And I don't think I need to describe how terrible these increased rates of infidelity and divorce are for children of these unions. But please, continue to tell me how this is so much better for all of us and how we're so much better off now that we're "uninhibited" and no longer obsessed with sex (seems to me that we're more obsessed than ever before).
I think our society IS completely obsessed with sex, but also obsessed with pretending we don't like sex either. In my own opinion, I don't think the rise in infidelity, abortion, or divorce is the result of contraception being available. It seems, at least to me, to be due to the fact that American society is obsessed with pretending that sex doesn't exist. Socially speaking, you aren't allowed to talk about sex in public. You aren't allowed to enjoy sex with multiple partners (assuming you are unmarried) without being labeled a "slut."
We have even come to associate innocent nudity with sex. Have teenagers take a shower in school after working out in gym class? Nope, can't do that. That's sexual! Find out that a parent allowed their child to see them naked at all? Oh, he (it's never she) is a child molester! A married couple goes to a clothing-optional beach? Oh, they MUST be perverts! This person likes BDSM? Well, he/she must be a freak! Hell, even cases of breast feeding gets people all out of whack.
We can show a woman topless in movies, and occasionally fully nude. But a man? No, that will get you an NC-17 rating faster than you can blink. And don't even THINK about showing nudity on television! It's more than a decade since the country got a half-second glimpse of Janet Jackson's covered nipple, and some people still talk about it like it's the apocalypse.
Our society is obsessed with sex, and HIDING sex and nudity, so much that when we ARE allowed to have it (i.e. with a willing partner in a bedroom), we tend to go a little wild. Think of it like the child who is only allowed candy on Halloween. Do you think he or she is going to be responsible and only eat a small bit of it? Hell no. They will eat their entire haul and then throw up on the floor. When you repress people, of course they are going to go hog-wild when that repression is temporarily removed.
You want to reduce infidelity, abortions, divorce, and STD's caused by indiscriminate sex? Then make sex and nudity something that Americans don't think of as taboo and dirty. Don't hide sex behind curtains and force people to stay in the dark when the like it. Don't assume that nudity and sex are the same thing. And don't punish people for wanting to explore their sexuality. Instead, make it socially acceptable to do that, and more married couples likely would do it together rather than one partner finding a fling because "my spouse isn't in to this."
