The Role Of Sex In The 1960s

Depending on the cultural and religious beliefs, sex can be seen as either the ultimate form of intimacy and liberation or a repulsive and sinful behavior one should avoid. Dominance of the Catholic Church during the Medieval period made sex taboo and sinful. This negative view of sex strongly contrasts the positive views of sex during the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s. Sex in the 1960s was not restrictive or taboo, but rather an outlet for liberation and growth, especially among women. While set in two different time periods, both Umberto Eco’s medieval-based The Name of the Rose and Thomas Pynchon’s sixties-based The Crying of Lot 49 include romantic encounters examining the themes of exploration and liberation. Eco utilizes the sexual
The brief affair between Oedipa and Metzger similarly compares with Adso and the girl due to the use of seduction. Through the seduction game of Strip Botticelli, one can examine the themes of exploration. Oedipa responds to Metzger’s suggestion of Strip Botticelli by skipping into the “bathroom, which happened also to have a walk-in closet, quickly undressed and began putting on as much as she could of the clothing she'd brought with her” (Pynchon 24). Oedipa counteracts the purpose of the game by putting on multiple layers of clothing, so that, while in the game, Oedipa can strip plenty of her clothes, but she never reaches full nudity and prevents Metzger’s immediate exploration of her body. This contradiction to the game symbolizes the exploration in the mystery of Trystero for Oedipa. When Oedipa tries to uncover the mystery of Trystero, she is “faced with a metaphor of God knew how many parts; more than two, anyway. With coincidences blossoming these days wherever she looked, she had nothing but a sound, a word, Trystero” (Pynchon 87). Like the tedious undressing of Oedipa in the Strip Botticelli game, the uncovering and exploration of Trystero proves difficult because she finds that no matter the amount of insights and layers she discovers and peels back, she will never expose the full mystery of Trystero and all its
Pynchon sets this novel in the middle of the 1960s, a decade that experienced the rise of the Sexual Revolution. One of the major themes of the Sexual Revolution focused on sexual liberation for women and using the new found sexual liberation as a foundation for greater independence. For Oedipa, she feels entrapped by her life stating she “gently conned herself into the curious, Rapunzel-like role of a pensive girl somehow, magically, prisoner among the pines and salt fogs of Kinneret” (Pynchon 10). Seeing herself as a Rapunzel, Oedipa longs for growth and liberation from her life as a housewife. So, she attempts to liberate herself through sexually exploring outside of her marriage with Metzger; however, Pynchon uses this sexual encounter to parody the ideas of the sexual revolution instead of making this moment of self-actualization and liberation for Oedipa. After Metzger and Oedipa finish having sex, Oedipa asks what does Metzger and her ex-boyfriend Pierce discuss in terms of her, and Metzger replies “’That you wouldn’t be easy’ She began to cry” (Pynchon 30). This interaction signifies that the romantic relations between Metzger and Oedipa did not provide a moment of independence and liberation for Oedipa but rather a moment of her being a pawn in game between men, a role she has been playing for most of her life. This