Sexual Freedom League

1960s California swingers association

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The Sexual Freedom League (SFL) was an organization founded in 1963 in New York City by Jefferson Poland and Leo Koch.[1] It existed under the name New York City League for Sexual Freedom to promote and conduct sexual activity among its members and to agitate for political reform, especially for the repeal of laws against abortion and censorship, and had many female leaders.[citation needed]

## History

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The 1960s were a growing time for a movement of "free-sex" in the face of controversy. Assistant professor of Biology Dr. Leo Koch had been fired by the University of Illinois in 1960 when he advocated premarital sex to students in a letter to The Daily Illini.[2] In 1964, he and Jefferson Poland (then a student that was quoted as aspiring to be “either a lawyer or an agitator") founded the New York City League for Sexual Freedom. Poland eventually took his studies to Merritt Junior College in Oakland and soon focused his attention on doing a League in the Bay Area. In 1965, he and a few members of the "off-campus San Francisco Sexual Freedom League" waded naked into the ocean at Aquatic Park, a public beach in San Francisco, California that saw them each arrested while Poland was sent to jail for five weekends.[3] Various factions arose from the league (often in gender). Sam Sloan was president of the club at Berkeley between 1966–1967.[4] Other organizations dedicated to collegiate sexual freedom would spring up across the country ranging from Stanford to Texas. Although formed as an activist group, it became known for sponsoring sex parties. In early 1966 Poland transferred the East Bay League to Richard Thorne, who proceeded to organize nude parties, which were thinly disguised sex orgies.[5][6] The student chapter at UC Berkeley was named the "Campus Sexual Rights Forum", which would distribute information about sex ranging from abortion to contraception to go along with nude sit-ins and orgies. A raid in 1967 of a host for marijuana and alcohol possession precluded the end of the chapter, which had one last party on Christmas Eve of 1967.[7]

## References

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1. ^ Allyn 2000, p. 43-44.
2. ^ "Illinois Prof Is Fired For Views On Sex". Mount. Vernon Register-News. April 8, 1960. p. 1. Retrieved August 16, 2015 - via Newspapers.com.
3. ^ "Students: The Free-Sex Movement". 11 March 1966.
4. ^ Pitcher, Michelle (February 13, 2015). "A brief history of sexual liberation, orgies at UC Berkeley". The Daily Californian. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
5. ^ https://eastbayexpress.com/children-of-om-1/?__cf_chl_tk=g_1jCsVmiKd1sJk1vTI.1okKzZk13h3XouQvwmX.w4c-1733188358-1.0.1.1-VB5RGsRJrdeMTxk0UHscqMzodCpeIjrIDmRgS1JPSMA
6. ^ "Sex educators & organizations". kinseyinstitute.org. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
7. ^ "Berkeley Historical Plaque Project - Sexual Freedom League". Retrieved June 30, 2016.

### Cited texts

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* Allyn, David (2000). Make love, not war: the sexual revolution, an unfettered history. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-03930-6.
* Hoffman, Brian (2015). Naked: A Cultural History of American Nudism. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0814790540.

### Other texts

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* The Records of the San Francisco Sexual Freedom League by Jefferson F. Poland and Valerie Alison with preface by Herbert Gold, Olympia Press, 1971, ISBN 0700413200

## External links

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* Guide to the Sexual Freedom League records at The Bancroft Library
* Finding Aid to the Sexual Freedom League Records, 1962-1983 (bulk 1964-1973)
* Sexual Freedom Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.