Sexual Revolution of the 1960's // Quotes

Below are some quotes which show both sides of the argument of whether the sexual revolution was a good thing or a bad thing. 

The majority of what you hear about the swinging sixties is all about free love and that it was all great, however I have recently read a few articles which has brought to my attention an opposing view point.


"It often seemed more polite to sleep with a man than to chuck him out of your flat" - Virginia Ironside, 

"To be honest, I mainly remember the 60s as an endless round of miserable promiscuity, a time when often it seemed easier and, believe it or not, more polite, to sleep with a man than to chuck him out of your flat." - Virginia Ironside

"The ability for women to control fertility led to a sharp increase in college attendance and graduation rates for women, but detractors point out the rise in out-of-wedlock births, sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy, and divorce rates following its introduction." 

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Changes in Social Norms

The modern consensus is that the sexual revolution in 1960s America was typified by a dramatic shift in traditional values related to sex, and sexuality. Sex became more socially acceptable outside the strict boundaries of heterosexual marriage. For example, studies have shown that, between 1965 and 1975, the number of women who experienced sexual intercourse before marriage showed a marked increase (Figure 1). The increased availability of birth control (and the quasi-legalization of abortion in some places) helped reduce the chance that premarital sex would result in unwanted children. By the mid-1970s, the majority of newly married American couples had experienced sex before marriage.

Free Love

Similarly, during this time, a culture of "free love" emerged. Beginning in San Francisco in the mid-1960s, this culture of "free love" was propagated by thousands of "hippies," who preached the power of love and the beauty of sex. By the 1970s, it was acceptable for colleges to allow co-educational housing where male and female students mingled freely. Hippies embraced the old slogan of free love from the radical social reformers of other eras. 

- https://www.boundless.com/history/sixties-1960-1969/expansion-civil-rights-movement/sexual-revolution-and-pill/


Instead of men and women freely choosing to have sex if they wanted to, we are now in a generation of young adults that are compelled to engage in sexual intercourse.  It is a generation that is incapable of saying ‘no.’

I can, unfortunately, remember the 60s all too well. And although I’ve no doubt it was a fantastic – or ‘fab’ as we used to say – time for men, for women (or young girls as we were then) it was absolutely grisly.
Because when it came to sex, we were, of course, the trailblazers for a completely new attitude, and blazing trails is always horribly uncomfortable. Virginia Ironside