Did society become more liberal? (T3) Flashcards
Which liberal law was brought in 1959?
Obscene Publications Act
Which liberal law was brought in 1961?
Suicide Act
Which liberal law was brought in 1965?
Murder (Abolition of the Death Penalty) Act
Which liberal laws were brought in 1967?
- Sexual offences Act
- Abortion Act
- Family Planning Act
Which liberal law was brought in 1968?
Theatres Act
Which liberal law was brought in 1969?
Divorce Reform Act
When was the Obscene Publications Act?
1959
When was the Suicide Act?
1961
When was the Murder Act?
1965
When was the Sexual Offences Act?
1967
When was the Abortion Act?
1967
When was the Family Planning Act?
1967
When was the Theatres Act?
1968
When was the Divorce Reform Act?
1969
What was the 1959 Obscene Publications Act?
- Allowed ‘serious works of art’ to use ‘obscene’ words and imagery
- Only at an elite level
- Only in 1977 the law was extended to films
What was the 1961 Suicide Act?
- Decriminalised the act of suicide in England and Wales
- Those who failed in the attempt to kill themselves would not be prosecuted
What was the 1965 Murder Act?
- Abolished the death penalty
Who was the last person to be hanged in Britain?
Ruth Ellis - 1955
What did Ruth Ellis do to deserve the death penalty?
She shot her lover - a racing driver who was engaged to another woman
Why was the Murder Act passed?
A majority of MPs had eventually been convinced by a long campaign carried out by politicians
How did the Murder Act not reflect the public’s opinion?
he majority of the British public was in favour of capital punishment
What was the 1967 Sexual Offences Act?
- Decriminalised homosexual acts in private between two men over the age of 21
What was the main reason the 1967 Sexual Offences Act was passed?
Many saw gay as an illness, which undermined the view that it should be a punishable crime
What was the 1967 Abortion Act?
- Legalised abortions and provided them through the NHS
Who was the 1967 Abortion Act introduced by?
David Steel
What did Steel focus on when he was campaigning for the 1967 Abortion Act?
The high no. deaths and injuries that resulted from dangerous that resulted from dangerous ‘back street’ abortions - rather than the moral issue of abortions
How many deaths were there from backstreet abortions in 1966?
Roughly 40
Who said ‘sexual intercourse began in 1963’?
Philip Larkin
What was the 1967 Family Planning Act?
Made the pill available on the NHS
What was the 1968 Theatres Act?
Abolished censorship in the theatre
What did the 1968 Theatres Act allow other film directors to do?
It allowed the British Board of Film Directors to allow the screening of some films with sexual content before 1977
When did the 1969 Divorce Reform Act allow couples to divorce?
After 2 years of separation (5 years if only one wants the divorce)
When were marriages allowed to be ended according to the 1969 Divorce Reform Act?
If the marriage had broken down and neither partner had to prove “fault”
Who was Roy Jenkins?
The MP who supported many of these laws
Where did the demand for many of these new laws come from?
Not the people but from MPs such as Roy Jenkins
Pressure to reform the laws on sexuality went as far back as when?
1890
Were the pressures to reform these laws new?
No - these laws were often the result of long campaigns that had existed long before the ‘swinging 60s’
Were the new laws in line with the views of the public?
No they often went against the views of the British public
Give an example of a law which went with the views of the British public
The 1965 Murder Act
Support grew for it in the mid 60s due to the crimes of the Moors Murderers
Who were the Moors Murderers?
Hindley and Brady
In 1945 what % of the population favoured the death penalty?
just over 60%
By 1970 what % of the population favoured the death penalty?
70%
How did WW2 promote the ‘sexual revolution’?
Undermined traditional values by separating husbands and wives - promoting sex outside marriage + encouraged divorce
Divorces peaked in 1947
How many women used the pill by 1967?
1 million
What was the most common method of birth control during this time?
The condom
How did the condom change at this time?
It became thinner and pre-lubed and was more accepted
When did the CofE endorse the condom?
1958
When were condoms first sold in Boots?
1966
What was the book that Alfred Kingsley wrote called and what was it about?
Sexual behaviour in the Human Female - it undermined the moral condemnation of sex before marriage
What did the 1959 Obscene Publications Act and 1968 Theatres Act allow?
More ‘obscene’ sexual content to be published in Britain
Who wrote the book The Joy of Sex?
Dr Alex Comforts in 1972 - it was sexually explicit and illustrated
What did the book The Joy of Sex deal with?
It dealt with sex as a pleasure in its own right, and was a bestseller
What was Emmanuelle?
It was a 1974 softcore film - the first adult film to be shown in British theatres
How popular was the softcore porn film Emmanuelle?
It was the 4th most popular film in 1974
By 1990 what % of first sexual intercourse waas in marriage and what did this show?
