# Were hippies in the 1960s really discriminated against? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116 "2009-07-24T13:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/101 "2014-04-27T23:14:29Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It was definitely used when I went to college in upstate New York from 1969-1973. Certainly some people in the crowd I hung out with referred to themselves as freaks. (Mostly the ones who did a lot of acid.) I’m sure I had heard it by 1967 in high school in NYC because of the Hendrix and Zappa references. Those were my HS years in New England, and we referred to “jocks” and “freaks” as the two factions. Saying “hippie” was about as hip as saying “groovy”. Your parents might say they didn’t want you to dress “like a hippie”, but we’d never use that term except in a joking manner. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/102 "2014-04-27T23:27:26Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > Outback Australia, 1970s: > > A friend of mine was with a group of young guys out driving in the back country (I think shooting 'roos or wild boars or something). They weren’t hippies, just young. They drove late at night several hundred miles between towns, got to the next one in the morning, got petrol, and went to the main street to find somewhere open, because they were very hungry. Cop pulls up behind them… > > COP: “Piss off.” > GUYS: “We’re just grabbing a burger.” > COP: “Not in my town. Piss off.” Dude, what happened to you? I thought you must have died. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/103 "2014-04-28T00:02:49Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Dude, what happened to you? I thought you must have died. He was being held incommunicado by the Ozzie authorities in the outback for dressing like a hippie. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/104 "2014-04-28T00:03:53Z")
Naah. Just drifted away from the Dope a bit. Well OK, a lot. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/105 "2014-04-28T00:27:50Z")
A lot of folks who looked like hippies got discriminated against, real hippies a sane person would not like having around them. Most of them became drug addicts and drug addicts do what drug addicts do regardless of what they claim to stand for. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/106 "2014-04-28T00:36:03Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > A lot of folks who looked like hippies got discriminated against, real hippies a sane person would not like having around them. Most of them became drug addicts and drug addicts do what drug addicts do regardless of what they claim to stand for. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/107 "2014-04-28T01:47:09Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > A lot of folks who looked like hippies got discriminated against, real hippies a sane person would not like having around them. Most of them became drug addicts and drug addicts do what drug addicts do regardless of what they claim to stand for. [Looks up. Sees we’re still in GQ] Cite? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/108 "2014-04-28T01:52:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Looks up. Sees we’re still in GQ] > > Cite? I am not trying to be smart but where can you find an accurate cite for soemthing like this that doesn’t go beyond an opinion. I lived with hippies, I grew up and partied with hippies I have my own biases. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/109 "2014-04-28T04:42:42Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > A lot of folks who looked like hippies got discriminated against, real hippies a sane person would not like having around them. Most of them became drug addicts and drug addicts do what drug addicts do regardless of what they claim to stand for. The actual hippies I knew who lived in communes were actually rather hard working. None of them were addicted to hard drugs, and they were cleaner than most jocks I knew. The drug addicts I knew had long hair and smelled bad because they were drug addicts, not because they were hippies. > [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I am not trying to be smart but where can you find an accurate cite for soemthing like this that doesn’t go beyond an opinion. I lived with hippies, I grew up and partied with hippies I have my own biases. The point **Exapno’s** making, of course, is that these kind of comments don’t really belong in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/110 "2014-04-28T04:47:54Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I am not trying to be smart but where can you find an accurate cite for soemthing like this that doesn’t go beyond an opinion. I lived with hippies, I grew up and partied with hippies I have my own biases. There is no question that relatively few people in this country had a problem with drugs prior to the counter culture revolution and they’ve been a huge problem ever since. I don’t know anyone (and I know quite a few people) whose life hasn’t been negatively impacted in some way by drugs. Either they or their homes have been robbed by drug addicts, or they have a family member whose life has been destroyed by drugs, or they’ve become addicts themselves. And those are the lucky ones. The others have either had a family member die from a drug overdose or have died themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/111 "2014-04-28T04:55:41Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > There is no question that relatively few people in this country had a problem with drugs prior to the counter culture revolution and they’ve been a huge problem ever since. I don’t know anyone (and I know quite a few people) whose life hasn’t been negatively impacted in some way by drugs. Either they or their homes have been robbed by drug addicts, or they have a family member whose life has been destroyed by drugs, or they’ve become addicts themselves. And those are the lucky ones. The others have either had a family member die from a drug overdose or have died themselves. **Moderator Note** Now we’re getting well out of GQ territory. If you want to pursue this, start another thread in Great Debates. Don’t continue this here. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/112 "2014-04-28T05:02:56Z")
