Janis Joplin and the Sexual Revolution

This free course, Janis Joplin and the SexualRevolution, 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.Transcript

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 The academic study of popular music
• 1 The academic study of popular music
• 2 The position of women in popular music
• 2 The position of women in popular music
• 2.1 Gendered music roles
• 3 Popular music and the counterculture
• 3 Popular music and the counterculture
• 3.1 Authenticity
• 3.2 Women musicians and the counterculture
• 4 Women in rock: Janis Joplin
• 4 Women in rock: Janis Joplin
• 5 Joplin’s singing style
• 5 Joplin’s singing style
• 6 Joplin’s image and reception
• 6 Joplin’s image and reception
• 7 The ‘other’ and Joplin
• 7 The ‘other’ and Joplin
• 8 The sexual revolution and Joplin
• 8 The sexual revolution and Joplin
• 9 ‘One of the guys’
• 9 ‘One of the guys’
• 10 Joplin’s lasting reputation
• 10 Joplin’s lasting reputation
• Conclusion
• Glossary
• References
• Acknowledgements