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- Janis Joplin and the Sexual Revolution
Janis Joplin and the Sexual Revolution

This free course, Janis Joplin and the Sexual Revolution, will introduce you to issues around the sexual revolution and how this, and other contemporary social revolutions of the 1960s, impacted upon American rock musician Janis Joplin (1943-1970). You will investigate the extent to which the contemporary sexual revolution brought about greater gender equality for female popular musicians such as Janis Joplin, and consider whether it might be more accurate to view this as a superficial revolution which masked the reality of continued sexual conservatism. You do not need to play an instrument, to sing, to read music or have any prior musical knowledge to be able to complete this course.
This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course A113 Revolutionsand is part of a set of four OpenLearn courses, covering Revolutions of the Sixties.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
- understand the notion of the academic study of popular music (sometimes referred to as Popular Music Studies)
- consider the extent to which the sexual revolution brought about greater equality of opportunities for female popular musicians, such as Janis Joplin
- situate the position of female American popular musicians, such as Janis Joplin, during the 1960s within the wider context of other social ‘revolutions’ taking place at the same time in the United States, including the Civil Rights Movement, the sexual revolution, and development of the counterculture
- develop your skills in close listening to music.
First Published: 07/12/2020
Updated: 07/12/2020
You can start this course right now without signing-up. Click on any of the course content sections below to start at any point in this course.
If you want to be able to track your progress, earn a free Statement of Participation, and access all course quizzes and activities, sign-up.
Course content
- Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 The academic study of popular music
- 2 The position of women in popular music
- 3 Popular music and the counterculture
- 4 Women in rock: Janis Joplin
- 5 Joplin’s singing style
- 6 Joplin’s image and reception
- 7 The ‘other’ and Joplin
- 8 The sexual revolution and Joplin
- 9 ‘One of the guys’
- 10 Joplin’s lasting reputation
- Conclusion
- Glossary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- This site has Copy Reuse Tracking enabled - see our FAQs for more information.
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3 hours study
Level 1: Introductory
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