The Role Of The Sexual Revolution In The 1960's

Buckley, Jr., William F. "Crucial Steps in Combating the Aids Epidemic; Identify All the Carriers." New York Times: 18 March 1986.

The Hippie era has come to end and the days of self awareness have arrived. Instead of focusing on love to all, many Americans were indulging in their self pleasure. According to Alfred Kinsey’s research Americans sexual behavior deviated from their widely accepted norms (Glbt.com/shsh/sexrevo cites correctly). Wilhelm Reich added to Kinsey’s research with a remark that he believed sexual repression overwhelmingly distorted psychological development (glbt.com/shsh). To further societies receptivity of sexuality the case Roth v. United States in 1956 created a public arena in which it became possible to discuss sex and represent it both literary and visually (glbt.com). Furthermore the counterculture of the 60’s had a new candidness of sexuality,

Imagine a country with no sexual freedom, a limiting amount of rights, and no power for American women. This was the image that the United States portrayed around 60 years ago, not giving the same freedom that Americans can have today and express carelessly. During the 1960’s the United States experienced changes in its society that would affect the perspectives of future generations by turning our weaknesses into strengths. During this time, the United States encountered many movements and opportunities due to the birth control pill and the Sexual Revolution. It was a great shift in the society because it opened doors for minorities and created an equal treatment men and women. The birth control pill and the subsequent Sexual Revolution

They began smoking and drinking in public and openly talking about sex (Klor 441), which before was not the proper etiquette for women was now the new liberated way of thinking.

Throughout history, definitions of sexuality within a culture are created and then changed time after time. During these changes, we have seen the impact and power one individual or group can have over others. In the Late Nineteenth Century into the Early Twentieth Century, we see multiple groups of people and or authorities taking control over the idea of sex and how they believe society is being impacted by sex. At this point in time, society had groups of people who believed they had the power to control how society as whole viewed and acted upon sex. Those particular groups and ideas changed many lives and the overall definition of sexuality within that culture.

During the period after World War II, there was a shift in the role of women from the private sphere to the public sphere. Namely, at the turn of the 1960s, the concept of the nuclear family was becoming less of the norm as many women began to fight more and more for their rights and the way in which they were to be portrayed. For many years, women have been made to believe that they must follow certain expectations such to fit into the “American ideal” of what the role of a woman should be. For example, according to the Redstockings, contests like Miss America perpetuate the idea that women must be “inoffensive, bland, [and] apolitical” and that “conformity is the key…to success in our society.” The sentiment expressed in the quotation,

During the late 19th century, the ideals of middle-class, respectable sexuality were in a state of flux. Published findings by renowned psychiatrists such as Richard von Krafft-Ebbing and Sigmund Freud helped to recreate and build upon sexual knowledge, establishing never before heard of terms for a variety of sexual behaviors. Often, therein lies an implicit bias when codifying topics of study. Therefore, due to the major shifts during the late 19th and early 20th century in how sexuality is classified scientifically and medically, psychiatry plays a primary role in creating concepts such as “normal” and “abnormal” sexuality.

Ira L. Reiss, a well-known sociologist, has contributed greatly to the field of human sexuality and in the 1960’s brilliantly predicted the revolutionary changes in sexual attitudes. In his novel, An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution, Reiss develops the notion that our previous sexual revolution did not adequately eliminate the inequalities related to sexuality. In reality he argues that America is in need of a newly formed sexual revolution, one that will address the negative consequences that our sex negative culture is experiencing. A significant portion of our population argues that these consequences are due to the fact that we talk too much and too soon about sex. This is an inaccurate view of the reasoning behind the sexual problems we are experiencing in America, as in reality the negative sexual outcomes we observe are due to the opposite of this view. This misconception is a common explanation for our sexual problems and many believe it is the key to solving our sexual crisis, but in reality is part of the problem. Reiss argues that “America is long overdue for a rendezvous with sexual reality” (18) and that the future of our nation depends on accepting these realities.

Underlying the feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s was the “white racist ideology.” The women’s movement of the 1960s was in fact the white women’s movement. It was an opportunity for white feminists to raise their voices, but they only spoke about the plight of the white woman and excluded themselves from the collective group of women across all races and social standings. White women assumed that their experience was the experience of all women. When black women proclaimed that the movement was focused on the oppression of white women, the white feminists asserted “common oppression” and retorted with “oppression cannot be measured.” Ironically, feminists in the 1960s compared their oppression to the oppression of African Americans as

The change in society’s views on sexuality during the 1960s created a moral shift in which people and cultural values shifted away from many traditional biblical ethics. With inspiration from African American and their movements in civil rights, many young women sought to achieve gender equality with males despite the society’s cookie-cutter view of women as housewives in the 1950s. In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique as an outlash against the view of the traditional American housewife. Friedan took inspiration from Holocaust survivor Bruno Bettelheim’s analysis of the psychological abuse imposed by the Germans on their prisoners and compared the average suburban home to “comfortable concentration camps” (Wolfe). Alan

The feminist movement of the 1960’s focused solely on the improvement and well- being of women. The idea of Feminism is a critical theory as it is an analytical examination of social conditions and what tools could be utilized to proactively improve these conditions. Overcoming the consistent barriers women had to endure during this era remains prevalent and continues to have psychological effects. In order to strengthen one’s mindset regarding feminism, we must first refer back and understand the intellectual history of the women’s movement and examine areas of how counseling can assist with overcoming these impediments. The Feminist philosophy is the philosophical dimension of intellectual feminism. Many philosophers understand their intellectual history and the history of the women's movement in terms of three "waves."

Beginning in the mid eighteenth century, much of Europe underwent a sustained series of changes in the way goods are produced known as the industrial revolution. During this movement, technological advancements greatly impacted the coal, heavy metals and textile industries as machines replaced hands as the main mechanism of operation. Consequently, a worker’s level of skill soon lost value and factories that demanded individuals performing menial tasks at a fast rate dotted the landscape. Females became more prominent in the workplace, especially because their smaller hands were better suited for textile factories and their smaller bodies allowed for easier movement in coalmines. Middle class males viewed female workers as a threat to morality, family structure and gender roles while the women saw their employment as a necessary means to provide for themselves and their families. This difference can best be explained by a cultural worldview that increasingly emphasized science and inherent differences between the two sexes. Furthermore, the firsthand accounts depicted by the females stand as the most reliable illustrations of work in the nineteenth century because they take into account the needs of the working class.

Track is more complex than just running to see who has the fastest time, throwing the farthest, or jumping the highest. Track is about overcoming physical obstacles that challenge you, which mentally makes one stronger. The 1920’s was a time of rising sports popularity which ultimately resulted in sexual equality for women. Track contributed to these improvements by including women in sports, exposing positive physical features of women, and set higher expectations for females other than cooking and cleaning .

​As the sexual revolution began in the 1950s, stag films became less and less popular. However, Irving Klaw filmed the popular pin up model, Bettie Page, in several specialty stag films from 1952 - 1957; and the film Smart Alec, starring Candy Barr, was released in 1951.

Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.