Women In The 1960s

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The 1960s and 1970s were a thunderous time. Many women, African Americans, Native Americans, gays and lesbians, and other marginalized people continued to fight for their equality. Many Americans during this time also joined the protest against the ongoing war in Vietnam. In other ways, a new right mobilized in defense of political conservatism and traditional family roles. By the end of the 1970s, these divisions and disappointments had set a tone for public life that is still with us today. These sexual revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s both strengthened and weakened Cold War notions of gender and sexuality. During the 1960s, Playboy and Hugh Hefner became a very crucial aspect of society. When people hear about Hugh Hefner, all they …show more content…

A noteworthy protest was the Atlantic City Miss America Protest in 1969 when women flamed their bras on fire. Even though only a dozen women protested, it was a significant protest that caught the media’s attention. I think the idea and the intentions behind burning their bras were to show their independence from men and proved a statement for women’s rights. Another way feminism was portrayed is through films in the 1960s and 1970s. The film we watched in class, I Spit on Your Grave, showed the transformation of a women gaining her independence from men. In the beginning of the movie, she is represented as a weak and helpless women. In the end she comes out a strong person who seeks revenge on those who raped her. I never thought to view movies in this concept and didn’t even know there was an idea of feminism behind these stories. After watching the film and discussing it in class, I realized that there is at least a little bit of feminism behind movies as …show more content…

Political movements pushed toward the New Left and Free Love. The New Left culture wanted the restructuring of social norms such as religion, politics, sex, gender, and drugs. Free love rejected sexual and gender norms. There was no ownership of bodies and they pushed against marriage, reproducing, and monogamy. They wanted sexuality driven by desire and not obligation. With this many started announcing their queerness to the world, regardless of the world wanting to hear it or not. Queers hoped to gain free expression, strength in numbers, and a cultural change. The more queers began coming out, oppression continued to grow. Similar to the tactics used during the Cold War, police began using entrapment. They would organize networks to seduce queer men and labeled queer’s as “perverts”. Even in the 1960s and 1970s they believed that homosexuality was a sickness and could be cured. I think this standpoint and idea is still believed to this day, which is very

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