Have wartime conditions traditionally decreased or increased consensual sexual activity in the young?

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The sources I've found to support Peteris' point is Joshua S. Goldstein's War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Here's a quote, taken from Google Books:

By some reports, "war aphrodisia" — common among soldiers in many wars — extended into many segments of society during "total war." Thus, among not only soldiers but civilians, "sexual restraint... [was] suspended for the duration." As one British housewife put it, "We were not really immoral, there was a war on".

I'm not personally familiar with Goldstein and his work, but it was published in the respectable Cambridge University Press and seems decently cited, according to Google Scholar.

Goldstein's chapter seems to have many citations back to a different book, John Costello's "Love, Sex and War - Changing Ways 1939-1945" which focuses mostly on WWII. Published by the University of Virginia and also cited by several dozens works (though much fewer than Goldstein's).

It seems to also use the "war aphrodisia" phrase, and ascribes this loosening of sexual taboos to the "total war" nature of modern 20th century warfare, where the fighting reaches every segment of the population:

'War aphrodisia', as it has been called, accentuates the disruptive physical impact of war on family life. The loosening of wartime moral restraints acts as an incentive to extramarital promiscuity and the unshackling of unsatisfactory marriage bonds. Historically it was a phenomenon confined to areas adjacent to the fighting, but the mobilization of entire populations necessary to fight a 'total war' spreads the hedonistic impulse throughout a society.

Upvote:-1

Andrew Roberts new biography Napoleon the Great contains the following relevant passage:

It is a well-known historical phenomenon for a sexually permissive period to follow one of prolonged bloodletting: the ‘Roaring Twenties’ after the Great War and the licentiousness of Ancient Roman society after the Civil Wars are but two examples.

Although the book includes very many references, this specific claim isn't backed up by a specific citation of primary literature or quantiative evidence. Nevertheless this may count as some support for the view that (preceding) wartime conditions increase (consensual) sexual activity in the young (and perhaps more). It appears where the author introduces Napoleon's first wife Josephine.

Upvote:1

On example of this phenomenon, is this song, written in 1941, as America was "approaching" war.

It was actually written from the woman's point of view, for her man to give her "something to remember you by, when you are far away from me," and was an "invitation."

Prior to that, American women of the so-called World War II (and previous) generations had been restrained about sex, notably in the 1930s, when there was a "birth dearth," even among married women.

But the onset of the war led to the "liberation" of women, who started thinking and acting as if there were no tomorrow. It (slightly) pre-dated the "Rosie the Riveter" phenomenon that saw large numbers of women take factory jobs to support the war effort, and act more like men.

Upvote:7

War increases sexual activity. During WW2 the US (and othe countries) had to sponsor huge campaigns to fight venereal disease, particularly gonorrhea, which was a significant cause of casualties. In the US the notion arose that having unmarried sex with soldiers was acceptable. Large numbers of "dance halls" sprang up, where soldiers could purchase a "dance" for ten cents. This frequently equated to having sex with the woman. The women that frequented dance halls and bus stops were called "victory girls". There was no stigma attached to being one.

There are lots of books on the subject. One recent book is " Victory Girls, Khaki-Wackies, and Patriotutes" by Marilyn E. Hegarty (2007).

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