• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Free love

May 11, 2008 2 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Today I attended a talk on Free Love, part of the May 1968 festival at Conway hall, Holborn. As most people know, 1968 was a year of revolution in many parts of the world, most famously, France, where ‘Mai soixante-huit’ still casts a shadow. I went to university in Paris, the Sorbonne-Pantheon, and there was almost no student life whatsoever. I noticed that the buildings had no communal hall, no cantine, no place to gather. I was told that this was a purposeful result of the May ’68 revolution in which Parisian students, led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, revolted and brought down the government of DeGaulle. The authorities did not want any communal areas where the students could discuss tactics, bond, form associations or clubs. The architecture was deliberately devised to avoid this possibility from ever occurring again. (Of course it failed, my last year at the Sorbonne, there was a sit-in protest lasting months. Although street riots now seem to be the domain of the dispossessed of the banlieu).

Last year I saw the memorial in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, outside Mexico City where rioting students were felled by government forces in May ’68. The Prague ‘Spring’ started in January 1968, an early attempt to revolt against communism. 

Memorial at La Plaza de tres culturas, Mexico City.

The free love talk was held at Housmans bookshop in Kings Cross, London and was led by Jeff Laster, ‘edutainment’ officer of the Synergy Project.

Jeff discussed the lead up to the explosion of sexual freedom in 1968: the abortion act in 1967, introduction of the pill in 1960, the Lady Chatterley’s lover obscenity trial in 1960, even the publication of the Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller in 1938. You could argue, as is so often the case, that the technology, the science came first and art and politics followed.
He spoke of the London scene in 1968, the vanguard of the Free Love movement, people like the model Jean Shrimpton, actor Heathcote Williams, photographer/artist John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins, author Barry Miles, who ran the Indica Gallery, and academic Jim Haynes. Free love sprang from a political ideal, from anarchism, but the two scenes, radical politics and the alternative scene, rarely mixed. In the 60’s the music scene was more aligned with the alternative culture than the big business rock stars of today. People like Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones, switched partners frequently (this might seem normal today but was radical at the time). From theatre and cinema, there was Terence Stamp, Julie Christie and Brando (despite being from the 50’s) who were Free Love exponents. Shockingly, Jeff suggested that Julie Andrews of Sound of Music fame was a big drug and sex fiend. 
In the States Free love was perhaps darker, with examples such as Charles Manson and Allen Ginsburg. Ginsburg was into very young boys, 9 year olds and was a member of the Man/boy Love Association. The Free Love movement welcomed involvement by other liberation groups, women’s lib, gay lib, civil rights movement for black people, miscegenation (possibility for people of different races to have sex or breed) but also the P.I.E., the Paedophile Information Exchange. Part of the freedom to express yourself sexually included what would now be termed paedophiles, but was regarded at the time as just another freedom movement. One of the participants talked about visiting a commune in Finsbury Park in London where young boys between 12 and 16 were openly having sexual relations with men in their 40’s. He said that the boys chose to live in this commune. In Anarchy magazine there were articles by paedophiles and also by their under-age lovers, discussing their relationships. The children seemed happy. 
What is Free Love? On a hard core level it’s orgies, on a milder level it is sexual permissiveness, frequent switching of partners, many partners. For some it is consecutive (which can be abusive as in the hump ’em and dump ’em model) and others it is simultaneous polyamory. In the Sixties, Free love practitioners were almost entirely middle class and white.
Jeff talked about the fact that sexual freedom only really happened outside the select few in the 1970’s. Then middle class couples started to ‘swing’, take other lovers, and of course, divorce. Eventually this filtered down to the working classes or the underclasses, which resulted in a huge rise in single parenthood. (The recent example of Shannon Mathews’ mother was cited, an ‘underclass’ woman who had 7 children by 5 different fathers). 
One lady talked of starting university in 1968 where most people entered as virgins. By the time she left in 1971 things had changed dramatically aided by drugs. “Everybody was smoking, and everybody was sleeping around” she said. 
In 1969 Stonewall happened, but gay men had always been sexually promiscuous. Black culture already had a big sexual component. 
