The pill was safe, affordable, effective, and the allowed the woman to take full control of her reproduction. I think having full control of their reproductive cycle is what made the pill so important.
It was the first to be both extremely reliable and have bearable side effects. And it actually prevents pregnancy, unlike many of the botanical and chemical abortifacients women used to end pregnancies. It was under the control of women themselves, unlike condoms. It was private, and didn’t require doing anything to prepare for sex that might interrupt things or spoil the mood or dull the sensation. Finally, by 1965 the Supreme Court had ruled anti-birth control laws unconstitutional, which allowed many more women to actually use it (married women, at least – unmarried women had to wait until 1972 for that right to be affirmed).
But the short answer is just that it was so much more effective than the birth control methods that existed before.
Because of its convenience. That’s still the case.
Unlike other methods, it can also be used for other things (menstrual regulation, treatment of PCOS and endometriosis, etc.)
I’m not sure I’d include the pill and the sexual revolution as a cause of the radical '60s. It’s not like only people on the left were having sex. And radicals on the left were just about as sexist as conservatives on the right.
However sexual freedom might have had an impact in that lots of people lied to their parents about their living arrangements. My roommate sophomore year was living with his girlfriend, and I covered for him. I suspect only kids with very religious parents have to lie today - my daughters didn’t have to. (And I didn’t have to, my parents were cool with it. Probably relieved.)
We were the first generation to be born after WW II. Those who reached adulthood in the late '50s had it pretty good for most of the lives they remembered. There were fewer of them due to the war, but by the time of the late '60 there was well over a decade of prosperity.
I was a baby during the Korean War, but that one started with a real attack and not a fake one, plus the people we were fighting for and with were on our side, unlike so many of the Vietnamese. Plus it was a lot shorter, and was more of a classical war not a guerilla war.
What dozen are you thinking of? I can only think of condoms, unreliable diaphragms (and I’m not sure about them) and the woman crossing her legs.
Besides the other good responses, the pill meant that the man didn’t have to think about it and neither did the woman at the moment.
There was also natural family planning (AKA the rhythm method) but then and now, it worked best for people who were trying TO conceive, not avoid it.
Was the fact that it was 100 years after the Civil War? A war which saw Americans splitting and going after each other?
Alot of issues like growing radical youth, rock n roll, and minorities getting tired of segregation was growing in the 50’s.
Badly needed since all the cars had those big back seats.
My vote is that the pill had the largest influence but we’re probably overstating the influence of any one thing. The Roaring 20’s was just as radical for its time as the 60’s and most of the things we’re discussing had little to no influence in the 20’s. The 20’s had the odd incongruence of the liberal (Jazz, movies, flappers) with the conservative (Prohibition).
And let’s not forget the X-rated Midnight Cowboy. It would be laughable to consider it pornography now, but a lot of people did in 1969, and it won the Best Picture Oscar as well as two other major Oscars. That movie could not have even been made in 1959.
Funny, but the history of the classical world I’m reading discusses a similar a generation gap in the Greek world, mainly Athens, between the 440s and the 420s BC. Who remembers that nowadays? I guess this sort of thing pops up every now and then.
The IUD existed at the same time as the pill, and IUDs are highly effective too.
Diaphrams, cervical caps, etc. also existed back then too and those are also effective. All these methods are under the control of the woman arguably.
Still, the advent of the pill is generally considered a game changer.
All of those things you list in the OP had been becoming increasingly public and accepted all through the twentieth century (and even before then). The following citations mostly refer to what was going on in the U.S. However, the same things were happening elsewhere:
(Racial) civil rights:
Gay rights:
Women’s rights:
Acceptance of general sexual rights:
So none of those things appeared out of nowhere, although they have may reached sufficient public acceptance at that point to become noticeable to everyone.
I thought of that, but rejected it as a reasonable method. If you meant the Church recommended it because they wanted you to conceive no matter what you wanted, I’m with you.
I never heard timing to conceive called the rhythm method, though we did it (got it in 1) and did my daughter (who also got it in 1.) All of which made us all glad we are rigorous about using birth control.
In terms of sex, we’ve come a long, long way since then. We watch Wheel of Fortune, about as mainstream America as you can get, and people talk about their children with girlfriends and boyfriends, and a lot of players acknowledge same sex partners.
I think the changes are permanent now.
Fair enough but by 1952 the war had become a bloody stalemate and was increasingly unpopular in the US without leading to major anti-war protests. And the time frame can be a bit misleading. From a US perspective mass troop deployments only started in 1965. From there to the first major protests in 1967 was just two years, well within the duration of the Korean war. So while the two wars did have significant differences, cultural changes in the 15 years also played a major role in the public reaction.
The IUD popular at the time required an invasive procedure where the physician dilated the cervix to insert the device and diaphrams, cervical caps, and other barrier methods had to be fitted to ensure they worked well. And so far as barrier methods go, there’s a difference between method effectiveness and actual effectiveness. One advantage the pill has over other methods is that women no longer had to make sure to take special precautions before sex as the pill took care of all that. It was a game changer.
Other changes included court rulers making contraception available to married or unmarried women. It wasn’t until the mid-60s that married women had access to contraceptives in all states and it wasn’t until the early 70s until unmarried women had legal access to them in all states.
What about the rebellious music? The Doors, for example (among many others)