Some things have continued the same. Most use Apple products (75%). Most have never had mental health counseling (79%). Most are heterosexual (82%). Most are virgins (62%) and less than 10% have had more than two sexual partners. Most are the first in their extended family to ever attend Harvard (71%). Most identify as liberal (69%). The vast majority identify with their gender of birth (99.6%). The number of Mormons in any of the incoming classes is less than 1%. [ref]Of the Mormons participating in the surveys across all the years, it seems only one reported they weren’t a virgin as an incoming freshman.[/ref]
Other factors are moving in interesting ways, however.
Whites are close to trading in “majority” status for “plurality” status. The Harvard Class of 2021 is only 52% White versus an estimated 61% non-hispanic whites in the general US population. This is largely due to the increasing representation of Asians (Asian Indians and other Asians), which has hovered around 30% [ref]2021 class statistics don’t report any South Asian/Indian students, where prior years reported ~4% of the incoming student body from India.[/ref] in contrast to the 5.7% of Asians in the general US population. Given that Asians self-report as White to avoid attempts to minimize the over-representation of Asians at elite universities, Whites in the Class of 2021 may already be plurality rather than majority.
The percentage of those reporting other than hetero-normal sexual orientation is increasing (looking at 2017 to 2021). While the combination of “questioning” and “other” has stayed level at about 4%, those reporting as homosexual have increased from 3.7% to 5.6%, an increase of 50%. [ref]Most self-reporting as homosexual are male.[/ref] Meanwhile, those identifying as bisexual has increased from 2.5% to 7.8%, an increase of over 200%. [ref]Most self-reporting as bi-sexual are female.[/ref] This correlates with the vast majority (87%) entering Harvard in 2018 who approve of same sex marriage.
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It would be fascinating if BYU’s Daily Universe were to conduct a parallel survey.
200 Percent?
Some will point out that the Harvard Class of 2021 was in junior high school when Obergefell v. Hodges was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, along with all the attendant media coverage. Meanwhile the Harvard Class of 2017 had almost completed their junior year in high school and largely fixed on a sexual orientation before President Obama voiced open support for same sex marriage.
A correlation between sexual activity and the popularity of the Obamas can be inferred from information about the sexual activity of students taking a “gap year,” a practice popularized by Malia Obama’s ‘year off’ to remain outside the college environment during her father’s presidency before becoming part of Harvard’s Class of 2020. Incoming Harvard freshmen who took a gap year were significantly more likely to report having lost their virginity at any given age [ref]10th grade is an outlier in a couple of years where “typical” students were more likely than gap year students to have lost their virginity.[/ref] (65% freshman who had taken a gap year were non-virgins versus 36% of freshmen who had not taken a gap year).
The data I initially saw suggested that “sexual minorities” engage in much more sexual activity than the majority who are hetero-normal. However the 2018 data were obviously wrong and the website is not currently showing the charts that allow analysis of which groups appear to exhibit hyper-sexual behavior.
From the young people I have in my life, I have become aware that popular youth culture these days is inclined to promote free sex between adults of any description, as particularly seen in the culture of tumblr. Apparently the tumblr crowd sees strict homosexuals/lesbians as prudes. Activists working towards a future world where Judeo-Christian sexual mores are overturned have obviously been making headway.
A look into the family of such activists (the story of Moira Greyland), however, shows that utopian hopes regarding the benefits of sexual freedom are not always realized in the actual lives of activists. Moira observes that her moderately-famous parents believed that “As sex is integrated as a natural part of every single relationship, the barriers between people will vanish, and the utopia will appear, as ‘straight culture’ goes the way of the dinosaur.” In Moira’s case, both her parents had integrated sex into the parent-child relationship with her by the time she was five.
Now that sexual orientation statistics are being included in surveys regarding teen pregnancy, we can see that multiple school districts are reporting that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are disproportionately likely to be involved in teen pregnancy (Minnesota and New York). For girls this appears to be correlated with having sex early and often. For boys this appears to be correlated with being forced to have sex, suggesting that sexual abuse may have preceded alternative sexual identity. Children born to unmarried teens are disproportionately raised in poverty and subjected to abuse.