The Free Love movement in 1968 was very male dominated, it was pre-feminist. Feminism really started in the 70’s and we discussed whether it was a backlash against Free Love. There is the Stokely Carmichael (U. S. Black Panther) quote “The only position for women in this organisation is prone”. Many women participated in Free Love because they felt that they would be considered uncool if they didn’t. 
Germaine Greer was a willing and enthusiastic Free Love proponent, probably the most famous woman of that scene, although she later condemned it. Jeff related the story of how she sought out the photographer Keith Morris and asked him to photograph her vagina for the cover of Suck magazine, Europe’s first sexpaper. She chose him because she thought he’d be the only photographer she could trust not to sell the photo’s. He didn’t sell them but he did write up an unflattering account of the photo session with Greer, complaining about having to photograph her “sweaty cunt” and anus in close-up at 9am with a hang-over.
Greer believed her picture would be used along with a group of other women but Suck published a cover with her alone (albeit the obscenity was masked by putting the offending pudenda in a strange pattern which had to be cut out and recreated in order to view it properly). Greer resigned in disgust. 
At the time it was illegal to show an erect penis in photographs.
In the 70’s much of the alternative movement moved into communes in the countryside, some of which had Free love as an obligation. You were not allowed to form monogamous relationships within the commune. This was Jeff’s experience at a commune, in which he was forced to have sex with many different people including men. (Findhorn was an exception, as a quasi-christian commune, it seems that they channelled all their sexual energy into growing giant marrows!)
Richard, another participant, talked of the anarchist roots of Free Love, and that the emphasis should be on love rather than sex: “nurturing non-monogamous relationships”. We live longer therefore we obviously will have more relationships in our lifetime…serial monogamy.
What were the repercussions of Free Love?
Jealousy was a big problem: it’s an ungovernable force, an animal instinct, so whatever your ideals might be, how do you control your jealousy?
Parenthood: clearly women are at a disadvantage in that they are so often left holding the baby. Children are instinctively conservative and would prefer to know who their parents are and have them stick around. *
Spiritual: sex is a holy thing and it has been debased, de-sacred. The rise of depression due to alienation, loneliness, lack of mutual support.
Pornography: a parallel rise starting with Hugh Hefner publishing Playboy in 1953. Suck magazine and Oz were quasi-porn. Now our entire culture is flooded with soft porn. The loss of childhood innocence: children dress like whores just like their favourite pop stars. The internet has enabled extremely hard core porn to be available to the masses. Paedophile chat-rooms. Virals on school kids phones such as “Two girls and a cup”. 
Unfortunately the “women who sleep around are slags” mentality hasn’t changed much…
Positives:
Less 1950’s guilt about sex. 
People better informed about sex.
Better sex?
From an astrological point of view, many of the children born at this time had revolutionary attitudes towards sex…some of which were not too healthy (Pluto conjunct Uranus in Virgo) in terms of power play….Pluto(sex and power) Uranus(gay sex, extreme freedom, impersonality, group sex) Virgo (woman). That generation were born with these attitudes, did not just adopt them for a period of time, and have continued to promulgate them throughout society.

(*Children are, in my opinion, the casualties of the Free Love movement, we now have generations of parentless children, whose fathers and the rare mother, unrestricted by church, state or family, have wandered off. I also feel for ageing childless women who have missed out on fulfilling their biological destiny as a result of uncommitted men, spoilt for choice in a landscape where females compete against each other.)

Recent posts

Soup recipes for a broken arm

February 26, 2025

The future of farming

January 20, 2025

Poppy seed kifli pic: KERSTIN RODGERS

Hungarian poppy seed pastry ‘Kifli’ recipe

November 5, 2024

Previous Post: « The bleedin' goddess
Next Post: free tibet »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ben Emlyn-Jones

    May 12, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    Sometimes I think I was born 20 years to late! In a way we've gone back in time a bit to the prudish era of the 19th Century. Today sex has once again become an exclusive activity, but not like in Victorian times when exclusive within mariage and otherwise undiscussed. Today it's in your face, for everyone to see, but actually doing it has become exclusive within the Conformist ideals: IE: it's something done purely between the CMI's (Conformist Male Ideals)of the soap operas, with lots of money and who treat women like dirt; and tall, model-skinny women with suits and lots of make-up.

