Is the sexual revolution backfiring?

um ... would you like to elaborate, Ray? Not sure what you're getting at here.

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I rather think base human sexual mores remains unchanged over the millenia. I think the only significant discussion would be the extent to which natural tendancies are perverted by ritualistic or repressive traditions, such as one gets with the Protestants.

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F!ck yeah! Repressive is just
what the doctor . . . What does ritualistic mean?

My baby done love me, and that all that matter
in the great big thing of things. It goes around.

--------
Chevy '68 never backfires so you better get it straight. An inline mind is smooooth.

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Re: Is the sexual revolution backfiring?
Ray

Each new teenager in puberty invents his own sexual revolution.

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I meant that it made society more obsessed with sex and less aware of intimacy.

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I don't think there ever was a sexual revolution in the
United States.

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CalamityJane wrote:

I don't think there ever was a sexual revolution in the
United States.

This is the first I've ever heard of such a view. I've always held the "sexual revolution" is embodied by the gay-rights movement, women's liberation, and the movement of mainstream media away from the sheltered, idealistic interpretation of sex we see in the first half of the 20th Century toward a much more open and honest view (the Kinsey reports, etc.) Care to expand?

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The media thought there was a sexual revolution, or wanted the public to think as much. Condoms were always available in the days before the IUD and the pill. Abortions, many of which might kill the woman involved, were always available even when illegal. Well-to-do women could fly to Europe for theirs. Simply because our society has so long been dominated by Protestant extremism, and an open discussion of sexual matters was verboten, people equate the openness of discussing sexual matters in the 1960's with the sexual revolution hype the media used to sell their product.

Ovid got kicked out of Rome for his satires on the sexual mores of the Romans, the last great example of an hypocritical society busily engaged privately in practices they publicly condemned. Homosexuality was common in the ancient world, and until the Romans, was openly celebrated. Read Mallory's Morte d'Arthur, read the Wife of Bath's tale in Chaucer, read Fieldings' Tom Jones, read Eliot's Adam Bede. Pre-marital sex, non-marital sex, casual adultery--all have been with us, an integral part of our culture, forever.

We're just less than honest about it from time to time, and it seems revolutionary when the hypocricy abates.

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I mean it, look around, it's everywhere, as if we can't survive without it! People are portrayed as mere objects, there to be drooled at and what's worse is that they're enjoying it??? Is that what we're suppose to idolize? I don't think they're aware that in many people's eyes they're thought of as semi-sex-objects! I find it so f**** up that I had to grow up in this kind of environment.

I have nothing against sex, but I think that there's just a difference between saying hey you'll have sex with someone who you love one day, and thinking of it as a first priority??? People are looked down on now if they are virgins or not interested in doing it; in some people's eyes, it's either you're a puritan or a sexed-up maniac?!?! It's just so stupid.

Truth be told, there is a reason that sex became a strict taboo, and it's not as religious as people made it out to be. It can be troublesome, merely because it can get out of control and can be subject to perversion. I really think there is a contrast between being aware that sex exist, and making sexual desire linger and explode out of proportion.

Enough for my rant. Sorry for wasting your time if you don't agree with me

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I surmise from your rant that you are young. The young make such "discoveries" routinely, and because they have no point of comparison, they think that things are new and different. However, plus ça change . . .

I have no doubt that your concerns are legitimate. I also have no doubt that your reservations are self-manufactured. Living in a society which is dominated by what passes for culture among the Protestants does not help. Were attitudes toward sex not repressive, the obsessional desire to explore sex would only appear in those who were given to obsessive compulsion in the first place. You might read Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa sometime. It will give some insight into how teenagers and young adults approach sexual activity in a culture which does not assume a priori that sex is a synonym for sin.

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A society's interpretation of sex can be quite pivotal to how that society operates. One of the more remarkable moments of PBS's Evolution documentary is where they contrast the societies of gorillas and bonobos: effectively male-dominated species and female-dominated species.

Under the former, "war" ensues - males literally fight for dominance and control - while under the latter, the society is bi-sexual and non-violent.

The extent to which we can understand our sexuality is the same extent we can understand a great majority of what makes us who we are: our "sexuality" and our "nature" are virtually one and the same.

