Erotic media, such as films, magazines, and books, became more popular and gained widespread attention nationally.
[4] In the United States, a dramatic shift in traditional ideas about sex and sexuality arose from numerous social changes.
Writer and prominent feminist of the time, Gloria Steinem, went undercover at a Playboy Club in 1963 and found that women were often mistreated and exploited.
"[17] In addition, Phillips Cutright examined data about the age of first menses in the Western population and illegitimacy levels from 1940 to 1968.
Previous methods of birth control included herbal remedies and early condoms, both were less protective and not legalized.
[19] The pill "was female-controlled, simple to use, highly effective, and most revolutionary of all, it separated reproduction and contraception from the sexual act.
"[19] While critics claimed that the pill would lead to immorality, it allowed women to gain freedom in body's decision making.
Its intent was to control overpopulation.President Lyndon Johnson's social reform policy, The Great Society, aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Estelle Griswold, the executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, and stated that the right to privacy for married couples was granted in the U.S.
The origin of the pill as a form of population control for those living in poverty created distrust among groups that were systematically impoverished.
[27] Robert Chrisman argued that birth control could now be used as genocide with racist motives, saying "contraception, abortion, sterilization are now major weapons in the arsenal of the U.S.' Agency for International Development.
She provided evidence for "the risk of blood clots, heart attack, stroke, depression, weight gain, and loss of libido."
Friedan suggested that women should not conform to this popularized view of the feminine as "The Housewife" and that they should participate in and enjoy the act of sex.
They sought women's equality through lobbying and political activism, inspired by the work of groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Examples of this legislative change include NOW's lobbying of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the recognition of sex discrimination in the workplace throughout the 1960s.
[31] Another, younger, and more radical group of women's liberationists formed in the 1960s simultaneously with NOW, inspired by grassroots civil rights and New Left movements of the 1960s.
They protested the traditionally feminine by cutting their hair short and refusing to wear women's clothing or makeup.
[31] By wearing men's clothes and rejecting traditional femininity, activists drew mainstream attention and questioned the defining features of a woman into society.
Many members of this more radical branch of the movement throughout the 1960s argued that feminine clothing and beauty standards were a method of oppression imposed by the patriarchy.
Oftentimes these writings were not traditionally published, but spread at conferences and meetings; they were written critiques of the patriarchy, femininity, and other issues central to the women's movement.
The women's liberation movement prioritized "its cultural challenge not to unjust laws but to the very definitions of female and male, the entire system then called 'sex roles' by sociologists.
In addition, male homosexuals were often seen as inherently more dangerous (particularly to children) than lesbians, due to stereotypes and societal prejudices.
However, by 1971, the first gay pornographic feature film, Boys in the Sand, was shown at the 55th Street Playhouse in New York City.
[41] The gay rights movement was less popular in the 1960s than later decades, but it still engaged in public protest and an attitude "celebratory about the homosexual lifestyle.
[4] These gay rights groups also challenged traditional gender roles, similar to feminist movements of the time.
One way awareness of the community was able to spread was because of the rise of butch-femme fashion and outward expression of lesbianism after the Second World War.
[44] Many butch lesbians were able to adhere to these laws by wearing women's underwear and socks, or "men's cut" shirts and slimmer skirts instead of slacks.
The Stonewall riots are considered a defining moment in the gay rights movement and have become a "'year zero' in public consciousness and historical memory.
Still, the development of the Gay Liberation Front in 1969 sought "to create new 'social form and relations' that would be based on 'brotherhood, cooperation, human love, and uninhibited sexuality.