History Main / SexIsLiberation

* Billy in ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' (film and movie).

* In ''Film/DangerousBeauty'', Veronica confesses that she "embraced a whore's freedom over a wife's obedience." The idea that Veronica, as a courtesan, that is, a [[HighClassCallgirl High Class Prostitute]], enjoys much more freedom and power than do the wives of Venice's aristocrats, is one of the main themes of the film.

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* This is very much true for Beatrice Löwenström in ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'' by ''Creator/Simona Ahrnstedt''. It's very justified too as she really fits into the "is a virgin, lives a strict life, is bullied by people close to her" description from above. As she comes from a very uptight upper middle class background in the 1880s, she had even been taught to consider her body as something sinful, that should be hidden and controlled. Her love interest Seth has to teach her otherwise...
** Magdalena Swärd in "De skandalösa" has something like this going on as well. She's still so bitter after being jilted by her fiancé, but then Gabriel Gripklo comes along, and... well, let's just say that this story is full of sex scenes!

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* In ''Dangerous Beauty'', Veronica confesses that she "embraced a whore's freedom over a wife's obedience." The idea that Veronica, as a courtesan, that is, a [[HighClassCallgirl High Class Prostitute]], enjoys much more freedom and power than do the wives of Venice's aristocrats, is one of the main themes of the film.

* In ''UpstairsDownstairs'' (set in TheGayNineties), the restless Elizabeth gets acquainted with suspicious folks, and an eager follower to their scandalous suffragette schemes and decided decadence, she starts to feel like SexIsLiberation. And as she quite wants to be liberated of her oldfashioned higher class background, she jumps in. It's not played for drama or fun, oddly enough, and most it means to the story is to illustrate how completely different Elizabeth and her peers are from the previous generation.
* On ''That70sShow,'' Hyde once gets involved with a similarly rebellious girl who explains that she sees having lots of sex as a protest against society. Hyde is pretty open with the fact that he's mostly into the sex.

* Edna in ''TheAwakening'' when she has an affair with Robert.
* Billy in ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' (film and movie).

* In one episode of ''NipTuck'', a woman hires the plastic surgeons to reverse a circumcision done on her when she was much younger. This was explicitly so she could discover the wonderful world of sex and what she was missing, and she unsurprisingly immediately jumps into bed with [[TheCasanova Christian]] as a result. Of course, given the nature of female circumcision, you'd think she'd be overjoyed just at having gained the ability to urinate without feeling pain.

** It's played straight, oddly enough, with the whores in "Heart of Gold" who even Inara herself explicitly refers to as whores, all of whom appear to be living idyllic lives in the brothel. The episode even goes so far as to state that the unborn child who is the MacGuffin of the episode would be better off raised in the brothel then under the auspice of his wealthy (albeit {{Jerkass}}) father.

* ''{{Firefly}}'':

* Betty in ''{{Pleasantville}}''.

* This is very much true for Beatrice, the female protagonist in ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'' by Simona Ahrnstedt. It's very justified too as she really fits into the "is a virgin, lives a strict life, is bullied by people close to her" description from above. As she comes from a very uptight upper middle class background in the 1880s, she had even been taught to consider her body as something sinful, that should be hidden and controlled. Her love interest Seth has to teach her otherwise...

* This is very much true for Beatrice, the female protagonist in ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'' by Simona Ahrnstedt. It's very justified too as she really fits into the "is a virgin, lives a strict life, is bullied by people close to her" description from above. As she comes from a very uptight upper middle class background in the 1880s, she had even been taught to consider her body as something sinful, that should be hidden and controlled.

* This is very much true for Beatrice, the female protagonist in ''Literature/{{overenskommelser}}'' by Simona Ahrnstedt. It's very justified too as she really fits into the "is a virgin, lives a strict life, is bullied by people close to her" description from above. As she comes from a very uptight upper middle class background in the 1880s, she had even been taught to consider her body as something sinful, that should be hidden and controlled.

* This is very much true for Beatrice, the female protagonist in 'Literature/{{overenskommelser}}'' by Simona Ahrnstedt. It's very justified too as she really fits into the "is a virgin, lives a strict life, is bullied by people close to her" description from above. As she comes from a very uptight upper middle class background in the 1880s, she had even been taught to consider her body as something sinful, that should be hidden and controlled.

* This is very much true for Beatrice, the female protagonist in ''literature/{{overenskommelser}}'' by Simona Ahrnstedt. It's very justified too as she really fits into the "is a virgin, lives a strict life, is bullied by people close to her" description from above. As she comes from a very uptight upper middle class background in the 1880s, she had even been taught to consider her body as something sinful, that should be hidden and controlled.