    I know lots of blokes who are trying to become CMI's even though it's against their true nature. It's the only way you can be "in the game".

    Reply
  2. corbin

    October 9, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    http://www.joelkramer-dianaalstad.com/The_Guru_Papers.html
    control is established through depersonalization and so on

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover

msmarmitelover

@camilleosullivapics and @grahnort @wiltonsmusicha @camilleosullivapics and @grahnort @wiltonsmusichall god this woman is talented. She did a solo show of The Rape of Lucrece. Her voice! #theatre #shakespeare #london
My latest article on Hungarian cuisine, a unique m My latest article on Hungarian cuisine, a unique meeting of east and west, for @ckbk It's a blend of Ottoman, Eastern and middle European, Austro-Hungarian empire and cowboy food. #food&travel #foodanthropology #hungary
Made Fermented Cucumber dill pickles from @nickvad Made Fermented Cucumber dill pickles from @nickvadasz book The Pickle Jar. At @katzsdeli in New York they sell half sours and full sours. I reckon these are 3/4 sour. The white mould is fine btw. These are delicious #pickleperson #fermentation #guthealthy
London in bloom: wisteria, cherry blossom, lilac, London in bloom: wisteria, cherry blossom, lilac, plum blossom, 🌸 you don’t need to go to Japan for the Sakura season- it’s all here- london at its most beautiful. #london
Bluebell walk on Wanstead flats. The scent is incr Bluebell walk on Wanstead flats. The scent is incredible: similar to lily of the valley. These are actual English bluebells - a deeper colour & more delicate than Spanish bluebells which are rather invasive. #london #walks #april #bluebells
Snapshots from portobello rd market. Portuguese fo Snapshots from portobello rd market. Portuguese folar de pascua bread from Lisboa patisserie,  a gorgeous mosaic table from Fez, my favourite antique shop @muirshindurkin, Alice’s shop, an Easter hat, the best wisteria I wrote a substack on portobello road: https://open.substack.com/pub/kerstinrodgers/p/where-to-go-in-portobello-road-the?r=3873k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true #london
I visited @tokyobagellondon with my granddaughter I visited @tokyobagellondon with my granddaughter yesterday to try one of their viral wobbly bunnies. We also tried the multi layer Oreo pancake cakes, the onigiri shaped croissant. My sister had the black sesame latte and I had yuzu tea. I spent £35 in a short space of time as each dessert was £5 but it was a fun experience. Ophelia said ‘lovely flowers’ which shows a degree of sophistication for a 2 year old. I preferred the strawberry to the coconut flavour . #londondaysout #grandmacore #easter
A quick high protein lunch of ratatouille with smo A quick high protein lunch of ratatouille with smoked tofu.  @pomoragoodfood olive oil then an aubergine cut into thick slices then quartered. Fry till translucent then add the chunks of red pepper. 2 fat garlic cloves sliced thinly, a block of smoked tofu in chunks, 2 bay leaves, a small handful of maldon salt. A courgette cut into thick half lengthways- then sliced into half moons. I might chuck in a handful of pantelleria capers in vinegar to give some acidity. Serve hot or cold. #sololunch #protein #vegetables
Inspired by @nickvadasz book The pickle Jar I used Inspired by @nickvadasz book The pickle Jar I used his dill pickles to make one of my favourite recipes for lunch - a potato, sour cream & pickle soup. Recipe on the blog. #soup #pickles
One of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. Cook wh One of my favourite ways to eat mushrooms. Cook whole button mushrooms in olive oil, lemon juice, a little white wine vinegar, salt, bay leaves, whole coriander seeds, thyme, and white wine if you have it to hand. I used @pomoragoodfood olive oil. You can eat it straight away or leave it to marinate longer and eat the next day. #vegetarian #vegan #mushroomrecipe
Table side Caesar salad @maisonfrancois for @sienn Table side Caesar salad @maisonfrancois for @siennamarla birthday 🎂 #london #restaurants #caesarsalad
