Sexual revolution

The sexual revolution refers to a substantial change in sexual behaviour throughout the West and particularly in the United States, United Kingdom and other wealthy English-speaking countries in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

With oral contraceptives becoming widely available and the sexually-transmitted diseases present at the time mostly being easily treatable, much of the maturing Baby Boomer generation experimented with sex, outside the boundaries of marriage. Sex was much more explicitly discussed in books, music, and other media, with the publication of guides to sexual techniques. Sexual practices that were previously considered unsuitable for discussion, such as oral sex and homosexuality, were openly talked about.

The extent to which the sexual revolution involved major changes in sexual behaviour, however, is questionable. Many observers have suggested that the main change was not that people had more sex or different types of sex, it was simply that they talked about it more openly than previous generations had done. In a nutshell, this point of view maintains that grandma had fun too - she just didn't tell anyone.

Some historians argue that the sexual revolution was not a complete break from earlier Western sexual attitudes but rather a liberalization after a conservative period that only existed between the 1930s and 1950s. They note that the Cold War sparked a socially conformist identity which tended to overly self conscious of its appearance to the outside world. Within the United States this conformism took on excessively puritanical overtones which contradicted long-established human sexual behaviours. It was this period of Cold War puritanism, some say, that led naturally to rebellion in the form of the sexual revolution.

British writer Philip Larkin's poem "Annus Mirabilis" (1974) captures the spirit of the Sexual Revolution rather well. Here is the first stanza:

 Sexual intercourse began
 In nineteen sixty-three
 (which was rather late for me) -
 Between the end of the "Chatterley" ban
 And the Beatles' first LP.

Read the whole poem.

Social attitudes toward sexuality became notably more conservative in the 1980s in part because of the fear of AIDS.

Historical Development

The Sexual Revolution was an outgrowth of a process in recent history. It was a development in the Modern World which saw the collapse of moral values rooted in the Judaeo-Christian heritage and the rise of attitudes that were accepting of greater sexual freedom and experimentation that spread all over the world and captured in the phrase "Free Love".

The power of religion as wielded by the Catholic and Protestant churches of Europe was radically undermined by the French Revolution of 1789 which saw the First Estate of the nobles , and the Second Estate of the Church give way to the power of the Third Estate of the peasants which surged towards a secular way of life.

The Industrial Revolution and the growth of Science and technology[medicine]] and health care , resulted in better contraceptives being manufactured. Advances in the manufacture and production of rubber made possible the design and production of condoms that could be used by hundreds of millions of men and women to prevent pregnancy at little cost.Advances in steel production and immunology made an abortion a safe and harmless way of ending pregnancies. Advances in chemistry , pharmacology , and knowledge of biology , and human physiology and all sorts new drugs lead to the discovery and perfection of oral contraceptives also known as " The Pill " .

All these developments took place alongside and combined with an increase in world literacy and decline in religious observances. Old values such as the notion of "be fruitful and mulitply" rooted in the Bible, for example, were cast aside as people continued to feel alienated from the past and adopted the life-styles of modernizing westernized cultures.

Discoveries in the field of photography and cinematography the perfection of the camera , for recording moving and still real life pictures of real people revolutionized the spread of mass movie and photographic images. The rise of the movie industry in Hollywood combined with new techniques in marketing and advertizing as well as studies of the psychology of consumers , created mass markets for attractive images first in monochrome of " black and white " , later in color and technicolor and added to perfection in the sound system of cinema or movies.

Beautiful women and extremely handsome men were rigorously selected to become Movie Stars and when they were cast in films with romantic scenes of love , kissing , hugging , and flirting , an entire culture was transformed as it became more acceptable to show feelings of affection in public. The very conservative mood leading up to the twentieth century gave way to a growing erotic mileu as popularized by the movie industry emanating from the studios of places like Hollywood .

Nudity on screen was at first rare. But with the passage of time people became more tolerant of partial nudity for men and the display of female actress's breasts , at first to adult audiences, and later to more general ones. The invention of television made it possible for scenes of love and romance to be broadcast into any home with a " TV " . A wholegenre of actors arose who were particularly well-endowed with charisma and " sex appeal ". Thus an entire culture arose which was steeped in movie and TV culture , far removed from the more inhibiting times of "Old Fashioned"morality rooted in religion.

Famous names in entertainment became not just "Stars" also "Godesses". Beautiful women such as Marylyn Monroe , Raquel Welch , Brigite Bardeaux , Sophia Loren , Madonna were explicit in casting a sexual aura about themselves as actresses and to the celebrity hungry media .

A ground breaking study by Kinsey and Masters on Human Sexuality revealed the nature and scope of the sex practices of young Americans. Sexual experimentation and adolescent sexual activity gained acceptance.

During the 1950's one particular singer and actor , Elvis Presley introduced a very fast style of dancing and performing, using his body gyrations in a sexually suggestive manner. He was dubbed "Elvis the Pelvis" for his trade mark hip movements. Millions of young women became his fans and he was their " Idol " .On stage and in concert thousands of young females would squeel, shriek, and cry at his performences. He has been noted as being a prime factor in the " youth rebellion " of the 1950s and 1960s.

A singing musical group called " The Beatles " from Great Britain took the world by storm. Their longish hairstyles and their "hip", "cool", and "groovy" behavior was instantly imitated by millions of young people. At this very same time, a " counter culture " was born which began to openly preach the need to "make love not war" especially in the United States which was fighting the highly unpopular Vietnam War hated by the the youth.

A new culture of " Free Love " with tens of thousands of young people becoming " hippies " arose who preached the power of love and the beauty of sex as part of ordinary student life. This was part of a counter culture that exists to the present.

Explicit sex on screen and acceptance of frontal nudity by men and women on stage became the norm in many American and European countries, as the twentieth century ended.

Pre-marital sex was openly adopted and if pregancies did occur then abortion was easily available. This lead to perceptions of the times being an " age of promiscuity " , decadence and hedonism ,and there was even a backlash in America as people sought to return to family values.

Politics in the USA has become inter-twined with sexualy-related issues, called the "politics of sex". A woman's right to an abortion pitted traditionalist Pro-Life activists against Pro-Choice permitting abortions. Sex between people of the same gender, the homosexuality that was strictly taboo in times when the Church dominated society was no longer a stigma. Lesbian and gay women and men demanded and received many rights reserved for heterosexual couples. Women and men who lived with each other without marriage sought " palimony " equal to the alimony a divorced husband pays his ex-wife. Teenagers assumed their right to a sexual life with whomever they pleased.

Pornography was not as stigmatized and more mainstream movies depicted [sexual intercourse]] as "entertainment, with hardly a stir of protest indicative of how far the sexual revoltion had come. Magazines depicting nudity and sexual acts, some very sopphisticated such as the leading PLayboy magazine won accpetance as respectable journals where public figures felt safe expressing btheir opinions, arguing successfuly that they were guaranted of the freedom of speech by the United States Constitution . The feminist meovement started with cries of "burn the bra " , but later objected to the depiction of women as "objects" in such venues as pornographic magazines and at such contests as the annual " Miss World " and " Miss Universe " contests.