Newstalgia Pop Chronicles - The Sexual Revolution - Part of the 2nd Sunday radio documentary series from December 1968, examines the changing attitudes towards sex and sexuality in American society.
November 21, 2010


Along with music, our social attitudes were changing big-time in the 1960s. And the biggest change was in the area of America's attitudes towards sex and sexuality. Some called it a reaction to our constant fear of impending doom during the Cold War years while others called it a good healthy rejection of some pretty puritan attitudes towards sex as the result of strict censorship codes in film and television. And along with that came the freeing up of a lot of backwards ideas as to what sexuality was all about and much of it came out in the open for the first time.

As a result, the 60s brought about a change in ideas about the role of Women in society, our attitudes about homosexuality. It was in fact a revolution. But it wasn't without resistance and what started happening in the 60's laid the groundwork for the movements of the 70's. But this was where it started bubbling to the surface.

And it started to get the attention of mainstream media. This documentary, part of the NBC Radio series Second Sunday aired in December 1968, attempted to present a composite look at how things were changing with our attitudes towards sex. Some of it is naive and some of it is antiquated. But you have to understand this was new territory at the time and America was coming to grips with it. How, in some ways it's still going on and how some would like to see it returned to the way it was before this documentary aired.

And the answer to that is; you can never go back. Nor would you really want to.

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