For the three women in Loose Change, the “new woman” that emerged in the 60’s and 70’s meant very different things. Sara, Tasha, and Susie looked at femininity in very different ways. All three of them often surrounded themselves with and defined themselves by men. I do not recall a time when any of them was not involved in some way with a man. During this era of time, that was looked at as the norm. “Free Love” was their battle cry and these women and most all young adults jumped on the train. The one thing that the

collectively had in common throughout their travels was ownership of their bodies and sexuality. I think that this was one of the ideas that helped to engage the women’s movement. Women were not afraid of men when it came to sex. They were in control just as much, if not more, as men were. The irony of this is that the new idea of feminism reflected the opposite of this behavior. Women were to be completely independent. Feminists did not need men and could live and function without them.

Sara, Susie, and Tasha’s personal lives with men reflected fit this very idea like a glove. In the 60’s, like I said before, women were not afraid of men when it came to sex. It was acceptable to the young people of this generation to experiment in every way. The attitudes toward sex were completely nonchalant and open. The behaviors reflected the attitudes during this time of sexual revolution. During this era sexually transmitted diseases barely existed and when they did, they were barely noticed and ignored for the most part. Today this kind of sexual prowess still happens but the consequences are very vocal, unlike back then. Another consequence of the sexual revolution was that of unwanted pregnancy. Many times in the book, Sara talks about being pregnant. I did not keep track, but several times she thought she might be pregnant. When she does end up getting pregnant, her marriage to Michael is in shambles and she ends up getting an abortion. Tasha too had an abortion, but at a much earlier age when she was still in high school. On the other side of things there was Susie whom got pregnant while she was married and decided to have the baby.

around seven years. I think Tasha finally realized that she didn’t need a man to live the life she wanted to when she took up Tai Chi and found

Some topics in this essay:
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