That was the necessary paraphernalia for the war against natural sex.
A couple of years ago, some guy who was big in the Playboy Empire (Editor in chief? CEO? I can't remember what) wrote a book on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Playboy brand. His topic was a celebration of the Sexual Revolution.
He correctly opined that contraceptives are THE necessary paraphernalia of the Sexual Revolution. Why? Here's where it gets interesting. NOT ONLY because contraceptives denature heterosexual intercourse so that those most-dreaded complications ---babies--- don't result, BUT ALSO because the contraceptive mentality legitimizes every kind of sexual perversion.
"Perversion" is not the word he used --he termed it something like "sexual preference". But "perversion" is, by definition, any kind of "preference" which in practice ditches the essentially procreative structure and meaning of intercourse. By far the most numerous practitioners of denatured sex, and thus re-definers of marriage, are contracepting heterosexuals.
It's not just the rejection of marriage. It's the rejection of natural sex.
And if this made for "better sex," America would be a f***ing paradise. But now --- for so many --- it's purgatory or worse.
Thank you. Other people have pointed out that 1965 was pretty much the watershed year for cultural change, and I will have to agree with that; this year marked the beginning of the loss of innocence.
The assumptions made (though no longer explicitly acknowledged or stated) about contraception underpin all modern entertainment and advertising. It would be interesting to require that all entertainment (movies/TV) or ads come with a warning label in the form of a picture of a packet of birth control pills and/or a pair of stirrups, or abortion tools,
"WARNING: This product contains implicit use of contraceptive and abortifacient products." Sort of like a (California) Prop. 65 ("may cause reproductive harm") for media. Heh heh. People take nutrition far more seriously than reproduction, do they not? Read that warning label!
And yes, I remember in public school sex-ed class, contraception was being described to us kids as a way for a married woman to keep from being endlessly pregnant, as a sort of convenience to her.
Somewhere along this decline the child started being viewed as a lifestyle accessory and not a blessed event.
Somewhere along this decline little girls stopped playing with baby dolls and looking forward to being mothers someday.