Gender, Sexuality and Social Change

The period from 1945 to the present has seen fundamental transformations in attitudes towards gender and sexuality. Literature has both reflected and driven these changes — challenging conventions, imagining alternatives, and giving voice to experiences that were previously silenced or stigmatised. This lesson examines two novels that are centrally concerned with gender, sexuality, and social change: Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985) and Richard Yates's Revolutionary Road (1961).

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The Changing Context

Decade	Key Developments
1950s	Rigid gender roles; homosexuality criminalised; the "feminine mystique" (Betty Friedan's term for the idealisation of suburban domesticity)
1960s	Sexual revolution; contraceptive pill; decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales (1967); second-wave feminism
1970s	Women's liberation movement; Gay Liberation Front (1970); feminist literary criticism; consciousness-raising groups
1980s	Section 28 (1988) — prohibited "promotion" of homosexuality; AIDS crisis; Thatcher's "Victorian values"; backlash against feminism
1990s–2000s	Queer theory (Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, 1990); civil partnerships (2004); increased visibility of LGBTQ+ lives
2010s–present	Marriage equality (2014); trans rights debates; #MeToo movement; ongoing contestation of gender norms