Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Sexual Revolution by Jerilyn Nick







The Sexual Revolution, which carried over and grew from the 1960's, was a cultural movement that promoted public openness of sex and sexual orientation. It's method of "free love", or sex outside of marriage, was often practiced among hippies, who agreed with it. With the growing popularity of the birth control pill and other contraceptions, people were better able, if not encouraged by the media, to partake in in pre-marrital sex without the chance of pregnancy. However, despite what is commonly believed, the Sexual Revolution brought on more of a public tolerance about portraying and talking about sex than people engaging in increased and/or varied types of sex.

What was at the time, a movement of the post World War 2 generation's sexual escapades, has become known as a cultural movement that helped to mold American culture into what it is today. By the 1970's the Sexual Revolution had caused a shift in the way Americans viewed sex and open sexuality. The topic went from being taboo and unspeakable to something commonly seen in mainstream media and pop-culture. Pre-marital sex and openness of sexual orientation increased, sparking gay rights activists into action and countering the Double Standard of previous decades.
By the end of the 70's, much of the concepts of the Sexual Revolution were integrated into the media, and it became common for colleges to have co-educational dormatories. Today, the public acceptance of sex and sexuality continues. Issues such as masturbation or pornography are more tolerated in society than before, where they were unthinkable. In fact, much of what was viewed as redical or explicit back then would be considered mild today.

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