The feminist movement didn’t achieve much in the sixties, although it did gain prominence in the seventies, spurred on by higher expectations and changing attitudes. Women were no longer happy with being expected to stay at home and conform to society’s expectations. In her book, ‘The Feminine Mystique’, Betty Friedan describes the dissatisfaction women feel about the role they are expected to perform, based on her own feelings ‘There was a strange discrepancy between the reality of our lives as women and the image to which we were trying to conform, an image I came to call the feminine mystique’ (Resource Book 4, A10, p.28).
It is clear from this evidence, that there were many changes in the sixties, in ideas, attitudes and culture, both in Western Europe and the USA, nevertheless, the term counter-culture can be used only in respect to fashion, art, music and literature, which all challenged the mainstream culture, as the fight for black civil rights, the new feminism, and other forms of protest are more accurately described as movements or ideologies.
Questions were also being asked concerning the lack of women in professional jobs, especially in science, and women were being encouraged to take up professional careers. In Alice S. Rossi’s article published in Science, vol. 148, she states that ‘Educators, employers, government officials, and manpower specialists are urging women to enter more fully into the occupational life of the nation.’ (Resource Book 4, B6, p.50). Rossi explains the difficulties women have to overcome in order to enter professional professions due to assumptions society places on them ‘What a man “does” defines his status, but whom she marries defines a woman’s.’ (Resource Book 4, B6, p.50) She also explains in her article that in order for more women to be able to enter scientific professions, children of both sexes need to be educated ‘for all their major adult roles – as parents, spouses, workers, and creatures of leisure.’, and that ‘we must stop restricting and lowering the occupational goals of girls on the pretext of counselling them to be “realistic” (Resource Book 4, B6, p.51).
Prior to the Sixties science was classed as men’s domain, and the research that was being performed was generally based on men’s values and assumptions. In Rita Arditti’s article, ‘Feminism and science’, she explains the difficulties that women working in science encountered ‘The laboratories resemble a patriarchal household, with the “head” of the laboratory usually male, women in marginal positions without independent status, job security or benefits, and younger students playing child-like roles.’ (Resource Book 4, B8, p.52).
There were also ideologies in science that were being challenged. Due to the thalidomide tragedy it was discovered that the placenta did not form a barrier to the embryo, as previously thought. ‘Medical students were taught that the human placenta gave perfect protection to the fetus and was impervious to toxic substances except in such large doses that they killed the mother’ (Resource Book 4, B9, p.53). Pregnant women were not given advice concerning toxic substances being dangerous to the fetus, and ‘Routine testing of new drugs on pregnant animals was perfunctory or non-existence’ (Resource Book 4, B9, p.53). Since the Victorian age, the placenta was thought to be impervious, and ‘a perfect barrier against damaging influences in the environment’ (Resource Book 4, B9, p.54), and it was only following the thalidomide tragedy that this mind-set was altered, when there was such a vast amount of evidence to the contrary that it could not be ignored.
Another example of an ideology or mind-set was in the area of primatology. Feminists began to question ideas about male primates being dominant over females, with the females being submissive and passive. In Londa Schiebinger’s book ‘Has Feminism changed science?’, she describes the way primates were being studied ‘Primatologists tended to divide primates into three groups for study: dominant males, females and young, and peripheral males.’ (Resource Book 4, B10, p.54). She argues that females ‘were described as dedicated mothers to small infants and sexually available to males…but otherwise of little social significance…. Primatologists tended to view females as noncompetitive, docile creatures who traded sex and reproduction for protection and food’ (Resource Book 4, B10, p.54). Primatologists decided to examine female primates more carefully, and realised that they were equally as competitive as males, and were not ‘housebound’ as previously thought, but ‘were found to be adventurous and to wander’ (Unit, p.113) and ‘Like males, female monkeys were found to be sexually assertive’ (Unit, p.113).
Another criticism of science in the sixties concerned scientists and the work they were doing, namely developing weaponry, i.e. the atomic bomb, and radar for the military, instead of the fundamental research that was done prior to World War II. President Eisenhower expressed his concerns regarding what he called the ‘military-industrial-complex’ (Unit, p75), and critics were concerned that science ‘had become heavily militarized and that it was dedicated to the development of weapons of mass destruction rather than to improving the lot of humankind’ (Unit, p75). The military-industrial-complex soon became known as the ‘military-industrial-academic complex’ (Unit, p75), due to the fact that the universities, especially the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were doing the majority of their research on weaponry and technology. According to Edward Shils in his article ‘Anti-science’, the main objections against scientists was that they had become irresponsible ‘scientists…….are indifferent to the well-being of mankind, basically because they are subservient to the ruling powers of government, the military and private industry.’ (Resource Book 4, B3, p.46).
The surfacing of New Religious Movements towards the end of the Sixties can be described as a reaction to the failure of counter-cultural ideas. Many young people turned to these movements, because they had become disillusioned with the changes that had occurred, and their expectations had not been met. There were also many young people who had become involved with the drug culture, i.e. LSD, who turned to religion in order to regain control over their lives. These people, however, were not interested in ‘mainstream religion’ i.e. Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, as they felt that these had become corrupt. David Berg states that ‘The young people are sick and fed up with what really amounts to a pagan, cruel, whoremongering, false Christianity. They’re trying to return to the peace-loving religions of old, including ancient Christianity’ (Resource Book 4, C8, p.81). The peace young people were searching for was often found in the Eastern religions, and these movements were extremely popular. Many young people who were unhappy with their family life also turned to New Religious Movements, where they felt their needs could be met. Some historians describe New Religious Movements as ‘adaptive and integrative, rehabilitating drug users and reassimilating dropped out, transient youth, training individuals to retake their place in it’ (Unit, p.160), while Robbins describes them as ‘a kind of haven or asylum from both the system and the counterculture in which individuals could temporarily sustain the deviant style of the counterculture while changing their practical values and behaviour in the direction of conventional expectations’ (Unit, p.160). This view seems to indicate the dissatisfaction and disillusionment of young people at this time of contradictory cultural changes. While these New Religious Movements were very different to the mainstream churches, they seemed to pose no threat to them, and therefore cannot really be considered counter-cultural. New Religious Movements were, in the main, tolerated by the mainstream churches, as they realised they did not pose a threat, and they saw ‘a possibility of hope for the future of belief’ (Unit, p155).
In conclusion it is apparent that there were many changes during the Sixties, possibly due to the high number of young people resulting from the baby boom after World War II. The term counter-culture is not entirely an adequate way of describing all of the changes that took place for several reasons: some changes were a progression of events throughout the century, other changes were due to scientific discoveries which have always produced new ideas and ways of looking at the world, and many changes can be better described as movements or ideologies.
