"I'd bet that you still have an awful lot of people who think that sex should only be between married people who are of different genders.

I guarantee that you are correct, but again, going by the title of this thread - you make it sound as if this is a problem only in the U.S. Those attitudes still reflect an overwhelming number of people around the globe. If you said "why is sex worse than death" and left it that, the tone is completely different. To single out one country is wrong.

Teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease is much higher in the UK than it is in the US (look it up), and abstinence is taught in the UK just as it is in the US.

Mrzzy, you may live in a state where a blowjob is illegal, but that is not the case in the majority of the states. There are rules, normally going unenforced, that date back to earlier times. Live evolves. There were areas of the country that African-Americans could not drink from the same water fountain, and many of us were already walking the earth when those rules were in effect. What one state does, or what one region does, is does not reflect the feelings of the majority of Americans.    I think Silly River Sage's philosophy is more prevelant than you think, and that is a good sign.