the overwhelming majority, oral sex experience is reciprocal.
All the evidence we have, in short, indicates that today's teens' sexual ethics are better than their parents' were.
(And indeed, teens' sexual ethics may be better than their parents' are NOW. Their rates of safer sex practices are, for instance, higher.)
Oh, one other piece of data I forgot to include: Rates of sexual assault among young people in the US have dropped dramatically in the last 20 years.
Just one postscript, since this is going to keep bugging me. My phrasing above may have left the impression that I connect later onset of sexual activity or lower rates of casual sex per se with better sexual ethics. I don't.
We've got a whole raft of data on rates and ages and type and context of consensual sexual activity, plus data on safer sex and sexual assault. All of it points in pretty much the same direction.
Some of that data indicates an increase in ethical or responsible behavior, some of it is basically value neutral. But taken together, it all paints a pretty clear picture.
