Millett concedes that the sexual revolution’s first phase was egregiously inhibited yet social changes still began taking shape. In fact, for “nearly a century it must have looked as though the organization of human society were about to undergo a revision possibly more drastic than any it had ever known” (61). This sexual revolution was ultimately ineffective, however, because it neither ended “traditional sexual inhibitions and taboos” (62) nor brought about an end to institutional patriarchy. Similarly, the first phase failed to critique masculine and feminine roles or end unequal sex roles exemplified by women and their marginal economic independence.

Understanding this period, cautions Millett, requires recognizing that evidence often comes from “the two prevailing official versions of the culture’s sexual politics: polite and legal” (66). For example, a polite (chivalrous) version might stipulate that women have natural protectors, while a legal version stipulates that “a woman underwent a ‘civil death’ upon marriage, forfeiting what amounted to every human right” (67). Likewise, working women routinely suffered abusive treatment, as well as generally poorer conditions, hours, and wages, all “while the doctrine of manly guardianship was gravely proclaimed” (70). Such working-class women were not treated to the chivalrous protection of men.