CoL49 (5) Two or Three Things About Her

[Ian Livingston]

Well, the whole 'Free Love' thing was a 60's event.  It began to erode
in the 70's into a loosening of the general public's notions of sexual
mores, but the gist of the thing had changed.  It had gone from
something to do with anarchy to something to do with pornography,
somehow.  It seems true that the advent of popular porn had the more
prevalent effect, for better or worse, and that actually began in the
40's and 50's.

On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 10:13 AM, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 9:42 AM, Monte Davis <montedavis at verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>> >  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.' "
>>
>>
> Very funny,Monte.
>
> For me the biggest thing the 60s brought was I didn't have to wear a
> sujt and tie to work any longer.
>
> I don't think sex was changed much for adults (which I alas already
> very much was). That was the 70s when things went wild. But only for a
> while.
>
> P
>
>