It would be unjust to label these changes as “growing immorality.” It is true that war has always brought in its wake a loosening of morals. That was true after the last war, and one might consider present conditions a repetition of a temporary immorality. But this time it is more than that. There is no return to “normality” possible, because these changes reflect more than merely loose morals; they are an indication of a change in the moral values themselves, reflecting a new position of woman in society, a new relationship between man and woman, who look with new eyes upon sex in its physical and social implications, at least in the big cities. During and after World War I the sexual delinquency of young girls increased, as has happened this time again. But there is one fundamental difference: Girls arrested twenty-five years ago were fully aware of their misconduct. Today, when apprehended for similar offenses, they are defiant, denying anybody the right to interfere with their personal affairs. They maintain that they can do with their own bodies as they please. Sexual delinquency is as anti-social today as ever before and immorality exists today as it did twenty-five years ago; but it is more difficult to draw the line between decency and immorality, because the morals of the whole population are changing, and sexual patterns of today should not and cannot be compared with standards existing a quarter of a century ago, since enormous changes have taken place in the meantime. There are certain sexual patterns which are condemned from the moral point of view by every present-day community; but many other sexual behavior patterns are considered “decent” by one group and “Immoral” by another.
One factor makes the correct evaluation of sexual standards extremely difficult: the social conventions in our civilization are characterized by double standards in regard to sex and morals. Almost everybody behaves sexually in a way which he thinks would be unacceptable to his relatives, friends, and associates, and which he would also condemn in anyone of them. In the past this double standard of overt and secret sexual patterns has been a necessary requirement of the double standard in regard to men and women. It was necessary to maintain the special privileges of man. One could boast privately about matters which could not be divulged in public. The public standards of decency were in many regards a method to keep half of mankind, namely women, under strict moral regulation (see page 52).
As women gain equality the double standard becomes senseless. Consequently, many things can be revealed today without damage to our social order. It is characteristic of our time that the
University of
Indiana, the Medical Division of the National Research Council, and the Medical Division of the Rockefeller Foundation are supporting a long-range research project by Dr. Alfred Kinsey to examine the actual sexual behavior of our population in all walks of life, including many thousands of men and women of all classes, professions, and ages. This work will reveal, perhaps for the first time in human history, how people actually behave sexually. All those adhering to old traditions will probably be shocked by the reported facts. But this revelation will be only another step toward the recognition of the change in the moral concepts of our population, reflected in their actions rather than in their words. 
