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The Sexual Revolution: Birth Control

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THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION: EFFECTS OF THE PILL

Candice Huntsman
Contemporary America and the World
Professor Burkholder
June 16, 2011

Until the sexual revolution of the 1960's, women were the victims of a strict double standard; single men had freedom to be promiscuous but women did not. This double standard revolved around the risk of pregnancy for women that men obviously did not have concern for. One of the main events that triggered the revolution that changed women's sexual freedom was an oral contraceptive, also known as "the pill". This new effective form of birth control changed many major aspects of society including women's freedom, social morality, and informed consent on prescription medications.
Women's Freedom The birth control pill was developed in the 1950's but the FDA approved it to be released to the public in 1960. (1) The release of the pill was "welcomed by [the] generation" of young women because of the freedom it gave them; they could do whatever they pleased without the high risk of pregnancy. (2) The freedom to control contraception allowed women freedom of dependence on men and to pursue careers because they could control when they had children. After being distributed for two years, 1.2 million women took the pill every day. (3) Before the it was available, men had a significant advantage over women in the workforce because women had the risk of becoming pregnant. Also, women did not have control over when or how often they became pregnant. So many women used the pill to pursue a career and achieve new goals. This freedom leveled the playing field between men and women in the business world. It also changed the way people thought about sex and they realized that "the value of. . . intimacy and bonding can be separate from childbearing". (4) Married couples could be intimate with each other as often as they pleased without

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