How the Boomers Transformed Sex

American Sexuality Magazine. Posted March 18, 2008.

Documentary filmmaker, journalist, and author Richard Croker was born in 1946. As a "leading edge" baby boomer, he witnessed pivotal events of the 1960s, including President Kennedy's inauguration and Dr. King's funeral procession.

Some forty years later, Croker reexamines this history in The Boomer Century, a companion to the PBS documentary produced by Joel Westbrook and Neil Steinberg, and hosted by Dr. Ken Dychtwald. The book explores how this generation of seventy-eight million people helped shape society and how it will impact the future.

What was so revolutionary about the "Sexual Revolution"? In writing this book, did you learn something new about it?

In actuality there was no sexual "revolution." There may have been a sexual "rebellion" but no revolution. A revolution is a rebellion that succeeds -- a rebellion is a revolution that fails. Nonetheless, why not rebel about sex? We were, according to popular memory, rebelling against everything else.

The producers of the documentary, for which my book is the companion, interviewed Erica Jong and Eve Ensler about this very topic. Go figure. While Ms. Jong's book, Fear of Flying, may have encouraged sexual experimentation by introducing us to "the zipless fuck" to women who not only enjoyed sex (contrary to popular belief), but reveled in it -- Ms. Ensler lived it, or as she says today, lived through it. She tells us that she feels lucky to have survived. She most certainly would not recommend her lifestyle of the '60s to her granddaughter, but she has no regrets.

In her interview, she told us, "Would I go back and erase those (years)? Not for a second. You know, I'm so happy not only that lived through it, but I survived, because there was a period right after where people didn't survive that kind of lifestyle. So for me, I grew up at that point where everybody just took off their clothes and took off masks and took off taboos and experimented and discovered and that absolutely shaped who I am."

Both ladies agree that if there even was a sexual revolution, it was very short lived. For centuries women had to deal with the triple-edged sword of fear of incurable STDs, fear of pregnancy, and fear of the dreaded "bad girl" reputation, and suddenly in the '60 all of those negative repercussions of unmarried sex were suddenly and absolutely gone. Syphilis and gonorrhea were cured -- the birth control pill was easily available -- and who the hell cared what other people thought anyway? Having sex became like playing tennis. No big deal. That was fun. See you later. But then along came more dreadful STDs and a feminist movement that taught women to respect themselves, and the rebellion was over as quickly as it began.

Unfortunately, there are places where America's children continue the rebellion. I agree with George Will on virtually nothing but respect his journalistic integrity. He recently said on the ABC program This Week, that in the African-American and immigrant communities, seven out of ten children born today are born to single mothers. Seven out of every ten. The prospects for those children are dim. Their mothers were probably born into the same condition and so will be their children. A college education is absolutely out of the question for these kids, and even a high school diploma is highly unlikely. The sexual rebellion in our "at risk" communities must be put down.

How did the mass media -- television, radio -- impact this generation's view of sex?

By the time we leading edge boomers got to college, we had already figured out that the mass media was run by a bunch of big fat liars. I mean we loved the Cleavers, the Andersons, and the Recardos, but we didn't know anyone who lived like that. Our parents surely didn't sleep in separate twin beds. They told us that the Beatles and the Stones were evil. They told us that marijuana would make us want to rape and kill; that marijuana led to hashish and hashish led to LSD and LSD led to heroin and heroin was suicide. Therefore: marijuana leads to suicide. If any part of the media impacted my own personal view of sex, certainly it was Playboy. I may still have a copy or two lying around here someplace. Those girls were my childhood friends.

What do you remember of the women's rights movement? Why do you think young women today, generally, are less interested in feminism?

Bra burnings! I thought that was the greatest thing ever! It might be true that the first bra I ever saw was on fire. But Betty Freidan had every bit as much an impact on American society as did Dr. King. In the '60s in many places, women were not even permitted to sit on juries! The word "peers" was defined as twelve white men. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, had a gigantic effect on our country. Girls no longer attended college questing for the coveted "M R S degree". For the first time, women in huge numbers began to seek advanced degrees with the intent of becoming professionals, of entering the business world -- and staying.

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