As a pre-teenager, I was furious with my mother because she wouldnt let me see James Bond movies.
Her concern wasnt so much that people were shooting, stabbing, and otherwise dispatching each other in the spy series. By the late 60s, most kids saw that stuff on TV. Moms principal problem was that Agent 007 was shown as having "relations" with numerous women - not one of whom answered to "Mrs. Bond." In an era in which TV husbands and wives didnt share beds - or, it appeared, have sex - this clearly contributed to my wheedling to see the films.
Unmoved, Mom didnt agree to let me see a Bond movie until I was in my teens.
How quaint that seems today. At any hour of the night or day on TV, in movies, in magazines, and on the Internet, people of every age-gender-racial-numeric combination can be found sharing beds, floors, sex toys, and everything else you can - and couldnt begin to - imagine. Millions of busy, indifferent, or overwhelmed parents give their children mostly free rein to observe the smutfest. Some who would battle the trend often feel intimidated by the sheer volume of swill.
Ironically, when it comes to the sexually active throng cavorting in todays media, married people - or at least people married to each other - appear to be in a definite minority.
As a blue-stater who voted Democratic in the last election, Im supposed to feel fine about this turn of events. My assumed liberalness, combined with the fact that I came of age in the Swinging Seventies, should ensure that Im a free-love, church-disdaining, censorship-despising "Why is Janet Jacksons boob a big deal?" kinda girl.
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