ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s the Netherlands can be regarded as one of the most liberal countries with
regard to sexual politics. It transformed from a country that was strongly religious and con-
servative in sexual morals to one that is highly secular and liberal in affairs of sexual morality.
Around 1970, the Dutch changed from positions that rejected divorce, pornography, prosti-
tution, homosexuality, contraception, teenage sexuality to more liberal views on all these
topics. The change of climate was followed by a change in laws. Divorce was made easier,
pornography and prostitution were decriminalized and contraception was made generally
available. The criminal law, containing different ages of consent for homosexual and het-
erosexual sex (21 versus 16 years), was changed; both were set at 16. Contraceptives were
made available to all postpubescent women in the 1970s and became part of medical care
provisions.
