Sexual Revolution

“The sexual revolution was not one movement. It was instead a set of movements…closely linked, even intertwined” (p. 119) but there are three strands that are important to the sexual revolution: the sexualization of the culture, the modest revolutionaries, and the cultural radicals (p. 120). Most people want to say that the Kinsey Reports “opened the floodgates” so to speak, when it comes to the sexual revolution of the sixties. I actually see it as more of a gradual process, where sexuality has always been there, but “sexual images have become more and more a part of public life” (p. 119). So what Kinsey DID do was to publicize the private (p. 118), because young people had already been experimenting with premarital sex, they were just “covert” about it. As the book states, “many people must have been reassured by the knowledge that they were not alone, that their sexual behaviors were not individual deviant acts but part of widespread social trends” (p. 118).

Prior to the sexual revolution of the sixties, or the dating era, “marriage was the most important factor in the transition to adulthood” (p. 144). In the 1950’s, the average ages of newlyweds were “20 for women and 22 for men” and “students were likely considered by society, and to think of themselves, as adults during their college years” (p. 144). “In recent decades, men and women have been postponing marriage and many other role transitions (such as parenthood and home ownership) and college students have become less likely to think of themselves as adults” (p. 144). Although age wise, college students are adults, meaning they are 18 or older, since they still depend on their parents financially while they attend school, they still feel adolescent. Before the sexual revolution, along with birth control, marriage was needed prior to sexual intercourse. Also, going back to the Readings 4, 5, and 6, marriage used to be closely aligned with procreation.