1%
People were becoming far more tolerant of sex before marriage
Mass observation reports suggested what about women who had wartime affairs?
They saw them as a product of difficult and happily returned to their husbands
After the war what were divorce rates like?
The divorce rates fell after 1947
Had there been sexual books produced before the 60s?
Yes, sexual textbooks and pamphlets had been in circulation prior to the 60s
What was the most popular sexual book written before the 60s?
Love Without Fear by Eustace Chesser
Name two studies that suggested that the sexual revolution had been hugely exaggerated
The Sexual Behaviour of Young People (1965)
Sex and Marriage in England Today (1971)
What was the 1965 study about sex called and who was it by?
The Sexual Behaviour of Young People
By Michael Schofield
What was the 1971 study about sex called and who was it by?
Sex and Marriage in England Today by Geoffrey Gorer
What were the results 1965 The Sexual Behaviour of Young People study?
18% of girls and 10% of boys had had sex with 3+ people
17% of girls and 33% of boys had had sex before the age of 19
What were the results of the 1971 Sex and Marriage in England Today study?
96% of women and 95% of men married before 45
Average age of marriage for women fell below 23 in 1970, down from 25 in 1946
What did the trial of Lord Montagu and Peter Wildeblood lead to the growing public perception of?
(They were both convicted) that the state should not be able to regulate what two consenting adults do in private
What was written in the Sunday Times, surrounding opinions on homosexuality?
In 1954 ‘the law… is not in accord with a large mass of public opinion
In 1958, what happened that showed changing attitudes towards homosexuality?
33 prominent political and cultural figures signed a letter to the Times calling for reform of the law
Which law showed changing attitudes towards homosexuality?
The 1967 Sexual Offences Act - legalised sexual relations between men aged 21+
When was the British Branch of the Gay Liberation Front set up?
1971
Give an example of a TV show host who in the 70s acted camp on TV
Larry Grayson
What were Larry Grayson’s camp catchphrases?
‘What a gay day’
‘Seems like a nice boy’
What was the 1975 ITV film that showed changing views towards homosexuality?
The Naked Civil Servant - a film about a flamboyant gay writer Quentin Crisp I
Who released the song ‘glad to be gay’?
Tom Robinson in 1976 - it reached no.18 on the charts
In the mid-50s, how many men were imprisoned on the basis of their sexuality?
Over a thousand
A poll in 1963 revealed that how many people thought homosexuality was an illness?
93%
What was it still illegal to do after the 1967 Act?
To ‘solicit’ homosexual acts (i.e. to seek them in a public place
What happened to the number of men arrested between 1967-1972 for ‘public indecency’?
It had trebeled
What did Larry Grayson admit to the Daily Mirror?
He had just pretended to be gay - John Inman also publicly denied being gay
According to Gorer’s study, what was the most common reaction to homosexuality?
‘Revulsion’ - this was voiced by 1/4 of participants
What was Tom Robinson’s hit single about?
It voiced a lot of the issues faced by the gay community :
- Police brutality
- Demonization in the media
- Violence
What were the 3 key areas of opposition to the permissive society?
- Margaret Thatcher
- Mary Whitehouse
- The Nationwide Festival of Light
What did Margaret Thatcher become increasingly outspoken about?
Her disdain for the permissive society and her fears for standards of public decency
What did Margaret Thatcher say in her 1970 interview with Finchley Press?
‘I should like to see a reversal of the permissive society’
What did Margaret Thatcher complain in 1977?
‘Basic Christian values… are under attack’
What did Mary Whitehouse take a stance against?
The damage done to British moral by the media
Who did Mary Whitehouse blame for the growth of Liberal values on television?
Hugh Carleton-Green - Director General of BBC from 1960-1969
What the petition that Mary Whitehouse started called and how popular was it?
‘Clean-up TV’ in 1964
Gained 500,000 signatures
What did Mary Whitehouse launch in 1965?
National Viewers’ and Listeners Association (NVLA)
In 1977, who did Mary Whitehouse launch a legal battle with and why?
Against a Gay magazine - for publishing a ‘blasphemous’ poem - she won the case and the owner was fined and given a suspended sentence
What did Mary Whitehouse’s 1977 book - ‘whatever happened to sex’ say about being gay?
‘Being gay was like having acne’
Mary Whitehouse campaigned against pornography - what government decision might this have influenced?
1981 decision to force sex shops to have black-out windows
When and where was the Festival of Light?
Hyde Park 1971
What was the purpose of the Festival of Light?
Staged to promote Christian morality
Who supported the Festival of Light?
Cliff Richard
What did the Festival of Light inspire?
Over 70 other religious rallies
How many people did the Festival of Light attract?
100,000 people
