Stereos were incredibly expensive (and massive - and the sound quality was shit). Whilst an LP cost about £5.49, CDs were three times the price.
Clothes were comparatively more expensive.
Being groped by teenage boys? Well, boys will be boys and you do know it's possible to see your bra strap through your school shirt, don't you?
The worst rumour that could go around school was that somebody was gay. Because they were responsible, according to the papers, for every death. Anybody famous who was privately gay was hastily married off. Huge fuss when an actor died of AIDS and had kissed an actress on screen - it was all about how she might die/he was evil for putting her in danger and not going into seclusion until he died.
Although schools were opening up subjects, the idea of a girl doing graphics, woodwork, metalwork or computer studies instead of child development and home economics was shocking; if a boy chose HE instead of woodwork, there was a lot of pressure not to 'be gay'.
A lot of girls were still intending to mark time in a little job until they got married.
Most of the music that was actually around was pretty shit.
Girls couldn't get access to contraception or terminations particularly easily.
Children who were abused and raped by older men were portrayed as little temptresses who knew exactly what they were doing under the moniker of 'Wild Child' or 'Groupie' (the latter hadn't changed from the 60s and 70s, really).
15/16 year old girls' photos were on the second page in of most tabloids. Once they (sorry for the phrase) 'became legal', they'd be topless.
People were still losing their shit over Life of Brian and blasphemy. Every week it seemed that there was a new outrage. But absolutely fuck all about exploiting girls as sexual commodities.
If you weren't well off, you were scum. And there were a lot of people who weren't well off. Thatcherism changed the narrative from 'some people need help' to 'they deserve it because they're lazy'.
Fighting in schools was something that might get you a telling off, but most of the time, as long as it didn't happen in lessons and particularly if the other person had been instigating it/deliberately winding somebody up/being racist (and God, there was a lot of that), it was largely looked upon as a normal part of school life.
There was campaigning against nuclear weapons and the famous Greenham Common camp was in the news frequently.
But the racism was on another level to now. National Front graffiti over the place. Walking to school with a friend who was BAME would get you at best screamed at from a van - if you were a girl walking with a boy of another ethnicity, though, you were both in danger a lot of the time. Even if you were 11 years old. Hearing P Lover, NLover was guaranteed every single time.
Going to football matches was a dangerous business. And not just because of the fans; the grounds themselves were dangerous.
Gardens didn't tend to have high wooden fences, so you'd frequently get neighbours' dogs, cats, children and the occasional police chase going through the back garden.
But, you had a chance at getting a job if you took the time to walk around - there would be posters up saying they were hiring and you could often start a job the next day. You'd get paid next to fuck all, but there was none of the waiting three months for references, more references, a detailed work history for the last 20 years including every single day of that time, unfortunately, no DBS type clearances, and there was a lot more work for people without qualifications, particularly boys who could get a decent apprenticeship and trade behind them.
If you were financially OK, it was probably quite a good time. But if you were poor or not white (or Catholic - there was a fuckton of anti Catholic attitude due to the Troubles), it was pretty shit in all.