Written in 1984, Susan Minot’s short story “Lust” is a tale about a young teenager’s sexual encounters and its effects on her female psyche. In a clutter of unorganized paragraphs, the narrator expresses her sexual history and feelings towards these sexual encounters. She focuses on the gender roles that are the complete opposite of what would be expected during the feminist movement of the 1970’s and the 1980’s, implying Minot’s personal views on the effectiveness of the movement, as well as talking about the pressure and expectations of women by society and how those expectations show signs of lust, not love. Right out the start, Minot creates a very nonchalant tone for the narrator.…
Sex became more socially acceptable outside the strict boundaries of heterosexual marriage. Aptly named the era of "free love," thousands of individuals amassed to preach the “power of love” and the “beauty of…
Yet, even though American sexuality had changed in the 1920's, i am glad to see that tradition of marriage has continued to remain the same. The Flappers did have a strong impact for women comfortably expressing their own sexual desires / freedom publicly. Rukaya, were their other reasons as to why the Flappers were often judged so many times? The Flappers did in fact show a sense of freedom and sexuality for women all over the world. Why did younger women of the 1920's challenge instead of accept traditional norms?…
Past research has examined women’s sexuality by taking a closer look at their relationships across time and place. Same-sex partnerships between women have not always been considered abnormal. Before the Chinese communist government banned “sisterhoods”, it was common for women in the 19th century to be involved in loving partnerships and sexual relationships with one another (Peplau, 2001). And in 19th century America, Boston Marriages blossomed in New England. These marriages referred to women who engaged in a pattern of long-term, monogamous same-sex relationships (Faderman, 1981 as cited in Peplau, 2001).…
However, the deaths of approximately 126,00 men during World War I left many women in fear that they wouldn’t marry and would die a spinster. Similarly, a new appreciation for life spread amongst many individuals, coaxing them to take their lives into their own hands. Flappers liberated themselves by openly flaunting their sexuality, no longer content with suppressing their sexual impulses. Women began taking lovers and discussions about sex were no longer disguised. Part of this movement has often been related to one of Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis.…
Throughout America’s history, women have been fervently oppressed and labeled as inferior to men. The initial view of women were sources of lust and sin. Their attempts to speak their minds and act as independent figures almost always seem to be repudiated. Although the ideals of American womanhood during this time period moved positively up the scale, women were still identified as subordinate and did not receive the credit and rights they contested for.…
After reading your post Collin, movies, advertisement, and media did indeed change the idea of America's sexuality into a whole new perspective. The 1920's did unleash America's sexuality publicly by women reveling more skin, less clothing and expressing themselves more freely. However, you brought up Josephine Baker as an icon and sex symbol of the era. Is Josephine Baker considered to be an example of a "Flapper?"…
Susan J. Douglas and Anne Moody had two amazing life stories to portray to the world. Susan was a white female child growing up during the baby boom in the 1950s, and Anne Moody was a black female child born in the 1940s living in the brutal south with very harsh conditions towards those who were colored. These two women had different life stories because of the color of their skin and the location of their home towns. The different challenging lives of these two girls shaped how they viewed the American society and everything that went into it. Susan Douglas’s life was much different than the life of Anne Moody.…
The rise of new forms of sexual control stemmed from a cultural shift that was occurring throughout the nineteenth century in America. This shift was the rise of the middle class— a small part of the population defined by the privacy of the home and principles such as the importance of childrearing and sobriety. The middle class held significantly different values from the ones afforded to the working class and the sharp contrast between the classes led to new sexual authorities creating definitions of sexuality based on status. The advent of public versus private spheres also characterized this time and the ideal of sexual privacy led to the creation of the “natural woman,” a view that to be womanly is to be chaste. Between 1860 and 1930,…
Beth Bailey’s work Sex in the Heartland goes into a deep analysis of sexual revolution throughout America in the 1960s. Using Lawrence, Kansas as a representation of the rest of the country, Bailey argues that the sexual revolution emerged from both sexual and non-sexual changes during the Second World War, and continued to grow as repressive elites attempted to halt the growth of sexual culture through Kansas University administration, the distribution of an oral contraception for unmarried women, and oppression of local press and on and off-campus liberation movements. All these events and organizations eventually lead to the freedom and equality of sexual culture, but not before going through multiple protests, court cases, and other acts…
“Another result of the revolution was that manners became not merely different, but-for a few years-unmannerly” (Revolution 11). The whole code of manners who thrown out the door when short dresses started to become the new thing and the activities that the teenagers did like listen to jazz or break all the fashion norms of the older time. ‘Boys and girls were becoming sophisticated about sex at an earlier age; it was symptomatic that when the authors of Middletown asked 241 boys and 315 girls of high-school age to mark as true or false, according to their opinion, the extreme statement, "Nine out of every ten boys and girls of high-school age have petting parties” (Revolution 9). Since the teenagers were becoming more rebellious by the fashion they wore they also started becoming rebellious to the activities they…
Sexual attitudes have changed tremendously throughout history. In the 19th century women were seen as inferior individuals and did not equal up to the status of a man. Education and beauty did not at all matter to the superior sex of males. Women’s roles, economic status, and social status were all dominated by the male society. Silence lingered among women during the 19th century.…
Women were now experimenting with their sexuality, they were no longer scared to…
The songwriter, Don McLean, begins with the loss of one of his most beloved musicians, Buddy Holly. On February 3rd, 1959, a plane carrying three muscians, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, crashed in a field in Iowa killing all three musicians and the pilot. This event was significant in several ways to McLean. He not only lost one of his favorite muscians, but it was also a turbulent time in American history, and a lot of changes were taking place. During the 1960's, there was a sexual revolution, where moral attitudes towards sex changed from the more conservative and traditional behaviors, to having a more open-minded attitude about sex, especially sex outside of marriage.…
A comparison of the lesbian community from the twentieth century and that which exists today shows almost no resemblance between the two. The traits that marked lesbian culture as ‘distinct’ - namely butch/femme identities - have been replaced by the modern lesbian. The butch/femme lesbian dichotomy of the early twentieth century challenged society’s definition of being female, but the rise of lesbian feminism and the “new lesbian” critiqued this traditional approach as ‘heterosexual roleplay’ and resulted in a shift towards a new lesbian culture altogether. Lesbians in the twentieth century existed in a culture that actively and openly oppressed them. People who were openly homosexual were beaten, arrested, fired, and generally persecuted.…