Sex in the heartland / Beth Bailey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bailey, Beth L., 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex customs--Middle West--History--20th century.

Sex customs.

Sexual ethics--Middle West--History--20th century.

Sexual ethics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 265 p., [16]p. of plates. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This is the story of the sexual revolution in a small town in Kansas. Bailey argues that the revolution was forged in towns and cities alike, as people struggled over the boundaries of public and private sexual behaviour in postwar America.

This is the story of the sexual revolution in a small university town in the quintessential heartland state of Kansas. Bypassing the oft-told tales of radicals and revolutionaries on either coast, Beth Bailey argues that the revolution was forged in towns and cities alike, as "ordinary" people struggled over the boundaries of public and private sexual behaviour in postwar America.; The author challenges contemporary perceptions of the revolution as simply a triumph of free love and gay lib. Rather, she explores the long-term and mainstream changes in American society, beginning in the economic and social dislocations of World War II and the explosion of mass media and communication, which aided and abetted the sexual upheaval of the 1960's. Focusing on Lawrence, Kansas, we discover the intricate and depth of a transformation that was nurtured at the grass roots.; Americans used the concept of revolution to make sense of social and sexual changes as they lived through them. everything from the pill to pantry raids, the counterculture to civil rights, was conflated into "the revolution", an accessible but deceptive simplification, too easy to both glorify and vilify. Bailey untangles the radically different origins, intentions, and outcomes of these events and movements to help us better understand their roles and meanings for sex in contemporary America. she argues that the sexual revolution challenged and partially overturned a system of sexual controls based on oppression, inequality, and exploitation, and created new models of sex and gender relations that have shaped our society in powerful and positive ways.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

1 Before the Revolution

2 Sex and the Therapeutic Culture

3 Responsible Sex

4 Prescribing the Pill

5 Revolutionary Intent

6 Sex as a Weapon

7 Sex and Liberation

8 Remaking Sex

Epilogue

Abbreviations

Notes

Credits

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-250) and index.

ISBN:

9780674261853

0674261852

9780674020399

0674020391

OCLC:

1294426481