• PrimeMinisterKeyes@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Nudge Squidfish has a captivating account of growing up in the Midwest c. 1970. Yeah, he could get on a bus from Columbus to Nashville with no money and no contacts, and somehow make it. Even for teenagers, all drugs except alcohol were at least tolerated, if not flat-out legal, and STDs were not a thing (he claims). But still there was a lot of racism, plus constant violence and fights everywhere, and God forbid you came out as gay - the kids would smash your head right in. Lots of teenage pregnancies. Also, you couldn’t have sex at home, apparently it was actually illegal for your parents to “enable” it. So there had to be a lot of sex in public places - there was a forest in Columbus nicknamed “Finger Forest” because all the couples went there to… you know…