The so-called "sexual revolution" as I see it represents a starting point from which our (dare I say) liberated and evolved philosophical society can begin to diagnose our "status," if you will.

What we've hitherto called the sexual revolution is the moment at which Humanism (or science) took control of how we view ourselves in the context of our sexuality. That is, it is the moment at which we came that much closer to understanding ourselves in the context of the available scientific and evolutionary-biological data.

The progress of this movement might not even be visible to our modern eyes, but rest assured, the direction is the correct one.

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Setanta wrote:

You might read Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa sometime. It will give some insight into how teenagers and young adults approach sexual activity in a culture which does not assume a priori that sex is a synonym for sin.

Excellent suggestion.

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Nietzsche wrote:

This is the first I've ever heard of such a view. I've always held the "sexual revolution" is embodied by the gay-rights movement, women's liberation, and the movement of mainstream media away from the sheltered, idealistic interpretation of sex we see in the first half of the 20th Century toward a much more open and honest view (the Kinsey reports, etc.) Care to expand?

Gladly! I grew up in Europe where sexuality and biological knowledge
of your body is taught from an early age on. The Kinsey reports were
nothing new to us, and having premarital sex neither. We learned how to
protect ourselves and we're taught about birth control. The statistics of
teenage pregnancy speak for themselves in Europe vs. USA. Having
access to birth control doesn't make a sexual revolution though, at least not for us.

Here in the United States, even today, sexuality is oppressed by society. Birth control is not ready available, even worse: some pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for contraception. Teens are taught to remain abstinent until marriage and should they (God forbid) engage into sexual activities prior to it, there is no support system helping them. I counseled at Planned Parenthood for a number of years, and I was shocked in how little knowledge young women have about birth control, pregnancy and their own sexuality.

You hardly can talk about sexual revolution due to the gay-rights movements, it still leaves the young heterosexuals in the dark.

I have a 9 year old daughter who is sexually educated and probably
knows more than your average teenager in the US. I refuse to buy into
a prudent society whose oppressed sexuality leads to far more problems
than a sexual revolution ever could bring.

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Setanta wrote:

I rather think base human sexual mores remains unchanged over the millenia. I think the only significant discussion would be the extent to which natural tendancies are perverted by ritualistic or repressive traditions, such as one gets with the Protestants.

What he said.

What has happened is that sex has become overtly a commodity (marketing) political (identity politics) and the basis for the construction of community. Other than that human sexual behavior and attitudes have probably not changed appreciably since we climbed down out of the trees.

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The sexual revolution transformed the American West: Now even cowboys can get laid. Free love is priced right.

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Ray wrote:

Quote:

Truth be told, there is a reason that sex became a strict taboo, and it's not as religious as people made it out to be. It can be troublesome, merely because it can get out of control and can be subject to perversion. I really think there is a contrast between being aware that sex exist, and making sexual desire linger and explode out of proportion.

If sexual desire doesn't linger and explode out of proportion then you aren't doing it right.

If sex just exists, like a soda cracker exists, then what is the point of having it? It just becomes a slightly salty thing that leaves the sheets a mess.

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Did you make that up parados? I love it.

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CJane writes;

Quote:

I have a 9 year old daughter who is sexually educated and probably
knows more than your average teenager in the US. I refuse to buy into
a prudent society whose oppressed sexuality leads to far more problems
than a sexual revolution ever could bring.

Kudos to you Jane.

The problem with some people is they are so afraid of giving information because the person they give it to might actually make an informed choice. They fail to understand that an informed choice is more likely to be the choice they want. If you keep information from people they wonder about everything else you didn't tell them so are more likely to NOT make the choice you want. Telling kids about sex and intimacy gives them the information they need to make the choice about when they are ready. Studies have been pretty consistent about well informed kids decide to have sex later in life.

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dyslexia wrote:

The sexual revolution transformed the American West: Now even cowboys can get laid. Free love is priced right.

The problem was, during the height of the "revolution", that the cowgirls were considered repressed, or something, if they weren't obliging! :wink:

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Is the sexual revolution backfiring?

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