Apologies. The point **Exapno** was making wasn’t all that clear to me either (as it sounded to me like he was denying the relationship between hippies and drugs) and I was already composing my post in support of **HoneyBadgerDC’s** post by the time you advised him/her that the subject was out of bounds. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/113 "2014-04-28T12:50:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The drug addicts I knew had long hair and smelled bad because they were drug addicts, not because they were hippies. But wasn’t there in fact a meme of not bathing among at least some of the counterculture? ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/114 "2014-04-28T13:52:13Z")
I posit that 60s ERA anti-war “hippies” are THE reason that pot was listed as a schedule one drug by Nixon… so yes most definitely discriminated against 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/115 "2014-04-28T14:15:20Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > I posit that 60s ERA anti-war “hippies” are THE reason that pot was listed as a schedule one drug by Nixon… so yes most definitely discriminated against 😉 I’m sure it goes back at least to the 1930s and such moral panics as “Reefer Madness”. ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/116 "2014-04-28T14:30:53Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I’m sure it goes back at least to the 1930s and such moral panics as “Reefer Madness”. While that certainly brought awareness, I think Nixon and his well known hatred for the counter culture is the reason that it is a schedule ONE drug on par with Heroin and Cocaine, which is just crazy given the now known government studies of the time (sorry no cite, I am at work). ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/117 "2014-04-28T17:53:04Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Up until the 1950s, long hair on men was considered merely unkempt. This was re-enforced on the grounds that many beatniks were unkempt, although other artists and musicians might be given a pass as _artistes_. > However, the D.A. style and the similar style adopted by Elvis Presley was less tolerated, partly because it was associated with gangs and hoodlums in the cities. Surfers were associated with long hair by the end of the 1950s, but were dismissed as a tiny group of eccentrics. > As to “freaks” vs “hippies,” freaks was a slightly later term (mid-70s?), but the big difference was that “freaks” was used by those who were or by those who were not bothered by long hair while “hippies” was used by those who were offended. Actual hippies were rather few and far between if one meant people who actually tried to separate from society, live in communes, and eschew standard employment. (Dressed like a hippie, standard employment was not an option, of course. 😃 ) > > Were guys with long hair genuinely hassled? Absolutely. There is ample evidence (anecdotal as it might be) in the previous posts. In addition, it was not just a “1960s” phenomenon. Refusal of service and hassle from cops continued through the 1970s and you can probably find examples in the early 1980s, although by then so many different lengths of hair styles were prevalent that it was far less of an issue. I have to respectfully disagree with you on some of these points. " … many beatniks were unkempt, although other artists and musicians might be given a pass as _artistes_." Do you have photos, cites, or specific recollections of unkempt Beatniks? In the 60s, my parents liked to occasionally hang out at a Beatnik coffee house, Jazz spot, with e.e. cummings poetry, bongos, the whole thing. I don’t remember seeing any long-haired Beatniks (plenty of goatees) and all of them looked clean and well, if oddly, dressed. " … “freaks” vs “hippies,” freaks was a slightly later term (mid-70s?) … " My Hendrix example, a song “If 6 Was 9” is from 1967, and he used both terms: “Hippies” and “Freak”. I remember both terms in common usage before that. “Were guys with long hair genuinely hassled? Absolutely. There is ample evidence (anecdotal as it might be) in the previous posts. In addition, it was not just a “1960s” phenomenon. Refusal of service and hassle from cops continued through the 1970s and you can probably find examples in the early 1980s, although by then so many different lengths of hair styles were prevalent that it was far less of an issue.” I’m still getting hassled by cops for long hair, and still getting some prejudicial treatment from rednecks over being a “Hippy”. That hasn’t changed, it’s just less ubiquitous. Ironically, back in the 70s and 80s, a bald head (on a youngish man) would get you labeled a"skin-head" or taken for a newly released convict or cancer patient. Now it’s very “in”. I’m surrounded by people who look like they’re from the future. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/118 "2014-04-28T20:26:21Z")
> [@SirGalahad](#): > > “Were guys with long hair genuinely hassled? Absolutely. There is ample evidence (anecdotal as it might be) in the previous posts. In addition, it was not just a “1960s” phenomenon. Refusal of service and hassle from cops continued through the 1970s and you can probably find examples in the early 1980s, although by then so many different lengths of hair styles were prevalent that it was far less of an issue.” > > I’m still getting hassled by cops for long hair, and still getting some prejudicial treatment from rednecks over being a “Hippy”. That hasn’t changed, it’s just less ubiquitous. Ironically, back in the 70s and 80s, a bald head (on a youngish man) would get you labeled a"skin-head" or taken for a newly released convict or cancer patient. Now it’s very “in”. I’m surrounded by people who look like they’re from the future. And yet these days, many guys who would easily qualify as rednecks have long hair. ---
**Author:** ![hippie60\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e274bd/32.png) [@hippie60\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hippie60_s)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/119 "2014-04-28T21:14:05Z")
yes we were.it was very unfair because the greater of us was only worried about the common goodfor all.then the charles manson thing made it all the worst because theyconsidered him a “hippie” and one of us ,which he was not.we were and are against violence and of course murder. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116/120 "2014-04-29T01:21:37Z")
I would not let hippies sleep at my house or ride in my car because so many of them were infested with crabs. Other than that I thought they were cool for the most part. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-hippies-in-the-1960s-really-discriminated-against/504116.md?page=7)