Gender And Sexuality Throughout The 20th Century

Throughout the 20th century, attitudes towards gender and sexuality began to change as the discussion of these once taboo topics was brought to the forefront of social and political thought by writers like Sigmund Freud and Maria Stopes. Previous domestic ideals had emphasized the sinfulness of sexuality but now people began to engage in extra marital sex and acknowledge the human need for pleasure and desire. Discussions of sexual relationships were brought out into the public sphere and the public soon attempted to cast off the shame long associated with sex. These shifts in attitude culminated in a movement focused on sexual and gender liberation known as the sexual revolution.
The sexual revolution came to the United Kingdom during the
For example, Matt Cook’s article on the Brixton Riots and homosexual communal living in south London . These articles attempt to understand how homosexuals fit in to British society after the decriminalization. Other scholarship focuses on the life of homosexuals prior to decriminalization by describing police persecution and living “in the closet” like Derek Dalton’s Policing Sex . Other authors describe the political turmoil leading up to decriminalization by discussing court cases that argued over the legality of sexual offenses, like prosecutorial misconduct in the Montagu- Wildeblood trial of 1954. While these publications provide a wealth of information about homosexuality in Britain, they don’t address the public discussions of decriminalization leading up to the Sexual Offenses Act of 1967. The popular opinions of homosexual law reform at this time are significant because Britain’s progression to a more tolerant stance on sexuality allowed for the act to pass. If the general population had remained staunchly against the decriminalization, as they were during the 1950s, homosexuality might have remained an illegal act much longer. If that had been the case a large amount of the British population would have suffered decades more of discrimination and police brutality.
They wanted homosexuals to receive medical care rather than criminal punishment or jail time. These medical professionals recommended treatments like hormone injections, isolation, shock therapy, and anti-psychotic medication