Students, Women & Black American protested publicly against establishment values- many Americans privately disregarded social norms through sexual behaviour that defied convention & upset conservatives
Anxieties about sexual liberalisation were nothing new
Conservatives- 1920's had bemoaned women with sort skirts & 'loose morals'
Changes in attitudes-1960's constituted a sexual revolution with increased acceptance of causal premarital sex, abortions, homosexuality & extramarital relations
Proportion of unmarried couples living together increased dramatically
1955- around 250,000
1960- 500,000
1970- nearly 750,000
1980- around 2 million
Women
% of single white women who had sex was around 25% in mid-1950's but more than double that by 1972
% of babies born- unmarried women rose
1969- 74% of women said that they believed premarital sex was wrong by 1973 it was only 53%
