A few questions about the 1960s culture?

[NCRadioMan]

Originally Posted by galaga

Interesting questions, sonny. Sex ed, 6th grade, 1945, taught by my male 6th grade teacher using a film strip (look it up). The girls got their own class taught by a female teacher. BTW, I would expect this to be very regionally dependent. For reference, I was in San Diego. You have to understand what was considered long hair. "Normal" hair was very short. Look in the Apollo 11 thread on this site. That is a sampling of some fairly conservative guy's haircuts in 1969. Now December, 1971 is not much later that that, but the picture from Blackdog shows what I would consider a fairly radical haircut for LBJ. You see, back then, you either got a crew cut or a flat top, i.e. a very short haircut, e.g., Buck Owens, or you got a hair cut that was "long on top" and tapered down the neck or a box cut. A box cut actually had the barber "squaring off the cut" and finishing the job with hot lather and a straight razor. It was a very "sharp" looking " "do". In 1971, I would call LBJ's cut "fashionably" long, maybe even "hip" or "with it". As far as Ashcan Bill's picture of LBJ, that would be considered very long hair for any time in this era. Even Hunter S. Thompson probably didn't have hair much longer that this. Hair that long was a symbol. All the more surprising b/c LBJ was not what could be considered a liberal Democrat by any means, or what I would consider a liberal Democrat. The guy directed, and I mean was daily giving orders, for the Vietnam war. I actually think he was one of the more influential Presidents of my life time. Now just for comparison, vis a vis, haircuts, look up the Beatles haircuts circa 1963 ( you might even find a You Tube of the Ed Sullivan Show appearance). I would bet that they were shorter that any of the engineer's haircut in the Apollo 11 picture and their hair cuts caused a major, and I mean A MAJOR, stink. Now, just comment on a modern movie that, for me anyway, captures the "feel" of this era, check out the movie Across the Universe:

Lucy's Mother: Is that fashionable?
Max: Is what fashionable?
Lucy's Mother: Your haircut, or lack of one.
Lucy: Androgyny suits you, Max.

Fixed it for ya.