Expatiation of the Sexual Revolution

• Sexual Revolution had its roots in slowly changing attitudes after WW2- sensational book covers & Playboy increasing emerged onto the open shelves rather than from the counter & the Kinsey Reports generated greater & more open discussion of sex
• Americans learned from Kinsey that:

  • 68%- American males & 50% of American females had engaged in sex before marriage
  • 37% of males & 13% of women had had at least one homosexual experience
  • 8% of males & 4% of females had had some kind of sex with animals
• • Kinsey's Report- reflected & hastened the liberalisation of sexual behaviour
  • Pace of change speeded up after 1960- widespread availability of the first oral contraceptive for women- the pill- liberated many women from fears of pregnancy at a time when many groups were demanding greater freedom & change
  • armed with the pill & influenced by the rights revolution & the counter-culture, women began to insist upon their right to express their sexuality as they saw fit, unrestricted by old conventions