Hear that? It's the sighs of disappointment in Hollywood, mixed with the howls of rage on the sex-obsessed left. It turns out, young adults aren’t nearly as immoral as they were supposed to be by now.
Millennials are often lauded as the left’s great hope for a liberal society. After all, this is the generation that has loved “inclusive” [1] TV hits like Glee and Modern Family; overwhelmingly supported [2] Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns; and been able to spread its ideas through social media far faster than any preceding generation.
But when actually questioned about their beliefs, millennials are neither as cavalier about sex nor as enthusiastic about abortion as the media would have you believe, according to a new study [3] from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute.
Titled “How Race and Religion Shape Millennial Attitudes on Sexuality and Reproductive Health,” the survey revealed that millennial opinions are “alternately progressive and tremendously retrograde,” lamented liberal feminist blog Jezebel [4].
The survey of 2,314 adults between the ages of 18 and 35 found that “millennial attitudes about the legality of abortion generally mirror the attitudes of the general public”—that is to say, millennials hardly express universal support for the supposedly commonplace [5] procedure.
Of those surveyed, 33 percent said abortion should be legal “in most cases,” while 22 percent thought it should be legal “in all cases.” But more than four in 10 millennials (27 percent) believe abortion should be illegal most of the time, while 15 percent said it should always be illegal.
When asked about the morality of abortion, 35 percent said the procedure is “morally wrong.”
More than half (51 percent) of those surveyed said abortion should not be covered by health insurance. The majority (55 percent) said legal abortions should be available from “at least some” nearby health care providers, but 36 percent disagreed and 7 percent were unsure.
Additionally, nearly 60 percent of those surveyed opposed making it legal for anyone 16 and older to obtain an abortion without parental consent.
Jezebel noted the “conservatism” still prevalent in millennial views of sex as shown by the survey, which found—to the blog’s astonishment—that 41 percent of millennials believe that “sex between two people under the age of 18 is morally wrong” no matter the circumstances.
“Prudish hypocrisy, or the former virgins being mad at the kids who got around, or a voting bloc comprised of the 34 percent of white evangelical Protestant millennials who have never taken a sex ed class?” Jezebel hissed in response.
Nearly half of millennials surveyed would not call same-gender sex “morally acceptable.” College-educated millennials were more likely to say sex between two adults who are the same gender is “morally acceptable” (51 percent) compared with millennials who only had a high school diploma (34 percent). Overall, 38 percent thought sex between two adults of the same gender was “morally wrong.”
On another conservative note, 37 percent of millennials surveyed said that “sex between two adults who have no intention of forming a relationship is morally wrong.” While 37 percent thought it morally acceptable regardless of the situation, 21 percent said it depended on the circumstances.
People should maybe care about each other before having sex? Kids these days and their crazy ideas!
The alternately cynical and optimistic millennial generation has also managed to maintain a value for the institution of marriage, with just 25 percent of millennials surveyed saying marriage was “out of date” and the overwhelming majority (71 percent) disagreeing.
Religious and political affiliations don't seem to be necessarily linked to these conservative social views since the millennial generation has a "disproportionate number who do not formally identify with any religious tradition," according to the study.
In the most common response, a third of those asked about religious beliefs (33 percent) did not formally identify with a particular religion, while 47 percent called themselves politically independent. Millennials are still more likely to identify as Democrat (29 percent) than Republican (17 percent).