The Role Of Sexuality In The 1950's

John Doe
Professor Mansito
ENC 1101 12:00-1:50
21 October 2013
Essay 1

Sexuality: The 1950’s to Today Sexuality, like many other things in our world, is an ever changing thing. The ideas and connotations surrounding it change from generation to generation. Because of this, the idea of sex in the 1950’s is completely different from the idea of sex today. Today, sexuality can be expressed in almost anything we do. Commercials, billboards, TV shows, movies, magazine articles, and many other things are driven and influenced by the idea of sex. People today cannot escape the sexuality that surrounds us. However, things were not always like this. In the 1950’s, sex was a taboo topic. Nobody talked about it, it wasn’t used in advertisements,
and even new articles couldn’t use words like “bottom” or “menstruation” because of their sexual connotations (Ironside). In fact, “if a reader wanted to know anything about sex she had to write in to the agony aunt who might suggest she write in again enclosing a stamped, addressed, plain brown envelope into which, but only if you were married of course, she would insert a leaflet explaining the Facts of Life” (Ironside). How did American society change from one where sex was taboo, to one where a person would find it nearly impossible to completely escape from the sex that surrounds us now? A good way to exemplify this change over time is to look at the mass media and the sex used in it. If we take a look at famous magazines, we can see these changes taking place. The cover of Vogue magazine can show this change.
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Vogue cover in 1950:

http://pzrservices.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451ccbc69e20133ec44d632970b-pi Vogue Cover in 2012:

Doe 3 http://www.thelifefiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/vogue.jpg You can physically see how sexuality has taken over the new magazine cover. From the look in the models’ eyes, to the way they hold their bodies, to the clothes they wear, it is apparent how sexual the second one is intended to be. Aside from the actual models, the color of the clothing enhances the sexuality of the second model. On the first cover, we see the model in a bland, light blue checkered dress. There’s nothing sexually appealing about it. In the second cover, the model is seen with a deep, red sheet that seems to gracefully flow over her body. This is very sexually appealing, showing how not only the actions of the models have become sexual, but how they wear their clothing and what color it is. Even the articles in the second magazine cover are sexually driven. Right on the cover, it is advertised how the 2012 magazine will teach you how to have an amazing body with curves and ageless skin. This shows that the readers want to get a sexier body. Sex has clearly taken over the theme of this magazine. The only reason for this sexual development is the progression of technology and with it, the expansion of pornography (Goren). Pornography is almost like a gateway drug into the world of sex; the easier it is to access, the more open people feel about sex (Attwood). Aside from pornography, talk shows and reality TV have opened door ways for more people to talk about sex in a public environment. Far in the past are the days when sex was kept behind locked doors. No longer are “married couples on TV […] required to have two separate beds” (Herdt & Howe 53). With all of the technological advancements, people hear about sex all the time (Goren). This led them to become more open to the idea of sex as an act of fun and pleasure to be done with any person, instead of the 1950’s view of sex, which entailed that sex was only for married couples in intimate moments (Attwood).
Doe 4 In addition, technology takes away the privacy people had in the past. With tabloids and magazines revealing celebrity sex scandals every day, it is easy to see how we are caught in a world that revolves around sex (Goren). With the big technology boom in the late 20th century, information was easy to access because it was right at your fingertips. This helped sexuality spread like wildfire and take over popular culture (Goren). Finally, the last reason sexuality has undergone such drastic changes from the 1950’s to today is the fact that we, as human beings, are just sexual by nature and are fascinated with the idea of sex.
When we are given the chance to hear, see, or take part in sex, we jump at the chance. In the past, since the idea of sex was taboo, we were discouraged from the idea of it. In Herdt and Howe’s book, 21st Century Sexualities: Contemporary Issues in Health, Education, and Rights, they state that “people have much more agency, autonomy or ‘will’ when it comes to viewing sexual scenes” (53). Over time, we were given the freedom to think about and participate in sex. If people rejected and actually discouraged the idea of sex naturally, we would have stayed the way we were in the past. We allowed ourselves to become surrounded by sex, and this shows that we, as humans, love the idea of
sex. Sex has become an icon that is almost impossible to elude in the 21st century, even though it has not always been this way.
As we go back in time, we can view a time period when sex was taboo. As we progressed into the future, the idea of sex adapted and changed to suit the time period. Technology is the main reason this happened. Based on how sex changed from the past to the present, it is safe to assume that sex will continue to adapt as we progress into the future. With new technologies, sex will progress. It might seem crazy, but in the future, I believe that sex will become a completely public action. Even with the amount of sex in our
society
Doe 5 today, there is still a private aspect to it. It all depends on the rate that technology expands in our future. Doe 6

Works Cited

Attwood, Feona. Mainstreaming Sex: The Sexualization of Western Culture. I.B. Tauris: 2009.

Print.
Goren, Elizabeth. “America 's Love Affair with Technology: The Transformation of Sexuality and the Self Over the 20th Century.” Psychoanalytic Psychology. 20.3 (2003): 487-508. Print.
Herdt, Gilbert, and Cymene Howe. 21st Century Sexualities: Contemporary Issues in Health, Education, and Rights. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.
Ironside, Virginia. “We Paid the Price for Free Love: The Flip Side of the Sexual Revolution.” MailOnline. MailOnline. 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 23 July 2012.