Sexual Liberation
In addition to sexual intercourse and its variations, sexual liberation refers to the universe of human issues affecting all genders. America was propelled from the sexual enslavement of the 1950's to considerably increased sexual liberation of the 1980's and beyond. Two significant events of the 1960's that contributed to sexual liberation were the FDA approval of The Pill and the birth of the Women's Liberation Movement.
Sexual Suppression of the 1950's
An examination of liberation should begin with the sexual slavery of the 1950's. By current standards, sexual suppression was a numbing fact of 1950's America, particularly for women. For example, the legendary "Good Wife's Guide" (Housekeeping Monthly, 1955) spouts standards that are otherworldly by today's norms. Perhaps its most oppressive statement is "A good wife always knows her place" (Housekeeping Monthly, 1955), though the guide serves up plenty of other now-hilarious goodies. "Assisting" housebound married women in the proper treatment of their husbands, the guide gives such pointers as: "Let him talk first -- remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours"; "Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night"; "Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes."; "Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking"; (Housekeeping Monthly, 1955). Reflecting pre-1960's guidelines, the guide imposes heavy burdens on a wife as a helpmate and carefully leaves the nether belly of sexual intercourse -- arguably a key aspect of marital life - unmentioned because it was "unmentionable."
The Pill
Against that oppressive backdrop, America entered the 1960's, in which many events contributed to sexual liberation. Perhaps the single most important historical event in American sexual liberation was the May 11, 1960 FDA approval of "The Pill" (PBS Online, 2002). The Pill was introduced as a safe, highly effective, easy-to-use form of contraception, significantly reducing the fear of
As stated in Alice Henry's 1978 article, "Reproductive thinking": "The lesson to be learned is that reproductive freedom cannot be separated from the totality of women's freedom" (Henry, 1978). Since women of childbearing years could engage in
sex without becoming pregnant, women now had considerable freedom to postpone or completely forego pregnancy and work outside the home for wages. Earning money and avoiding pregnancy gave women even more freedom to live independently, without necessarily relying on men. In addition, women in the workforce enjoyed expanded horizons in which their interactions with the world at large were not funneled through their husbands. Finally, the fact that married women could earn money and avoid pregnancy proved advantageous for their husbands: just as women could have sex without fear of pregnancy, their husbands could have sex without fear that their wives would become pregnant; in addition, wives' greater income meant greater family income.
Developed by a drug company named G.D. Searle commencing in 1951, the contraceptive was sole to a huge market of women who were previously forced to use more complex, less effective methods of
contraception (PBS Online, 2002). The new freedom presented by the pill can be seen by the number of American women who used it: 2.3 million women in 1963; 6.5 million in 1965; over 12.5 million in 1967; after scares about the effects of the pill, 10 million in 1973; 10.7 million by the early 1980's (PBS Online, 2002). By 1982, the pill was so widely used that "60% of women of reproductive age are employed in America" (PBS Online, 2002). Though millions of women were successfully using the pill by 1968, there was actually little knowledge about how the pill worked; consequently, the Oakland Post published an article describing the chemical and physical processes that made the pill such a successful contraceptive (Oakland Post, 1968). As the pill was developed and refined by multiple drug companies, and as women learned more about the pill's effects, the pill became the overwhelming contraceptive method of…
