Week 9 Notes: Sexual Revolution and Women's Liberation (Australia)
Week 9 Overview: Sexual Revolution and Women's Liberation (Australia)
Instructor notes: Week 9 focuses on distinguishing sexual revolution (sexual liberation) from women’s liberation, while examining their intersections and tensions. Also signals a focus on Australia, with guiding questions for seminars.
Acknowledgment of Country: Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation; respect to elders; inclusive note for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander participants.
Seasonal note (tadpoles in Melbourne) used as a small cultural aside.
Key Questions for This Week
What was the sexual revolution?
What and when was women’s liberation? How do they connect or diverge?
How do or don’t Indigenous women fit into these spaces?
How does the Australian experience compare with international examples?
Brief Recap: What We Covered in the Last Weeks
World War II opened up economic and social opportunities for Australian women (leisure, self-sufficiency).
Increased access to consumer goods (e.g., appliances) reshaped identities and the notion of motherhood and domestic life.
Hollywood culture and consumerism promoted new forms of femininity and sexuality.
Cinema targeted women and youth sexuality; shift in how femininity was framed (wife, mother, and sexual partner).
Rise of explicit sexualization in ads and media; growing awareness of homosexuality.
Early sexology and debates on sexuality (pre-1960s): compulsion, pathologies, and sexuality on a continuum.
Kinsey’s scale and Masters & Johnson’s work helped popularize contemporary understandings of sexuality.
Psychoanalysis and Freud influenced perspectives on sexuality (with later cautions about distortions).
The birth control pill (the Pill) emerged, altering the link between sex and reproduction, and fueling debates about sexual autonomy.
Core Concepts in the Sexual Revolution
Sexual revolution: a social, cultural, and political shift in the 1960s–70s toward liberalization of sexual practices and attitudes across many parts of the world.
Sexual liberation: emphasis on bodily autonomy, contraception, premarital sex, and LGBTQ+ liberation.
Bodily autonomy: control over one’s own body, including abortion rights, contraception, and consent.
Compulsory heterosexuality (Adrienne Rich): the idea that heterosexuality is assumed as the norm, marginalizing other sexualities.
Sexology: the scientific study of human sexuality; later waves challenged earlier negative framing of sexuality.
The Second Wave of Sexology and Key Figures
Alfred Kinsey (1940s–1950s): proposed sexuality on a continuum rather than a fixed binary; introduced the Kinsey scale.
Kinsey scale: a spectrum for human sexual orientation ranging from 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to 6 (exclusively homosexual).
Masters and Johnson: empirical research on sexual response; controversial experiments documenting sexual behavior; popularized in media; contributed to public understanding of sex.
Psychoanalysis and Freud: focus on unconscious drives; the idea of polymorphous perversity in childhood; later cautions about distortions in clinical interpretations.
Wilhelm Reich: emphasis on sexual health, masturbation as healthy, and opposition to sexual repression; advocacy for abortion rights and sexual education; growth of pornographic material and sex manuals.
Key Concepts from Psychoanalytic and Sexological Theories
Freud: unconscious drives shape behavior; civilization represses these drives; polymorphous perverse sexuality in childhood could harden into later sexuality under social repression.
Reich: orgasm as part of sexual health; masturbation as healthy; opposed abstinence; supported legalization of abortion and broader sex education; contributed to discussions on sexual autonomy.
Kinsey, Masters & Johnson, Reich, and Freud collectively shaped the mid-20th century conversations about sexuality, health, and morality.
The Pill and Shifts in Sexual Culture
The Pill launched in Australia in 1961; initially marketed for marital/contraceptive purposes (non-reproductive sex within marriage).
Dramatic shift: separation of sex from reproduction; public discussion of sexual life and contraception intensified.
Religious/political context in Australia (Catholic influence) continued to shape debates about sex, morality, and gender equality.
