ABSTRACT
The so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s in Western Europe and the USA has been thoroughly discussed in the scientific literature (see e.g. Clement, 1990; Haavio-Mannila and Rotkirch, 1997; Reiss, 1990; Schmidt, 1993; Schmidt et al., 1994; Schwartz and Gillmore, 1990). Contrary to media representations and popular belief, this ‘revolution’ was in fact a multifaceted and contradictory process. Some behavioural and attitudinal changes were substantial whereas others had more of an evolutionary character. Thus, the authors of the US National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) have recently stated that
social forces-demographic, economic, technological, and social organisational-produced the long-term social trends that have culminated in what some have perceived to be the ‘revolutionary’ transformation of sexuality among young people, while the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s may have been more of a social construct than a label for concomitant changes in sexual practice.
