WI: A sexual revolution in the 1920s

tallwingedgoat

Suppose the oral contraceptive was perfected after WWI. The female:male ratio in Europe was disproportionately high due to the war. IOTL this was a period of unprecedented social and sexual liberation. One would imagine the times would favor a sexual revolution comparable to the 1960s should the contraception technology become available.

Women's rights would be greatly boosted with women controlling their reproductive destinies. Perhaps chivalry would take a dive earlier.

More men get laid, less political extremism in the 30's?
 

Xen

Banned
You have to avoid the Great Depression in the 1930s to get the Revolution to continue, the way it was in the 1920s. Alot of people took the view the Depression was a punishment from God for their "wicked" ways.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
There was a sexual revolution in the 20's. There are ways to prevent pregnancy besides the pill.

But yeh, the pill did make it even more so.

There might not have even been a Great Depression had we had the pill in the 1920's. Increasing pregnancies were indeed leading to a moralizing reaction by 1929 and that's just the sort of thing, a sort of "counterrevolution of rising expectations" that brings on economic downturns.
 

Earling

This is one of the strangest takes on economics I think I have ever read.

Your going to have a great crash. Bubbles can't just be expanded forever. Eventually confidence will drop off as people come to realise theres a risk they may end up holding the bag when it goes. Without the knowledge of how to deal with the effects of the crash there is no real reason for why it should be dealt with in a better manner beyond blind luck. The result is the great depression.

As for whether the pill would reduce extremism because people were getting laid, I don't think that was a problem. Most extremists were fairly convinced about there being a battle for births. Its rare to get smoke without fire.
 

DuQuense

IOTL this was a period of unprecedented social and sexual liberation. One would imagine the times would favor a sexual revolution comparable to the 1960s should the contraception technology become available.
Click to expand...
First whe have to separate the changing cultural mores from the media [:confused:Playboy:confused:] Hype.
There was a sexual revolution in the 20's. There are ways to prevent pregnancy besides the pill.
Click to expand...
True, during the Depression the US/European birth Rate fall to 1.2, despite Government attempts in Europe to boast the Rate. [2.1=ZPG]


A lot will depend on the development of contraceptives and how they are used during the War.
Germans forcing women in the Ukraine to get permanent IUDs, or the Japs giving every women in their occupied zones a pregnancy Vaccine.

If the Idea of contraceptives hasn't been tainted, then it will make a big difference post war in the 3rd world countries.
 
Mad Bad Rabbit

Mad Bad Rabbit

The problem with a Pill in the 1920's is that progesterone wasn't identified until 1933...

OTOH, there's another anachronistic drug we might introduce instead. MDMA was synthesized by Merck in 1912, as a possible treatment for hemophilia. It wasn't useful for that, and they shelved it; nobody noticed any psychoactive effects until the 1950s.

Suppose someone does, in 1917 or so. Then Sigmund Freud popularizes the drug, and we end up with the "Raving 20's"
(Kudos to SHWI's Tzintzuntzan for first suggesting this possibility...)
MAGIC ECSTASY PILLS - NOT FOR EVERYONE FOR MADMEN ONLY...
 
black angel

black angel

Mad Bad Rabbit said:
OTOH, there's another anachronistic drug we might introduce instead. MDMA was synthesized by Merck in 1912, as a possible treatment for hemophilia. It wasn't useful for that, and they shelved it; nobody noticed any psychoactive effects until the 1950s.

Suppose someone does, in 1917 or so. Then Sigmund Freud popularizes the drug, and we end up with the "Raving 20's"
(Kudos to SHWI's Tzintzuntzan for first suggesting this possibility...)
MAGIC ECSTASY PILLS - NOT FOR EVERYONE FOR MADMEN ONLY...
Click to expand...

this is the best thing i've ever hear! :D:cool:
 

Mark E.

The sexual revolution happened in the sixties in part because the first wave of the baby boom represented a commanding demographic bloc at a time when civil rights became a viable cause.

The twenties were different, as Americans were just accepting the notion that women could vote and wear flapper dresses.

A revolution could have ensued.

Or, there could have been a conservative backlash.
 

tallwingedgoat

OTL sexual revolution coincide with a lot of changes of the 1960s, that doesn't mean a similar liberating phenomenon can't happen with a 20s characteristic. As I said earlier, there were lots more women than men due to the war. This results in women who could never marry and must find a career of their own. Combine this with being in control of the reproductive functions and you could well see an earlier women in the workforce phenomenon. The economic consequences would be significant.

There's also nothing inevitable about the Great Depression. It could very well have been a short recession if governments didn't take protective steps to "save" the economy.
 
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