I think not for sale is right and the Beatles were definitely guilty of having sex with young women.
I too have read interview accounts. One was a society girl, very wealthy, who says she had sex with 3 of the 4 Beatles and there were other girls lining up. I think she was about 16 or 17 at the time.
Thing is, the Beatles themselves weren't that old-maybe early 20s?
I doubt the age of the girls was vetted. The girls were keen so they were allowed into the rooms. As far as I can tell, I don't think the men would have been interested in a little girl eg a 10 year old. But teen girls of any age seem to have been fair game.
The Beatles would not have been the only ones. It was probably rife across the industry.
I don't know that it was something that was openly exposed all that much by the media. Sure, they talked of groupies but there was never any thought, as far as I am aware, of prosecutions or checking the girls were over 18.
And that is where our norms have changed. It's why so many older men in positions of power, whether that was through wealth, business, entertainment industry, clergy etc should be worried. Because back then, it was seen as okay if a girl was keen and if she wasn't, a lot of them believed they could get away with it because of their power. But the social rules have changed and are retrospective.
It's not that the actual laws have changed so much, more that people aren't as ashamed or willing to sweep it under the carpet any more and are more likely to prosecute.
I think of some things as having been almost in a blind spot, where we didn't notice or didn't attend to details or else they were considered okay. Over time, things change. Someone voices a disagreement and at first they are considered weird or a troublemaker but then others come round to that and eventually it is an avalanche and becomes the general opinion.
Just think how many other attitudes have also changed since the 1960s-towards women in the workplace, racial bias, whaling, recycling, marriage, living together etc