* In ''Dangerous Beauty'', Veronica confesses that she "embraced a whore's freedom over a wife's obedience." The idea that Veronica, as a courtesan, that is, a HighClassProstitute, enjoys much more freedom and power than do the wives of Venice's aristocrats, is one of the main themes of the film.

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' plays this rather more straight, with Winston and Julia celebrating sex as an act of rebellion against the deadening erotophobia of the Party.

Like SexIsGood and EverybodyHasLotsOfSex, this trope was initially a reaction against more cautious fictional portrayals of sex and particularly SexIsEvil. Also like those tropes, this one often runs into UnfortunateImplications because in RealLife sex is not a magical self-esteem cure and treating it like such is a road that almost always leads to disappointment. [[http://www.creatingpositiverelationships.org/about-us/7-what-is-the-ripple-effect Many sources]] indicate that sexual activity actually correlates with higher rates of depression even when non-voluntary celibates are taken into account.

Like SexIsGood and EverybodyHasLotsOfSex, this trope was initially a reaction against more cautious fictional portrayals of sex and particularly SexIsEvil. Also like those tropes, this one often runs into UnfortunateImplications because in RealLife sex is not a magical self-esteem cure and treating it like such is a road that almost always leads to disappointment. [[http://www.creatingpositiverelationships.org/about-us/7-what-is-the-ripple-effect Many sources]] indicate that sexual activity actually correlates with higher rates of depression even when non-voluntary celibates [[TakeThatAudience like you]] are taken into account.

* ''NineteenEightyFour'' plays this rather more straight, with Winston and Julia celebrating sex as an act of rebellion against the deadening erotophobia of the Party.

* On ''That70sShow,'' Hyde once gets involved with a similarly rebellious girl who explains that she sees having lots of sex as a protest against society. Hyde is pretty open with the fact that he's mostly into the sex.

Sometimes we don't even need to get to the sex part in order to qualify- SheCleansUpNicely, which often by necessity involves turning the protagonist into a sex object, will often result in the character appearing more confident and liberated. Of course, to an extent this may just be how the audience perceives her now that she's more attractive- her behavior could be identical to how it was before.

* Amber of ''Forever Amber'' appears to be a strong example of this trope, likely the cause for much of the novel's controversy. Interestingly, a close reading of the book indicates that on some level this is a {{Deconstruction}} resulting from the trope's [[UnbuiltTrope not being built yet]]. Amber doesn't exactly seem happy and self-confident when she [[spoiler:starts making desperate overtures to Lord Carlton near the end of the book to have a serious overture even though he's getting married. She goes so far as to ditch the entire posh lifestyle she'd spent most of the book working on the off-chance that he'll take her back.]]

* Amber of ''ForeverAmber'' appears to be a strong example of this trope, likely the cause for much of the novel's controversy. Interestingly, a close reading of the book indicates that on some level this is a {{Deconstruction}} resulting from the trope's [[UnbuiltTrope not being built yet]]. Amber doesn't exactly seem happy and self-confident when she [[spoiler:starts making desperate overtures to Lord Carlton near the end of the book to have a serious overture even though he's getting married. She goes so far as to ditch the entire posh lifestyle she'd spent most of the book working on the off-chance that he'll take her back.]]
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' explicitly disavows this trope: Edward and Bella do ''not'' need to have sex in order to mature as characters. They actually see it as demeaning to the relationship for them take that step too quickly, since it implies they see each other primarily as sex objects.
** Uh....No...Bella wants sex intensely and eventually gives into the two things she refused to do over the entire series (Marry Edward and agree to go to college) to get it. When the two characters are finally vampires, they have sex and it's portrayed as extremely liberating, as they are now 'equals'.

* ''{{Firefly}}''
** Part of the function of the [[HighClassCallGirl Companions]] guild is to enact this trope- Companions themselves are seen as very sophisticated, intelligent, and worldly thinkers. In part this is justified, as becoming a Companion takes a great deal of study and training, and is treated as a high-class profession. They also can have this effect on others- in one episode the crew of the {{Firefly}} is saved from a vengeful mining tycoon when his son sabotages the plan, acting under Inara's influence with stronger resolve.
** It's played straight, oddly enough, with the whores in "Heart of Gold" who even Inara herself explicitly refers to as whores, all of whom appear to be living idyllic lives in the brothel. The episode even goes so far as to state that the unborn child who is the MacGuffin of the episode would be better off raised in the brothel then under the auspice of his wealthy (albeit JerkAss) father.

* This is the concept of a song by Common, ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQS1Ckux8fw "Between Me, You and Liberation"]]''

* ''BraveNewWorld'' is a major deconstruction. In a FreeLoveFuture, people are taught to be sexually promiscuous from childhood, and this is said to be an enormous advance over the old days when people had fathers and mothers. But this perfect society is totally regimented, and the meaning of "everybody belongs to everybody else" is that people are not supposed to have lasting relationships with each other.