The Faliure of the Sexual Revolution - George Frankl 1974

For the re-draft of my essay - How did the ideologies and values of the hippie subculture affect visual culture?  -  I have decided to look more into the Sexual Revolution of the time.  This subject links in with my essay already as I had previously written a small part about it.  The Sexual Revolution had a big impact on the visual culture of the time and it marked the end of old traditions.

I have read the book "The Failure of the Sexual Revolution" written by George Frankl, a psychotherapist which was first published in 1974.  

- "In this book George Frankl examines the aims of the sexual revolution and the factors responsible for its failure.  In showing that its ideas have their foundation in European radicalism he gives the sexual revolution a wider dimension beyond the superficialities of permissiveness.  He presents the connections between social oppression and sexual repression and explains how class society has its roots in the repressive psychic structure and why any attempt to change the one without changing the other is doomed to fail.
He goes on to show how the sexual revolution itself has been distorted and exploited by a market-oriented society and also deals with the problems confronting the sexual emancipation of women and questions certain aspects of the women's liberation movement.  This book is a critical analysis of one of the most important movements of our time and suggests new directions towards the realisation of genuine sexual freedom." 


I thought it relevant to use this text as it discusses topics such as pornography and how the sexual revolution was turned into a money making scheme by the establishment.  This also links in with the sexist advertisement which I mean to discuss and also about how "sex sells."

Below are some quotes which may come in useful in my essay:

George Frankl - The Failure of the Sexual Revolution

“Instead of being a catalyst for radical social change, the sexual revolution serves as a catalyst for business, opening up a new territory - a whole new continent for commercial exploitation.”  pg 56

“The conflicts and anxieties of the repressed libido are exploited by the industrial establishment”  pg 58

“The superego establishment is now in the extraordinary position to say to the masses: give up your inhibitions, have as much sexual pleasure as you like, we can sell you all the stimulants you want, we can teach you the arts of full sexual satisfaction and we can supply you with advice about sexual etiquette.  You are no longer subject to the rules of sexual scarcity; now we enter into the age of material and sexual affluence, and business and science can supply the goods.  You will continue to be dependant upon the establishment but this is an establishment of aflluence and permissiveness.  There are now hardly any restraints and the more you follow your desires, the more you will consume our products and the happier we shall all be.”  p59

“Today the sexual industry neutralises a revolution which threatened to dethrone the superego, to put an end to authoritarian repressiveness and class society: what was meant to be the revolution to end repression and oppression has become the latest prop of the establishment.”  pg 59

“The failure of the sexual revolution is a failure of radicalism, and attitudes of thought which intended to go to the root of things are being defeated by the attractions of permissiveness and pseudo rebellion.”  pg 60

George Frankl on pornography...

“A polarisation of viewpoints has become manifest between those who welcome it as a sign of maturity in society, even as a therapeutic catharsis, and others who condemn it.  Those who support the spreading of pornography for psychological and political reasons, see in it the manifestation of the sexual liberation that will overcome the old taboos and fears upon which authoritarian society is based.  Others see it as an undermining of morality and of civilised values.”