It is alleged that sexual minorities are somehow less educated about the fact that sex between a male and female can result in pregnancy. I’m not sure why this is supposed to be true or how this is supposed to be remedied. Specifically, I’m not sure it’s a great idea to spend lots of effort instructing young people on all the non-reproductive methods they can use to make their body parts tingle. I’d prefer that young people be taught how to forego instant gratification in pursuit of a larger goal rather than encouraged to achieve instant gratification.
Social Experiments
So-called social science is difficult to conduct, as individual people are motivated by a host of diverse factors. Where physical science allows us to “experiment” with vast populations of atoms to determine causality, humans are simply not sufficiently numerous and simple to admit the same level of statistical rigor.
The most notable socialist social experiment was conducted in Russia circa 1918-1921, as the Bolshevik revolutionaries sought to implement the utopian views published by Karl Marx. The revolutionaries had many who sympathized with their cause, including several involved in the entertainment industry.
The most notable fascist social experiments were conducted by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the 1930s and 1940s. The fascists had numerous sympathizers, including the former Prince of Wales and Charles Lindbergh.
There are the social experiments we have ignored, such as Woodrow Wilson’s fascist effort to make America a military super-power capable of dictating global affairs. According to an article at Forbes, Wilson created the breeding ground that led to WWII. Our own Rameumpton suggests Wilson (a Democrat) was the original white supremacist, revitalizing the KKK.
In 2005 “Jane Galt” [ref]Jane Galt is a pseudonym.[/ref] posted an insightful article now only available on the internet archive. Galt pointed out that changing the rules of society (even if for idealistic reasons) can have unforeseen consequences totally at odds with the avowed aims of the idealists.
Whatever we might think about the rise of the new sexual morality, we must acknowledge that it is still an experiment. The outcome is not known, despite the attempts of proponents to suggest the new morality will necessarily be better. Initial data certainly suggest the new sexuality will be deleterious to society.
Seeking Utopia/Eutopia
Each of us seeks an ideal world. Alas, we do not agree what that ideal world is, much less what means will achieve that ideal of tolerance, peace, and love. Even when we do agree with one another, we are not always wise enough as individuals to refrain from harmful action and inaction.
To date, statistics suggest that children are most likely to experience the best outcomes when raised by their biological parents who are in a legal relationship and remain sexually faithful to one another. Further, it is the subgroup of these children who themselves prioritize education and fidelity who pass the baton of positive outcomes to the next generation.
I’m for the children and those methods proven to be correlated with healthy and prosperous outcomes. I’m not terribly enamored of social experiments which attempt to remake the world to align with the idealist’s imagination. [ref]My thoughts on early Mormon social experiments are expressed in my book Reluctant Polygamist and the various blog posts I’ve written.[/ref] I’m certainly not enamored of attempts to remake the world to satisfy the desires of the prurient. [ref]As a refresher, it is my thesis that widespread “polygamy” in Mormon circles circa 1841-1842 was caused by John Bennett’s selfish attempt to guarantee himself easy sex. The actions Joseph Smith and others took after fall 1841 were distorted by the need to respond to the damage caused by Bennett.[/ref]
There are activists in our world who would experiment with our lives and our children in pursuit of their imagined utopia. When the powerful align themselves with these experiments, large change can occur quickly, as seen by the explosion of self-declared bisexuals entering Harvard.
I and mine decline to be included in the socio-sexual experiment, while reaching out in love to those we know who have “signed up” for the socio-sexual experiment. As the hymn states, “God will force no man to heaven,” so we cannot make people stop signing up for this new experiment.
Rather, as Joseph Smith advised, “Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake [unwise behavior] as to take them by the hand and watch over them with tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow’r it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.” [ref]Relief Society Minutes, Jun 9, 1842, Relief Society Minute Book, p. 62, online 9/7/2017 at http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/nauvoo-relief-society-minute-book/59.[/ref]
Let us love one another as brothers and sisters, exhibiting profound respect for the forces that create human life. Let us learn how to express that love without being coerced into the false belief that love requires abdicating our own judgement and practices. Let us watch with kindness those things we cannot righteously prevent and stand as brothers and sisters to raise up those who, having fallen from their ideal, reach out to us for help.
And when the openly depraved hurt innocents, let us firmly refuse to normalize their depraved actions (c.f., Moira’s story).