<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Being Assertive – in the era of Watergate, America was afraid it was turning into a nation of wimps.</figcaption></figure>



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The 1970s, aside from being a decade of more upheavals and change, was also a decade of considerable self-examination.

The 1970s marked a turning point in how Americans thought about self-expression, personal rights, and communication. At the heart of these cultural shifts was the concept of assertive behavior—the ability to express one’s needs, opinions, and boundaries confidently but respectfully. What began as a therapeutic idea quickly became a social movement, reflecting deeper changes in gender roles, workplace dynamics, and notions of individuality.

Assertiveness training emerged from psychology and human potential movements of the late 1960s. Psychologists such as Manuel J. Smith, author of When I Say No, I Feel Guilty (1975), and Ralph Alberti and Michael Emmons, whose Your Perfect Right (1970) became a perennial best-seller, popularized the idea that people had a “right” to speak for themselves. Assertive behavior was presented as the balanced middle ground between passive submission and aggressive confrontation. In an era still influenced by conformity and hierarchy, the notion that ordinary people could assert their emotional and interpersonal rights was quietly revolutionary.

The idea gained powerful traction through the women’s liberation movement. Feminists reframed assertiveness not merely as a psychological skill, but as a social necessity. Decades of conditioning had taught many women to avoid confrontation and defer to male authority; assertiveness training offered tools to challenge that pattern. Articles in Ms., Redbook, and Cosmopolitan offered practical lessons on “How to Be Assertive Without Being Aggressive,” teaching readers how to ask for raises, negotiate domestic responsibilities, and decline unwanted attention. The message was clear: to be assertive was to claim equality and self-respect.

Television and film mirrored these transformations. Sitcoms such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda portrayed women navigating new professional and personal independence. Characters learned to balance warmth with self-assurance, reflecting the cultural belief that assertiveness could coexist with kindness. By the decade’s end, films like An Unmarried Woman (1978) and Norma Rae (1979) dramatized female assertiveness as both personal awakening and social protest. Even advertising joined in—L’Oréal’s now-famous slogan, “Because I’m worth it,” launched in 1973, captured the assertive tone of the new consumer feminism.

Yet, assertiveness was not without controversy. Critics claimed that assertiveness training promoted self-centeredness or undermined traditional values of politeness and restraint. Women who adopted assertive behavior were sometimes labeled “pushy” or “unfeminine.” In workplaces, assertive employees could be perceived as challenging authority. These tensions revealed how radical the concept truly was: it questioned who was allowed to speak up, and under what circumstances.

By the close of the 1970s, assertiveness had moved from psychology clinics to mainstream culture, transforming communication, relationships, and self-image. It became a defining value of modern American identity—the belief that one could stand up for oneself without stepping on others. The assertive movement captured the spirit of an era seeking balance between individuality and empathy, signaling a broader cultural maturation. To be assertive in the 1970s was not merely to speak louder, but to claim the right to be heard.

And of course Media was on hand to ponder, speculate and disclose – this episode of the NPR series Options was devoted to a discussion on the state of Assertiveness in 1974.

The post Being Assertive In The 70s – 1974 – Past Daily After Hours Reference Room. appeared first on Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History And Music.