To many, the 1960s can be summed up as the Vietnam War, hippies, drugs, protests, and rock ‘n roll. A common joke goes, “If you remember the ’60s, you weren’t there.” Other revolutionary movements of the decade included the Stonewall Riots and the beginnings of gay rights, the Women’s Lib movement, and the continuing and growing civil rights movement. The Beatles became popular, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Alongside these revolutionary cultural changes, geopolitics was equally dramatic: The U.S. entered the Vietnam War, the Berlin Wall was built, the Soviets launched the first man into space, and President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy were all assassinated.
In the 1970s, in the mood of feminism, gender equality and light humor, magazines such as Cleo included male nude centerfolds.
Unlike the traditional erotic photographs, which use any attractive female subjects, the male nude photographs are usually of celebrities.