Condoms & teenage sex scandals
Silver-Tex condoms 1940s, The Killian MRG Company, Ohio. Gift of Joyce Megget, 2004. Te Papa
Teenage sex scandals in 1950s New Zealand highlighted the concern about American pop culture corrupting morals. The police reported 'orgies perpetrated in private homes … and in several second-rate Hutt Valley theatres'.
People criticised 'cheap and nasty' Hollywood movies that glamorised teen rebellion. As a result, films like Rebel Without a Cause were banned, as was the sale of condoms to anyone under 16.