Monday, 10 May 2010

Raquel Welch blames the Pill for decline of marriage

By Simon Caldwell


Miss Welch said the widespread use of oral contraceptives had led to a breakdown in norms of sexual morality and fuelled the growth of rampant promiscuity among the young.

She said that the situation has grown so grave that "these days nobody seems able to keep it in their pants or honour a commitment".

While it carried some benefits, the enduring legacy of the Pill, she argued, has been social anarchy.

Miss Welch found fame in the 1966 movie One Million Years BC and was voted by readers of Playboy magazine as the "most desired female of the 1970s".

But in an article to mark the introduction of the Pill to the US market 50 years ago she has now dramatically distanced herself from the fruits of the Sexual Revolution of which she was apart.

"The growing proliferation of birth control methods has had an awesome effect on both sexes and led to a sea change in moral values," she said in an article for CNN.

"As I've grown older over the past five decades and lived through this revolutionary period in female sexuality, I've seen how it has altered American society for better or worse," she said.

A positive consequence of the Pill was that it had "made it easier for a woman to choose to delay having children until after she established herself in a career", she said.

But a "significant and enduring" effect on women was the idea that they could have sexual intercourse "without any consequences" with the result that fewer today saw marriage as "a viable option".

She said that in spite of her own three failed marriages she still believed that marriage is the "cornerstone of civilisation, an essential institution that stabilises society, provides a sanctuary for children and saves us from anarchy".

Miss Welch, 69, said: "Seriously folks, if an ageing sex symbol like me starts waving the red flag of caution over how low moral standards have plummeted, you know it's gotta be pretty bad."

Article

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