Originally Posted by
Rationalist
The main thing that the sexual revolution eroded was the concept of discretion with sex. Promiscuity was looked down upon, not just toward women but also toward men. Women were expected to be sexually reserved, and men were supposed to respect a woman's reluctance and any rejection as well.
Courtship changed a lot in the era of "free love." Most of the repercussions involved more sexual assault, rape, and venereal disease. Very little about it benefited women beyond more freedom of choice, so to speak.
Yet, even the freedom of choice was really more about men having more power to encourage women to have sex with them. If you wanted to hold onto your virginity longer, you were seen as a prude.
What people don't talk as much about is what it did to male culture. There was a time when monogamy was seen as the most desirable goal for a man -- not having a bunch of sexual partners. A lot of men and women got married young in the early part of the 1900s. Much of that was connected to tradition.
Broadly speaking, you can see a vast difference in how men and women treated each other among the "greatest generation" vs. how they interact among baby boomers. Every generation is different, but ever since the sexual revolution, there's been a lot of pressure on young people to be promiscuous, and the results have been pretty negative. Mostly only religious types seem to be shielded from this (although some of them are secretly promiscuous).
All that aside, there is an irony to all this. While gay men tend to be very promiscuous, lesbians tend to be more monogamous than most straight people. I'm not sure why this is, but I would assume that lesbians may see the value in being monogamous more than most and see the downsides of promiscuity.