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George Negus Tonight: Impact of the contraceptive pill on Australia

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Old photo shows hand holding part of machine dispensing contraceptive pill
George Negus Tonight: Impact of the contraceptive pill on Australia

SUBJECTS:  History

YEARS:  9–10


If you had to name the most significant inventions of the 20th century, would you think of the contraceptive pill?

Very few inventions have had such an impact upon Australian society or been as controversial.

In this clip, discover how life changed for many Australian women with the arrival of 'the pill'.

See how attitudes towards the pill differed, sometimes on religious grounds and often between members of the younger and older generations.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What issues, events or discoveries occurring within your lifetime have divided the generations? Is there something they have in common? What role did the media play in promoting these issues?
  2. 2.What does this clip suggest about the way children and their parents spoke about sex in the early 1960s? How do the pharmacist and Helen Henbest describe the atmosphere around obtaining the pill in the 1960s? How does the clip present the idea that the pill offered women a newfound freedom?
  3. 3.How do the views of Dr Katrina Allen differ from those of the doctor interviewed on This Day Tonight, near the start of the clip? Might you expect a doctor of strong Catholic faith to say similar things today? Why or why not? Why do you think this clip focuses so much more on the experience of women than of men?
  4. 4.Find somebody you know who remembers living in the 1950s or 60s. Ask them about a controversial issue that 'split the generations', such as the contraceptive pill, Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, or the emergence of Rock 'n' Roll culture. Focus your questions on the values and beliefs of different generations, including those of the interviewee.

Date of broadcast: 16 Aug 2004


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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