Courtship and sexuality of youngpeople in the fifties and nineties - An intergenerational study from the Netherlands

Feeling Gender

“…For the middle-class girls in this generation, the gender-related problem is not so much sexuality as their bodies, which have now become the most ultimate expression of the self. The demands of exercise and health as well as the widespread panic regarding 'epidemics of fat' (Bordo 1999: situational ethics (Ravesloot et al 1999). In our study we find the same direction of change, but taking place already in the middle generation (the 1960s) (see Chap.…”

“…The disappearance of the 'nice girls' in this generation, especially under the influence of the sexual revolution from the late 1960s, the increased knowledge about sexuality and the arrival of the pill, 14 may have encouraged more experimental behaviour in relation to drinking and smoking, as well as more provocative dressing and use of make-up, all causing a heightened level of conflict with parents. But the absence of a clear line between nice girls and cheap girls also meant that sexual morality was on its way to becoming a personal matter and responsibility, not just something to adapt to (Ravesloot et al 1999). 15 Thus, freedom in the public space carved out by the inter-war generation under the banner of being nice girls was further elaborated by the post-war generation in a curious blend of increased individualised morality and responsibility on the one hand and a strengthening of the heterosexual script on the other.…”

Noisy Girls

“…Her mother was an active agent in this, quite contrary to what one might think from the daughter's description here. 7 A study of courtship and sexuality of young people in the Netherlands in the 1950s and 1990s describes this change as a change from a prohibition morality to a situational ethics (Ravesloot et al, 1999). It is interesting to see that this change appears to have arrived one generation earlier in Norway.…”

“…In my opinion, further investigation and theorizing of this kind of 'relational individualism' would represent an important extension of the ongoing reflections on the consequences of modernity and late modernity. USA (Breines, 1992;Esseveld, 1988), Julia Brannen's from the UK (in press) and Manuela du Bois-Reymond's from Holland and Germany (du Bois-Reymond, 1995;Ravesloot et al, 1999). 10 For instance, in the studies mentioned in note 9.…”

“…USA (Breines, 1992;Esseveld, 1988), Julia Brannen's from the UK (in press) and Manuela du Bois-Reymond's from Holland and Germany (du Bois-Reymond, 1995;Ravesloot et al, 1999). 10 For instance, in the studies mentioned in note 9.…”