CoL49 (5) Two or Three Things About Her

[Monte Davis]

>  The sexties and 7ts 
> were an era wherein the cultural identity of Americans was 
> rattled to the quick.  We seem still to be at sea as to what 
> it means to be an "American," whereas after WWII, Americans 
> enjoyed a brief period of cultural certainty, however 
> deluded... 

Charlie Haas, 1983:

"During the long sleep of the Eisenhower years, sex was something 'dirty,'
unnatural and very much restricted. In many states, laws placed stringent
limits on breast size and penis length-- freedoms that, today, we take
almost for granted. But then came the '60s-- a turbulent decade of turmoil,
or ferment, or fomented torment. For many, the lyrics of rock-prophet Bob
Dylan seemed to sum it all up: 'Now your dancing child with his Chinese
suit,/He spoke to me, I took his flute./No, I wasn't very cute to him,/Was
l?' The very foundations of society seemed to be shaking, as long-held
assumptions were questioned. Who were we? Why were we here? Where were we
going? Were we there yet? When were we going to be there? Now were we there
yet?

"But the '70s held few answers. We seemed to be hurtling into a new,
terrifyingly uncertain time, as sex roles, standards of conduct, even car
shapes, underwent rapid alteration. The Muppets rushed into the vacuum the
Beatles had left; John Heard was the new screen idol for all who could
remember which one he was. The Pill had revolutionized sexuality. I think I
meant William Hurt back there. Reeling from assassinations, from Vietnam,
from Watergate, we hungered for a portentous, yackety style of journalism
that could put all the pieces together. But chilling new deterrents to sex
were on the horizon: herpes, AIDS, the Grace Jones look. This whole analysis
is valid because I say so, and Jill (not her real name) is glad I do. 'I'd
hate to be in an article like this,' she says, 'and then have them leave out
the phrase 'the long sleep of the Eisenhower years.' "