Uptake statistics in Australia (married women using the Pill):
1961: about 4 ext{ percent}
1962: about 7 ext{ percent}
1963: about 10 ext{ percent}
1972: about 20 ext{ percent}
These figures reflect rapid growth over roughly a decade and a half.
Effects of the Pill:
Increased openness in conversations about sex, frequency, and pleasure.
Greater emphasis on mutual pleasure and male partners supporting female sexual satisfaction.
Continued gendered expectations and sexism in discussing sexual matters.
Advertising and consumer culture:
Growth of sexuality-focused advertising; products marketed toward women (beauty, clothing, stockings).
Emergence of a “sexualized commodity culture.”
Media and culture: rise of pornography and erotic magazines, broader depictions of explicit sexual acts in films and literature.
Examples: Playboy (1953/54 launch; 1964 issue shown); Kama Sutra translations (Richard Burton); James Bond films (e.g., Goldfinger scene with Jill Masterson; Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice).
Ads and imagery: Delta Airlines ad with sexual innuendo; public discussions around “working girl” imagery.
Counterculture and its Influence
Postwar generation: higher education expansion; new political culture and radicalization of those previously marginalized.
Counterculture symbols: hippies, free love, anti-establishment sentiments; not universal but influential as a movement.
Broader social shifts: challenging conservative institutions (church and nuclear family); recognizing alternative family structures and communities.
Indigenous and First Nations politics: pre-existing kinship networks acknowledged as legitimate family structures; emergence of broader rights discourse in the U.S. and Australia.
Women’s Liberation in Australia (Second Wave Feminism)
Emergence: late 1960s to early 1970s in Australia; influenced by U.S. movements but developed locally through activists and grassroots organizing.
Core focus areas: gender politics; equal pay; male violence; domestic violence; sexual assault; critique of cultural sexism.
Consciousness-raising (CR) groups: a hallmark of second-wave feminism; practice of shared experiences to build collective action.
Autonomous organizing: independent marches, collectives, and local initiatives.
Consciousness-Raising Groups: What They Looked Like
Often led by the New York Radical Women in the U.S.; groups typically had 5–15 women.
Guidelines (pamphlet, 1969) for CR groups:
Identify a space away from men (e.g., church groups, work groups, political groups).
Invite participants and distribute reading materials in advance; keep meetings free of interruptions (no children, husbands, bosses).
A single question per meeting (e.g., "What has it meant to earn your own money?").
What happens in CR groups stays in CR groups; no cross-sharing outside the group.
Demographics (1974 survey): most attendees were white, middle/upper-class, in their 30s, married, college-educated; about half had children; urban/suburban residents.
Outcome: CR groups often led to action, such as pamphlet/newsletter creation, public demonstrations, and the organization of other groups.
Modern relevance: online activism and platforms like MeToo as potential forms of contemporary CR, with comparisons to digital consciousness-raising.
Australia: Women’s Liberation in the 1960s–1970s
Increasing numbers of women in higher education revealed job access gaps and wage gaps relative to men with similar qualifications.
Double standards around sexuality: women urged to be sexually liberated while facing moral/religious constraints at home and in communities.
Domestic realities: women still pressured to leave work when married or pregnant; persistent expectations around motherhood as defining femininity.
Political and legal gains in Australia (1960s–1980s):
1965: right to drink in public bars for women (public demonstration of changing gender norms).
1969: push for equal pay for equal work; part of broader anti-discrimination and wage equality campaigns.
1973: paid maternity leave for government employees; broader welfare support for families.
1974: first women’s refuge/shelter opened for those escaping abuse.
1984: Sex Discrimination Act outlawed sex-based discrimination.
Broader social impact: movement contributed to reforms in employment, family policy, and social services; linked to changes in attitudes toward sexuality and relationships.
Tensions and Debates Between Sexual Revolution and Women’s Liberation
Shared themes: both challenged longstanding gender, sex, and sexuality norms; promoted bodily and sexual autonomy; treated social institutions as political sites of change.
