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Alternative lifestyle

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An alternative lifestyle or unconventional lifestyle is a lifestyle perceived to be outside the norm for a given culture. The term alternative lifestyle is often used pejoratively.[1] Description of a related set of activities as alternative is a defining aspect of certain subcultures.[2]

History

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Alternative lifestyles and subcultures were first highlighted in the U.S. in the 1920s with the "flapper" movement. Women cut their hair and skirts short (as a symbol of freedom from oppression and the old ways of living).[3][better source needed] These women were the first large group of females to practice pre-marital sex, dancing, cursing, and driving in modern America without the ostracism that had occurred in earlier instances.

The American press in the 1970s frequently used the term "alternative lifestyle" as a euphemism for homosexuality out of fear of offending a mass audience. The term was also used to refer to hippies, who were seen as a threat to the social order.[1]

Examples

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Housetruckers at the 1981 Nambassa five-day festival

The following is a non-exhaustive list of activities in the U.S. that have been described as alternative lifestyles:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Ryan, Maureen E. (2018). Lifestyle Media in American Culture: Gender, Class, and the Politics of Ordinariness. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-46495-4.[page needed]
  2. ^ Ciment, James (2015). "Introduction". In Misiroglu, Gina (ed.). American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History. Routledge. pp. xxxvi–xxxvii. ISBN 978-1-317-47729-7.
  3. ^ Bland, Lucy (2013). Modern women on trial: Sexual transgression in the age of the flapper. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781847798961.
  4. ^ "SYNERGY | Residential Education". resed.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  5. ^ Makai, Michael (September 2013). Domination & Submission: The BDSM Relationship Handbook. Createspace. ISBN 978-1492775973.