"Sex in '69" on History

[Dave2112]

Has anyone else watched the History Channel's special "Sex in '69"?

I have found this to be one of the most fascinating shows on sexuality in recent memory. If you haven't seen it (it premiered tonight), you'll have opportunities to catch it in again, and I strongly suggest you do.

People who know me know that I am a strong advocate of sexual freedom and expression. I have dedicated a lifetime to trying to make people aware of the BS that's villified sexuality, fetishes and all of those yummy things. Religion, power plays by the "moral majority" and the like have been a thorn in our sides for centuries.

What this show has done is to show the evolution of the sexual revolution of 1969, and what led up to it. It's funny, but young people today seem to really have no idea of the history of the sexual freedoms they have today. Back in '69, this sort of revolution spoke to more than just sex. It spoke to freedom, of enlightenment and the discovery of the true human condition.

What saddens me is that back then, people got together, discussed, explored and broke new ground in expanding the awareness of our species. Today? We're too wrapped up in our technology and instantaneous reaction to the most trivial bullshit to think of where we go as a species.

To the point, though...this show, if you look beneath the surface, is about so much more than sex. If you do get a chance to see it, please do. It's extremely interesting and just might make you take a look around you and wonder what happened, and just when we lost the desire to move forward as people and not just consumers.

 

[Sir Bombers]

Heh heh heh... what an interesting title...

"69"....Sex...


Dirty minds unite! LOL

 

[Dr. Bill Kobb]

Aargh. I'm still months away from having anything like decent channel selection. I'll have to see it in reruns or on disc. :umm:

 

[Journia]

Dave, I am so glad I wasn't the only one who saw, even a little bit of it. That was really interesting. Even though I saw only the Hugh Heffner part. I'm going to catch it the next time it comes on. This is WAY better than, "Sex in The Bible."

 

[kopfhorer1]

Yeah, the only way this non-cable-forever household's going to get to see this documentary is via DVD, Hulu, Youtube, etc.

Granted that TV uses sex (or rather, the idea of the idea of sex) to attract and hold viewers, it still took guts tor the History Channel to run a documentary like this. (Why, I can hear the televangelists rallying their flocks in their McChurches and raking in the donations as I write this!).

As for my own recollections of that era, I remember the not-so-subtly moralistic sex-ed films I saw in high school in the early 1970's (hell, certain people actually thought that sex education was a Communist plot. Never mind that many Soviet and Chinese Communist leaders were more anti-sex than James Dobson). The struggle to legalize abortion, in the 60's and the early 70's, was at least as intense as our current efforts to overthrow the insurance industry's dominance of health care. The fledgling pro-life movement gave us a serious if ultimately unsuccessful run for our money. Homosexuality was more widely feared than nuclear war. The idea of a woman being anything other than a housewife (let alone being a sexual creature) was considered more radical than the idea of a black man getting elected president. Accidental pregnancy was considered scandalous (for the woman, never for the man who helped her get that way).

Oh yes, the only way for people to hook up back then, especially if you were into more exotic sorts of things (like say, tickling?) was through personal ads, especially those in major-market sex newspapers like the venerable Screw.