The Sexual Revolution owes its existence to a plethora of other major social trends. Without these changes in the very makeup of western civilization, the Sexual Revolution could never have come into fruition. In order to understand this dramatic social revolution, we need to understand where it came from. Certainly, the factors involved are complex, and this site does not attempt to provide a comprehensive view. We would like, however, to identify two of the most important social trends that contributed to the Sexual Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution and subsequent urbanization brought women's roles within the family into question. In the largely agricultural society of days past, both partners in a traditional family unit worked to produce the family's goods, and the idea of "separate spheres" of men and women referred to the division of labor. In an urban society, however, this theory of "separate spheres" came into question, finding opponents and more vigorous supporters. The opponents brought up the question of exactly what women were supposed to do, and many women were not satisfied with the role of "keeper of the house." At the turn of the twentieth century, women in the United States had organized to impact the world outside the home, and eventually sought political equality through suffrage. The boundaries between men and women's roles grew hazy, a trend that has continued. Furthermore, the dramatic increase in population, itself caused by the Industrial Revolution, brought with it the desire for birth control.

The secularization of western civilization was also an essential social contributor to the Sexual Revolution of the latter half of the twentieth century. The diminishing role of the church in society's personal decisions has been well documented. While the church, which traditionally denied any other purpose of sex except procreation, declined, the possibility of accepting a more holistic view of sexuality arose. With this change society underwent a variety of philosophical experiments. Lester A. Kirkendall and Robert N. Whitehurst, editors of The New Sexual Revolution, assert that the Sexual Revolution is a humanist revolution (Kirkendall, xi). Certainly, the rise of Sartre's existentialism, and the closely linked relativism that pervades modern society, made possible the tolerance necessary for an opening of sexual standards.
The Sexual Revolution Defined