Sex! Booklet

Whilst in Suffolk yesterday, we went through boxes of ‘old stuff’ yielding numerous gems from the past. This leaflet is my favourite, from 1971. To be fair it’s rather progressive – I suppose – though it manages to cling on to the idea of marriage throughout. “If a girl gets pregnant before she’s ready for a baby, she may have to do one of several things: have an abortion; have the child adopted; keep the child, who would be illegitimate; marry the father for the sake of the child.” Clearly, this type of forced marriage has its downsides: for the girl, she may have to ‘give up her job just when they need the money’ whereas the boy ‘may have to leave technical school or college and give up his chance of a good career’.

Despite this, it’s a somewhat sweeter and more innocent world at the same time. Sexually transmitted infections – or VD, as it was called – only receives a mention by page 8, and as something that is a worry but at least can be ‘completely cured’ if spotted early enough. Not true any more, my dears…

Now, if I may be permitted to do a chronological blog backwards, I should promote the game which Lucy and I played on Friday to great effect: pick a random Tube station with your eyes closed from the index at the back of a Tube map, and go! Given that we could have trekked to Amersham or West Ruislip, or – heavens – Stonebridge, we actually think we did rather well with our destination: South Acton. It’s lovely! Well, it’s entirely residential, but it’s a short walk to some more promising green spaces and some cafés! We then spent a highly public-transport focused day being drawn into central London, where we became complete tourists and got tickets to see The 39 Steps that night. The ‘brass bar’ that we were warned that would be in front of our cheaper seats turned out to be naught but a puny brass rail, and it was great

Happy Easter, chocolate fans!

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