sexual revolution
Free love era
The sexual revolution refers to a dramatic shift in attitudes toward sex and sexuality, particularly in Western societies during the 1960s and 1970s.
It challenged traditional norms around premarital sex, contraception, homosexuality, and women's sexual autonomy.
The pill, feminism, and loosening censorship laws were central factors.
More broadly, any period of rapid change in sexual mores: The internet sparked its own sexual revolution.
Decade after the fifties
- 1970sFourth decade, twentieth century
- Kinsey ReportPioneering human sexuality surveys
- PlayboyMen's lifestyle publication
- birth controlPreventing conception intentionally
Hugh Hefner · free love · no-fault divorce · cohabitation · premarital sex · sex education · decriminalization · sodomy laws
Release from constraint
- contraceptionPregnancy prevention measures
- pleasureHappy, satisfied feeling
- consentVoluntary agreement given
- nonmonogamyMultiple concurrent romantic partners
polyamory · swinging · open marriage · bisexuality · homosexuality · gay rights · queer · kink
Unstructured romantic and sexual bonds
- hippiesCountercultural youth of the sixties
- WoodstockLandmark 1969 music festival
- Summer of Love1967 counterculture convergence
- Haight-AshburyCounterculture crossroads in San Francisco
communes · flower power · bohemians · beatniks · youthquake · nonconformity · underground press · radicalism
Movement for female equality
- reproductive rightsBodily autonomy in family planning
- body autonomyControl over one's physicality
- birth control pillOral contraceptive medication
- consciousness-raisingIncreasing social or political awareness
gender equality · patriarchy · Gloria Steinem · Betty Friedan · pro-choice · Roe v Wade · equal rights · feminist theory
Excessive moral strictness
- puritanismRigid moral severity
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- obscenityIndecent word or act
repression · stigma · shame · Victorian · morality · forbidden · scandal · promiscuity
1960s
Decade after the fifties
- 1970sFourth decade, twentieth century
- Kinsey ReportPioneering human sexuality surveys
- PlayboyMen's lifestyle publication
Hugh Hefner · birth control · free love · no-fault divorce · cohabitation · premarital sex · sex education · decriminalization · sodomy laws · age of consent
liberation
Release from constraint
- contraceptionPregnancy prevention measures
- pleasureHappy, satisfied feeling
- consentVoluntary agreement given
nonmonogamy · polyamory · swinging · open marriage · bisexuality · homosexuality · gay rights · queer · kink · eroticism
free love
Unstructured romantic and sexual bonds
- hippiesCountercultural youth of the sixties
- WoodstockLandmark 1969 music festival
- Summer of Love1967 counterculture convergence
Haight-Ashbury · communes · flower power · bohemians · beatniks · youthquake · nonconformity · underground press · radicalism · psychedelics
women's liberation
Movement for female equality
- reproductive rightsBodily autonomy in family planning
- body autonomyControl over one's physicality
- birth control pillOral contraceptive medication
consciousness-raising · gender equality · patriarchy · Gloria Steinem · Betty Friedan · pro-choice · Roe v Wade · equal rights · feminist theory · gender studies
prudishness
Excessive moral strictness
- puritanismRigid moral severity
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
obscenity · repression · stigma · shame · Victorian · morality · forbidden · scandal · promiscuity · illegitimacy
- 20th century cultureRoaring Twenties, Jazz Age, Great Depression, baby boom, counterculture
- feminismfeminism, feminist theory, gender equality, women's rights, feminist novels
- sexual customsmarriage customs, courtship, virginity, chastity, monogamy
- social trendsincome inequality, feminism, social mobility, environmentalism, wealth gap
- sexual freedomfree love, consent, bodily autonomy, sex positivity, reproductive rights
- Orgone TheoryWilhelm Reich, Reich, body armor, life energy, character analysis
sexual revolutionpuritanism
Rigid moral severity
purity culture · sexual restraint · Victorian morality · prudery · sexual taboo
sexual, revolution, pansexual, revolutionary, sexuality, bisexual, homosexual, asexual, sexually