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Bill McMahon

Paradigm Shift Essay

Professor Fonash

November 20th, 2023

THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION: A SHIFT

Everyone has a daily routine, rules they follow, and societal norms they conform to.

These elements of our life simply make sense, it is how our society functions. But then,

something occurs that shakes up the way society perceives, thinks, and acts about key elements

of our lives. This is what we know as a paradigm shift, when a change occurs in our common

knowledge or practices. While most people think of paradigm shifts as a singular event like the

terrorist attacks of 9/11 changing our views on patriotism and security in America or the release

of the iPhone changing how society interacts with each other, there are elements of our life that

have been through multiple paradigms shifts throughout time. Sex is a large part of American

culture. Whether it is mentioned in religious speeches, shown on television, or practiced by

Americans, it is bound to be a part of your life. But what our society thinks about sex today is

extremely different from how sex was perceived even as little as 70 years ago. Changes to our

sexual culture did not happen gradually but were altered through the sexual revolution and its

following paradigm shifts.

The sexual revolution derived from the aftermath of World War II through a time of

empowerment for women. During World War II, millions of men were shipped overseas to fight

in the war. Women were called to take on the jobs in our economy that were normally only

offered to men. They worked in factories, drove tractor trailers, and even worked in limber
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yards. Some even served in Women Auxiliary Branches for the military. Although they were

paid unfairly, women began to realize that they could contribute to the workforce and could do

more than just their domestic duties at home. This time of empowerment was disrupted by the

ending of World War II, and men returning to America. Women were told to go back to

maintaining their households, and any women who tried to stay in the workforce was either paid

unfairly, demoted, or fired. The American dream was represented by the typical “Nuclear

family” consisting of a nice suburban home, white picket fence, children, and commonly

depicted with a golden retriever. There was emphasis on monotonous, heterosexual relationships

and marriages. This American dream was even backed by social science. Sigmund Freud, an

influential scientist of the early 20th century, ruled that sexual repression was necessary for a

successful modern society. He concluded that our libidinal energies and sexual desires were

dangerous and led to poor decision-making. A monotonous relationship was needed to control

these urges and allow for proper decision making in our society. These views were agreed upon

by most of the general population. Suddenly, the patriarchal views that were evident pre-World

War II were now settling back into society.

That is when the first paradigm shift occurred. In 1960, the FDA (Food and Drug

Administration) approved “The pill”, a birth control contraceptive. In 1965, it was legalized

nationally for married women and by 1972 it was legalized for single, unmarried women as well.

So, what did this mean for women and sex culture? Now, women could choose when they

wanted to bear children. Therefore, they did not need to seek monotonous relationships or

marriage to have sex. The risks that came with having sex, like needing to raise a child in an

economy that did not pay women fairly, were now not a concern towards women on this pill.

Because women chose to have children later into their 20’s, there was a large movement to have
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more women in the workforce and better pay. There was a large sense of women empowerment

during this time that built off their momentum during World War II. This time of female

empowerment came during one of the most productive eras in recent history, pairing themselves

with the gay rights, counterculture, and civil rights movements.

Women finally were able to have sex without a substantial risk of getting pregnant, which

resulted in many women having sex for pleasure and with multiple partners. New science about

sex also favored this type of lifestyle. Willhelm Reich, a protégé of Freud, claimed that the

libidinal energies in our body are natural and should be expressed. In fact, Reich concluded that

those who live sexually repressed limit their behavioral development and lead to bad decision

making and authoritarian behavior. This pro-sex research was accompanied by another

influential sexologist’s work, Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey studied sex for many years, and when he

published his work, it changed our nations views on sex drastically. For one, he found that about

ten percent of the male population in America were homosexual. This number was far more

accurate and significantly more than what was generalized by Americans. Kinsey also ruled that

a significant percentage of women in America wanted to have sex beyond reproductive purposes,

which was not a common idea previously. America’s views on sex were changing, and the

research published by those scientists were used by the progressive movements of the 60’s and

70’s to further emphasize their messages.

So, just as it seemed like an era of sexual freedom had started in our country, a second

paradigm shift occurred: The HIV/AIDS epidemic. Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, HIV had been

spreading throughout America, yet it wasn’t until the 80’s when this dangerous disease was

brought to national attention.

With a dangerous new disease spreading in our country, mass hysteria followed. Before

the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) coined the disease as AIDS (Acquired Immune

Deficiency Syndrome) in 1982, it was known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency).

AIDS was only thought to affect Caucasian bisexual and gay men, which lead to years of

misinformation being spread throughout the country. In national polls conducted by Gallup in

the 1980’s, we can see which misconceptions of AIDS were widely believed within the country.

