Monday, September 20, 2004
I was listening to a David Cross CD today (thanks, Jon) and had a thought while he was in the middle of joking about how "kids today grow up so fast."
Do they really?
At first, I thought, Of course they do. There are 16 year-olds out there who look and dress older than I do (though that may be more of an indictment of me and the way I dress) and they're certainly having sex earlier than kids did a decade earlier. But think about it... back in ancient times, people were getting married and having babies in their teens. That sounds like they grew up pretty damn fast to me!
Granted, they could only expect to live another 15-20 years back then, but still... other than some southerners, certain fundamentalist Mormons and slutty girls, there aren't a lot of people getting married and having babies in their teens these days.
Same thing goes for the middle ages and beyond. It kind of made me wonder what happened... when did 18 become a good time to have sex safely? If you hadn't had sex by age 18 in 1215, you were an old maid (or dead). So when exactly did someone say, "Hang on... I know we've been doing it for thousands of years, but doesn't it seem a little crazy to get married and have sex in our teens?"
Then I started thinking that maybe sex is like ice ages. For centuries and centuries, people have sex earlier and earlier until BLAM - sexual ice age. The age gets pushed up, purity reigns and for the next few centuries, each group of adults is forced to utter the words, "kids today... they're growing up so fast!"
Just a thought. My god I have too much time.
Do they really?
At first, I thought, Of course they do. There are 16 year-olds out there who look and dress older than I do (though that may be more of an indictment of me and the way I dress) and they're certainly having sex earlier than kids did a decade earlier. But think about it... back in ancient times, people were getting married and having babies in their teens. That sounds like they grew up pretty damn fast to me!
Granted, they could only expect to live another 15-20 years back then, but still... other than some southerners, certain fundamentalist Mormons and slutty girls, there aren't a lot of people getting married and having babies in their teens these days.
Same thing goes for the middle ages and beyond. It kind of made me wonder what happened... when did 18 become a good time to have sex safely? If you hadn't had sex by age 18 in 1215, you were an old maid (or dead). So when exactly did someone say, "Hang on... I know we've been doing it for thousands of years, but doesn't it seem a little crazy to get married and have sex in our teens?"
Then I started thinking that maybe sex is like ice ages. For centuries and centuries, people have sex earlier and earlier until BLAM - sexual ice age. The age gets pushed up, purity reigns and for the next few centuries, each group of adults is forced to utter the words, "kids today... they're growing up so fast!"
Just a thought. My god I have too much time.
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