TALKING ABOUT SEX

Nonetheless, sex was a topic widely discussed among the male students at Harvard, students in the Class of ’61 say.

Though Croll says fewer people were sexually active because of parietal rules and other restrictions, he says that “Harvard boys talked about girls and sex a lot.”

On the other hand, conversation about sex was taboo at Radcliffe.

Moore says she focused more on her academics and rarely talked about sex-related issues with her peers, and Lemon adds that students were not able to bring up sex-related questions even with their House Mothers or House Masters.

“It was very hush-hush,” Lemon says.

Lemon adds that adults “very strongly discouraged male and female sexual activity,” and that the health center was the only available resource for women. She says it was also difficult for women to simply go to a physician and get advice about sex.

“They thought they were protecting us from the knowledge, but in fact, this lack of knowledge betrayed us,” Lemon says. “It put us in a position where we couldn’t take care of ourselves.”

Matz says that women still faced difficulties in attaining prescriptions for the pill from the University’s physicians even a decade after the pill’s approval. At that time, Matz and her fellow female students would share information about how best to obtain the pill.

“We discussed what kind of questions the doctors will ask you and whether or not you would have to wear a wedding ring,” she says.

LASTING IMPACT

In the opinion of some Radcliffe students, the pill changed their peer’s lives mostly after, rather than during, college, since at first many were remained cautious and hesitant about its use.

“A lot of women were waiting to see how the pill would turn out,” Moore says.

Croll also says that the pill had a much more gradual, cumulative effect on the changing culture of sex at Harvard and in the country more broadly.

“There was a bit of elation, invitation, and a step away from more Puritan values,” he says. “But women weren’t saying, ‘Let’s go to bed right away.’”