Well without getting into specifics, I'd say perception of drugs and sex including sex work is totally different today. Homosexuality may have technically been illegal in some jurisdictions in the 80s and was not openly tolerated in most regions, although most didn't go to extremes to persecute anyone if the individuals kept such relationships private. Certain areas like parts of San Francisco and Greenwich and East Village in New York City were more open to gay clubs and celebrations though. Marijuana is de facto legal in some states now while in the 80s, it wasn't something anyone would be proud of or advertise (in most circles) although it might have been more common than you'd think. I'd try to seek out those that lived during the decade and were involved in such activities or communities and get their feedback.
Marijuana was illegal as hell in Colorado and Wyoming (possession was a high misdemeanor in Wyoming, which amuses me to no end) but at concerts it was common for someone to start a joint somewhere in the audience and hand it to whoever was sitting in the row above, from whence it rose higher and higher. Female game wardens and wildlife biologists were few and far between (I was one of the latter at a time there were only two of us in the state) as were women in law enforcement, fire, and a bunch of other fields.
It may have ended by the 1980s, but in the mid-1970s -- at least in the state where I grew up -- stores were not allowed to be open on Sundays. The only exceptions were gas stations, and pharmacies. Supermarkets and department stores such as Walmart were not allowed to be open. Sports car clubs around the state used to hold autocross events in those parking lots on Sundays. One where I often competed was a Sears Roebuck store not far from where I was living.
I don't know if it is still the case, but when I was stationed in Ft Sill Oklahoma you couldn't buy alcohol on Sunday. You had to drive to Witchita Falls Texas to get any...
My dad was stationed at Ft. Sill during Korea. He was a drill sergeant (I don't know if this was the term used at the time, but he trained troops going to Korea.) When I was a little girl, I thought it was normal for a father to teach his children to march in formation. My home county in Arkansas is still dry. The first liquor store over the county line does a booming business. During a flood when I was in college, that establishment's owners put up a levee of sandbags around the place and installed pumps to keep the area dry as possible. Folks went over in boats to buy their booze.
Oh so true. I played DnD with a couple friends and got in all kinds of trouble, my Monster Manual was burned in the furnace to save me from from practicing witchcraft. I don't remember what edition it was, but I bet that manual would be worth some cash now. My parents did, however allow me to read Tolkien, my dad being a fan as well....it made for some interesting post-sermon conversations after our preacher did a whole series on how Tolkien's work was the devil's word wrapped in a story like poison in a foil candy wrapper. My dad basically told me that sometimes preachers were full of hogwash. 30 years later I realize that they were quite often full of more hogwash than truth.
Not sure about the USA however, in the UK during the 80's and even the decades before, discussing Mental Health issues was a taboo subject.
The 80's are kind of a blur. My memories of the 80's are MTV, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Phil Collins, Punk & New Wave, synths and samplers, cocaine, crack, the war on drugs, inflation, Ronald Reagan, Gorbachev and the Cold War, AIDS emerged, the Beirut Bombing, Flight 103, Mt. St. Helens, Korean Airlines 007, John Lennons death, video arcades, Halley's Comet, the 1980 Olympics, the Miracle on Ice and the Jamaican Bob-sled Team, the Sony Walkman, pagers, cable TV and a lot of great films. Personally? A bad couple of years, getting it back together, then a good career and getting married. Verboten? Talking about the LGBT community and AIDs. Illegal? Marijuana.
If I could turn it around and name things that are normal now, but will seem absurd in relatively few years, cemeteries. I have to believe we'll realize what an utter waste of prime real estate warehousing dead bodies is.
Definitely not the case in the Yoo Ess Ay. The 70s was the time frame when most (if not all) of the United States went all-in for deinstitutionalizing as many people as possible. I served on the board of directors of a mental health halfway house in the 1970s, so I am quite certain of the timing.
I'm not sure that's what they meant. They may have meant opening up with someone you know about depression, OCD, or other mental struggles wasn't common because the average person hadn't really been taught to sympathize or encourage people to get help.
Gory video games? During the 80s if any game had the violence Mortal Kombat(1992) had, it would have been considered taboo. Edited:Sorry. There was one game called Splatterhouse in 1988 which was gory but maybe the graphics weren't as realistic as MK so it didn't get as much flak as MK got?
Yeah I don't know what it was like in the 80's but by the 90's Denny's was the goth hangout where I lived.
(Tries to wrap her head around Denny's being a goth hang out. Death and darkness over eggs sunny side up.)