One poll conducted in 1985 showed that over 80% of Americans thought AIDS affected mostly

gay men, with a quarter of Americans admitting to avoiding (or knowing someone who avoids)

homosexuals in public as a precaution, with it becoming 46 percent by the end of 1986. Through

another national survey conducted by Gallup in 1986, it was found that 43-44 percent of

Americans believed that AIDS might be a punishment for immoral sexual behavior. Religious

groups even began to target the LGBTQ community with hostility during the epidemic. Groups

would hold signs outside the windows of hospital rooms where AIDS patients stayed,

emphasizing that what they were experiencing was deserved and that these patients were going

to hell after they died. The LGBTQ community, who had worked so hard to start the Gay Rights

Movement and push for social acceptance, were once again being persecuted for their sexuality

during an already deadly and tragic epidemic.

Then, as the 80’s progressed, Americans began to realize that AIDs affected women,

minorities, and heterosexuals. Anyone could contract this deadly disease. The sexual freedom

that many enjoyed in the 60’s and 70’s had completely vanished. People chose to partake in

monotonous sexual relationships or abstinence to prevent themselves from getting the disease.
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The era of having multiple sexual partners had abruptly ended, and sexual freedom began

regressing back to the pre-sexual revolution era.

Through advancements in technology and research, scientists found treatment methods

for HIV that allowed people to never progress into contracting AIDS. Awareness and safer sex

decreased the spread of HIV and the hysteria around the epidemic slowly began to fade. Stigma

around the LGBTQ community and AIDS was no longer as prevalent, as people now knew that

anyone could contract the virus. With that came the return of sexual freedom and the resurgence

of having multiple sexual partners. This leads us to the third paradigm shift.

As the 2000’s began, we saw rapid development of the internet, and with that came the

emergence of social media. Most Americans today use at least one form of social media to stay

connected with their relatives and friends while posting updates about their life. But a new

element of social media has taken over modern sexual culture: dating apps. There are apps like

Tinder and Grindr which promote sexual freedom or dating apps like Bumble and Christian

Mingle which promote trying to find a monotonous, serious relationship. In a survey conducted

by The Pew Research Center, around 30 percent of Americans have used or actively use a dating

app, yet only 12 percent of people have dated or married someone that they met on a dating app,

implying that most of our online dating use matches the “hookup culture” and aren’t primarily

used to find monotonous relationships. People have a broader selection of potential partners to

choose from than that of previous generations. Through a few swipes of their finger and some

direct messaging, someone can now find a potential sexual partner. Americans have all the tools

to engage in sexual freedom, it is their choice to decide how many partners they will want to

have. Americans today are said to be sexually free.... But how true is this statement?
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If you ask any American today, they will tell you that this is the most sexual freedom a

generation has ever experienced but fail to consider what social media has done to our sex

culture. People are constantly posting, constantly gossiping, and constantly commenting about

each other's love life. If someone does not partake in sex culture, they are made fun of or

outcasted. If someone chooses to have multiple sexual partners, they are shamed for their actions

and called degrading names like “whore” or “slut.” People who partake in monotonous sexual

relationships, like dating or marriage, have people constantly watching over their relationship

wanting to find or propose acts of infidelity between the couple. There is no safe option when it

comes to partaking in sex. Everyone is shamed for what they choose to do with their bodies.

Is this what we think of as sexual freedom? If anything, it seems quite the opposite. Both

in-person and virtually, we are constantly being told how we should partake in sex. There is

never a right answer and no matter how much sex is involved in your life; you are bound to get

judged for it. Social media has completely ruined any freedom we have worked towards in the

last 70 years due to the microscope we put our lives under for others to look at, gossip about, and

judge. Our sexual freedom is arguably as free as the sexual freedom of the 50’s, we have not

made much progress since the initial sexual revolution.

With how successful and influential social media has been over the last two decades, this

sexual culture has become the standard for our society. But looking back on the history of sex

and understanding what has led us to our current culture, we can see that every time a certain

perspective of sex seems to settle in our society, a paradigm shift once again occurs and changes

up our entire way of looking at our sex lives.

What could be next? Lately, we have seen a rise in artificial intelligence. Dating apps like

Tinder, as well as emerging apps like Rizz have used elements of artificial intelligence to try and
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find better matches. Users may be asked to take personality tests or questionnaires on their

preferred physical preference which get computed into AI systems to try and find “perfect”

matches with other users on their app. Some AI tools even help create one-liners or conversation

starters for dating app users. But romance and AI have already developed further than just being

used as assistance. The AI program RomanticAI and Blush allows users to have a relationship

with an AI partner that caters to their needs and wants in a relationship. Now, romance can be

found not only between two people, but a person and a computer.

When looking back on the history of sex in America, it seems that every time our sexual

culture begins to form a strong identity, a paradigm shift occurs and changes the way our society

perceives sex. When we look at modern times, it appears that we are due for a new shift soon.

Social media, dating apps, and a strong hookup culture have been America’s key elements of sex

culture for the last decade. While scientists and citizens cannot necessarily predict what/when

that paradigm shift will be, it is safe to say that whatever it is will occur soon. It is on us as a

society to respond to the event in a positive way and continue to push for true sexual freedom in

America.
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Works Cited

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gay.aspx#:~:text=In%20his%201948%20book%2C%20Sexual,the%20male%20population
%20is%20gay.
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Why the HIV epidemic is not over. World Health
Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/why-the-hiv-epidemic-is-not-over
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