I went to sheffield to visit the @reclaimedbrickco I went to sheffield to visit the @reclaimedbrickcompany to look at their hand cut, wire cut and tumbled bricks for a herringbone patio. I love the historical aspect of bricks, the different quarries from different parts of the country. #patio #englishhistory story
Made brussel sprouts with pistachio pesto. The pis Made brussel sprouts with pistachio pesto. The pistachios came from Brontë in Sicily- they are the best pistachios in the world. You can make pesto with any nut: it’s usually with pine nuts but I’ve used hazelnuts, almonds (trapani), walnuts. #vegetarian #pesto #bronte
Bathroom palette: @firedearthuk scallop tiles @top Bathroom palette: @firedearthuk scallop tiles @toppstiles honed white marble skirting and dado @paintandpaperlibrary paint @sanderson1860 wallpaper this is my first rodeo when it comes to bathroom design. Follow my progress
Yesterday I cooked ( needed help with heavy pans a Yesterday I cooked ( needed help with heavy pans and pouring) pesto alle genovese. Made pesto in the vitamix: fresh basil leaves, 4 cloves garlic, 100g pecorino, 100g pine nuts, 150ml olive oil, salt, and juice of half a lemon. Whizz up.  Then cook the pasta - traditional shape is trofie but I only had fusilli. Top with small boiled potatoes and steamed green beans. Douse again with olive oil and more pine nuts. I served this with green salad with cucumber, avocado, pumpkin seeds and a mustard lemon olive oil dressing. #familylunch #sundaylunch #pestopasta #pestgenovese
Unstyled food photos no.4: butternut squash soup. Unstyled food photos no.4: butternut squash soup. Peel and cut up the butternut squash. Discard the seeds. Roast with olive oil, salt, smoked paprika in the oven for 30 minutes. Soften 2 brown onions in a deep pan with olive oil, add 3 cloves garlic minced, 3 bay leaves. Then add the veg stock powder and 1.5 litres hot water to the pan. Stir. Pour in the roast butternut squash. Cook for 10 minutes. Then remove the bay leaves and blend. Add 3 large scoops of natural yoghurt or skyr. Season to taste. Transfer back to the deep pan and serve with grated cheese, pumpkin seeds, chilli. 🌶️ #vitamix #soup #winterfood #agacooking
Unstyled food photos #3: roast cauliflower & garli Unstyled food photos #3: roast cauliflower & garlic cheese soup. Roast the cauliflower florets, unpeeled garlic cloves, one chopped brown onion in olive oil. Once golden, tip into a saucepan with a potato chopped small, 3 tbsps veg stock and 1.5 litres hot water. Boil till soft the. Add 100g cheddar. Stir then blend in a blender. Serve with grated cheese on top. #soup #vitamix #winterfood #cookingwithonehand #simplerecipes
Unstyled food photos: whole roast cauliflower with Unstyled food photos: whole roast cauliflower with ground almond crust, yoghurt, cumin, lemon juice and tahini sauce using @pomoragoodfood olive oil. First I parboiled the cauliflower then roasted it for 30 to 30 minutes with salt and olive oil in the oven. Add the ground almonds and bake for another 10 minutes. Then serve hot with the sauce. #highprotein #lowcarb #vegan #vegetarian #glutenfree
Unstyled food photos: carrot and preserved lemon s Unstyled food photos: carrot and preserved lemon soup. I’m eating a lot of soup as it’s easy to make with one hand and a vitamix. I roasted the carrots ( 1 kilo) in olive oil. Then boiled them with 2 tbsp veg stock, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin and 2 litres hot water. For a thicker soup, add 1 tbsp of cornflour mixed with the stock juice and add. Once tender, I blended this with 2 whole preserved lemons, adding a little of the juice from the jar. Blend on medium then high. Serve with yoghurt. It’s a way of effortlessly eating a lot of vegetables in one meal. #winterfood #soup #vegetables
So hard to cook with one hand- screwing off lids, So hard to cook with one hand- screwing off lids, pouring, scraping, lifting pans. 3 more weeks with a cast. I’ve made a vegan mushroom Paprikash with cashew cream and acacia smoked paprika from a Hungarian paprika farm that I visited in October. #comfortfood #vegan #mushroom #paprikash
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2025 msmarmitelover