Sexual revolution

The sexual revolution was a substantial change in sexual morality and sexual behavior throughout the West in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The trigger for the revolution was the development of the birth control pill in 1960, which gave women access to easy and reliable contraception.

Introduction

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 be self-conscious of its appearance to the outside world. Within the United States, this conformism took on puritanical overtones which contradicted natural or even, ironically, culture-established human sexual behaviors. It was this period of Cold War puritanism some say, which logically led to a cultural rebellion in the form of the "sexual revolution."

Related Topics:
1930s - 1950s - Cold War - Puritanical

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The extent to which the sexual revolution involved major changes in sexual behavior, 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. Historian David Allyn argues it was a time of coming-out: about premarital sex, masturbation, erotic fantasies, pornography use, and, of course, homosexuality.

Related Topics:
Sexual revolution - David Allyn

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That said, it is clear that sexual behaviour did change radically for the vast majority of women, but only a generation after the "revolution" had begun. Women reaching sexual maturity after about 1984 have behaviours much more in common with the men of a generation earlier. They had more partners (two to three times), starting at an earlier age (by three to five years), than women of the generation of the 1970s. Nevertheless this rather radical change in actual behaviour is rarely reported on, being regarded as no longer newsworthy.

Related Topics:
1984 - 1970s

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

Related Topics:
Philip Larkin - 1974 - Stanza

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:Sexual intercourse began

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:In nineteen sixty-three

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:(which was rather late for me) -

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:Between the end of the "Chatterley" ban

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:And the Beatles' first LP.

Related Topics:
The Beatles - LP

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(Read the whole poem.)

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Larkin doesn't mention the advent of The Pill in 1960, but he could have -- the ability to have sex without expecting children was in a sense the birth of the sexual revolution and the beginning of the swing towards sexual liberalism. The pendulum swung back as social attitudes toward sexuality became notably more conservative in the 1980s in part because of the fear of AIDS.

Related Topics:
The Pill - 1980s - AIDS

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