Areas of tension:
Pornography: does it liberate women or objectify them? The so-called sex wars debate continued into the 1980s and beyond.
Sex work: ongoing debates about whether sex work is empowerment or oppression.
Heterosexuality: debates about compulsory heterosexuality and the potential appeal of lesbian identities within radical feminist discourses.
The Australian context: debates around the extent to which Australian feminism reflected/intersected with global waves; nuanced by local politics and social structures.
Critiques and readings: Kurthwais’ framing raises questions about the coherence and coherence of “Australian feminism”; debates about whether to treat second-wave feminism as a single, unified movement given its diversity of groups and ideologies.
The importance of intersectionality (emergent critique): later readings stress the limits of a white, middle-class focus and call for more attention to race, colonization, and Indigenous women’s experiences.
Readings and Seminar Preparations
Kurthwais: Use to explore how second-wave feminism may be conceptualized in Australia; consider multiple strands (Marxist feminism, post-structural feminism, liberal feminism, intersectionality, race, history).
Larissa Brandhart reading: Focus on critiques of the movement’s focus on white women's experiences and how to incorporate a more inclusive analysis.
Seminar tips: bring notes on the readings; be prepared to discuss the role of Indigenous women in these movements; examine how legal reforms interacted with cultural change.
Seminar questions to explore in depth:
How do/should we integrate Indigenous women’s experiences into narratives of sexual revolution and women’s liberation?
What are the practical and ethical implications of CR groups in contemporary online activism?
To what extent did legal reforms translate into lived equality during the period?
Connections to Foundational Principles and Real-World Relevance
Links to earlier waves of sexology and gender studies: shifts from pathology-focused to autonomy-focused understandings of sexuality.
The interplay of law, culture, and policy: changes in laws (e.g., rape, sexual assault, maternity leave) often followed long periods of activism and social pressure.
Media, culture, and consumerism: the period marks a turning point where sexuality became a visible, marketed, and discussed aspect of everyday life.
Ongoing debates: the tension between sexual freedom and the potential for exploitation remains a live issue in contemporary policy and culture.
Key Dates, Terms, and Concepts for Quick Reference
Kinsey scale: a continuum of sexual orientation from 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to 6 (exclusively homosexual).
Masters & Johnson: empirical investigations into sexual response; popularized public understanding of sex.
Freudian psychoanalysis: emphasis on unconscious drives; polymorphous perverse sexuality in childhood; later contested for overreach.
Reich: advocacy of sexual health, masturbation, and abolition of sexual repression; supported abortion access and sex education.
The Pill in Australia: introduced in 1961; early uptake growth to around 20\% of married women by 1972; enabled decoupling of sex and reproduction.
Australian milestones in women’s rights (illustrative dates):
Right to drink in public bars: 1965
Equal pay for equal work: 1969
Paid maternity leave (government employees): 1973
First women’s refuge: 1974
Sex Discrimination Act: 1984
Critical readings: Kurthwais; Larissa Brandhart.
Summary Takeaways
The sexual revolution and women’s liberation are distinct but deeply interconnected movements with overlapping goals around autonomy, challenging gender norms, and transforming social institutions.
In Australia, the late 1960s–1980s saw significant legal, political, and cultural shifts, influenced by global conversations but adapted to local contexts (e.g., church influence, policy timelines).
The Pill played a pivotal role in decoupling sex from reproduction and catalyzing broader conversations about sex, sexuality, and gender roles.
The rise of consumer culture, media representations, and countercultural politics shaped attitudes toward sexuality and femininity.
Consciousness-raising groups energized feminist organizing, but debates about representation, intersectionality, and the scope of reform highlight ongoing tensions within the movements.
Contemporary scholarship (Kurthwais, Brandhart) urges us to critically examine whose experiences are foregrounded and to integrate Indigenous and other marginalized perspectives into historical narratives.
If you want, I can tailor a shorter cheat-sheet version focused on dates and key terms, or expand any section with more detailed examples from the readings for seminar prep.