Why do sci-fi books from the 60s and 70's have so many scatily-clad women...

[pitohui]

38. 2 reasons

1) sf was aimed at a male adolescent (or wishes he still was adolescent) market...as tom disch describes it, it was speaking to the (almost always male -- and often the young naive male ) person who believed that if you were smart, it would help you win girls & ultimately be a big success in life (ha ha ha ha ha)

2) there was a new freedom in discussing sex and sexual freedom in print in the 50s but even more so in the 60s and & 70s and novels of all kind (not just sf) were obsessed w. human sexuality and sex scenes--such scenes that would be abbreviated today because who needs another description of a blow job are expanded upon in great detail in older novels because it was such a thrill for the writer to be able to be sexually explicit without being put in the porn or illegal category

i don't think it's creepy, while i don't go the extra mile of collecting the old-time "sexy" covers -- and thrillers had really good cheesecake covers too! -- they do bring a smile to my face when i happen to encounter one

sex was still new and fun since it was only a few years that day in 1964 when it was invented...(grin)