Hippies Influence on American Culture
Briana Gish
Mrs. Winters
English 11
12.4.12
Hippies and Their Influence on American Culture
Peace, love, and brotherhood were the call of the American hippie. The American hippie tried to live all three in unison in every part of the country. There were very few places where the hippie could not be found and even fewer that had never been influenced by the hippie movement. It seemed as if the hippies were becoming the new American culture, though it was only a subculture. The hippie movement influenced political, social, and traditional beliefs. The hippie movement was not a stationary force that had no influence; it was a broad subculture that forever changed the fabric of American culture and society.
The era of the hippie came out of an era of very conservative beliefs and attitudes concerning anything and all things from haircuts to politics to morals. The generation living in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s wanted to break away from the picture perfect image of their parents. They wanted to become more, gasp, natural by growing their hair long and admiring the beauty of the world around them. The hippies were a very esthetic group of individuals, delighting in those activities that were visually pleasing. This desire to see beauty in all things was heighten by an increase in drug use, specifically those drugs that had a hallucination quality, such as weed, LSD, and marijuana.
Increased drug use was only one of the many activities that they partook in that was not immediately applauded by the American culture. Many criticized and scorned hippies because of their loose morals and fixation with drugs.
Other activities that brought scorn upon the hippies was their promiscuity. Hippies were very comfortable with their sexuality and their bodies and were not afraid to share with others their experiences or partake in sexually experiences with others. Hippies believed that the body was a beautiful thing and should be used in a beautiful manner such as
Mrs. Winters
English 11
12.4.12
Hippies and Their Influence on American Culture
Peace, love, and brotherhood were the call of the American hippie. The American hippie tried to live all three in unison in every part of the country. There were very few places where the hippie could not be found and even fewer that had never been influenced by the hippie movement. It seemed as if the hippies were becoming the new American culture, though it was only a subculture. The hippie movement influenced political, social, and traditional beliefs. The hippie movement was not a stationary force that had no influence; it was a broad subculture that forever changed the fabric of American culture and society.
The era of the hippie came out of an era of very conservative beliefs and attitudes concerning anything and all things from haircuts to politics to morals. The generation living in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s wanted to break away from the picture perfect image of their parents. They wanted to become more, gasp, natural by growing their hair long and admiring the beauty of the world around them. The hippies were a very esthetic group of individuals, delighting in those activities that were visually pleasing. This desire to see beauty in all things was heighten by an increase in drug use, specifically those drugs that had a hallucination quality, such as weed, LSD, and marijuana.
Increased drug use was only one of the many activities that they partook in that was not immediately applauded by the American culture. Many criticized and scorned hippies because of their loose morals and fixation with drugs.
Other activities that brought scorn upon the hippies was their promiscuity. Hippies were very comfortable with their sexuality and their bodies and were not afraid to share with others their experiences or partake in sexually experiences with others. Hippies believed that the body was a beautiful thing and should be used in a beautiful manner such as