The Fifties

The image-makers of the fifties painted an idealised picture of family life that left no room for unruly sexual desires. But these desires were beginning to make themselves known. The famous 'Kinsey Report' dared to face the truth: Americans were saying one thing and doing another when it came to sex.

Meanwhile Hugh Hefner had put fun and games back on the agenda, with his newly created Playboy magazine. And Margaret Sanger and 'Goody' Pincus were conspiring to give the world the contraceptive pill - the device that would set women free and usher in the sexual revolution of the next decade.