Permissive society

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The permissive society is a label given to a society where social norms are becoming increasingly liberal. This usually accompanies a change in what is considered deviant. An extreme of permissiveness would be a society that has few moral codes beyond "do not harm others".

Aspects that often change as a society becomes more permissive:

• Sexual freedom increases. This includes the freedom to take part in sexual activities which are not the norm, such as BDSM and fetishes, as well as sexual orientations that have been frowned upon in the past, such as homosexuality, bisexuality and swinging.
• Freedom to view violent and sexual material including movies, music, art and literature increases, and censorship decreases.
• The power of religious groups decreases, often accompanied by a rising secularism.

Permissiveness is not always viewed as a good thing. Some claim the past was better, in that it involved fewer divorces, lower rates of teen pregnancy and so on. In America, campaigns such as the Moral Majority movement have taken this view.

Others answer that these things were outcomes of repressiveness, which had other downsides (for example that women could not divorce bad husbands because they did not have independent income). In America, such organisations as the National Organization for Women have taken this view

See also

• Sexual revolution

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