Technically, thebaby boomersdidn’t invent sex.
The oral contraceptive pill appeared in 1960.
And a complex confluence of social and cultural factors helped unbuckleAmericans' sexual livesin the late 1960s and 1970s.
Now that the youngest boomers are celebrating their50th birthdays, has anything changed?
Most boomers (71 percent) say sex is still important to their lives.
The raw numbers, of course, don’t tell the full story.
Holy Cow, Look at Me Now!
I’d been diagnosed withbreast cancer.
A unilateral mastectomy was in my future.
Lots of women do this, he explained.
I’d never felt my sex life had been diminished by having small breasts.
Still, I couldn’t wait to get my cleavage card punched.
I’ll admit I’d forever envied more voluptuous women, i.e., virtually every other female on Earth.
I’d been wearing wee bras since seventh grade.
I thought it would be fun and frankly, an aphrodisiac to see how the other half dressed.
Depreciated self-esteem is common after breast cancer, but for me, self-esteem spiked.
Do my new breasts look natural?
They look better than natural.
And my husband says that if he closes his eyes, he feels he’s with a 25-year-old.
Last night he gave high praise to the new bathing suit I modeled.
Sayonara, leg man.
Every couple needs sexual novelty.
I never expected ours to come in 32D.
Sally Koslow is the author ofSlouching Toward AdulthoodandThe Widow Waltz.
Still a Fool About Sex
By Walter Mosley
Our generation had such promise.
We were going to overcome war and prejudice, national borders and poverty.
Free love was to be our hallmark, and liberty our only expression.
It didn’t happen.
Our hair fell out, and sex turned toxic.
But it was a good time while it lasted.
Sex was in the air back then.
In important ways I haven’t changed a bit.
I’m just as arrogant, still a fool about sex.
I’m older, much older, though I doubt any wiser.
The important phrase in the last sentence is “I was young.”
The hormones of youth clouded my senses.
