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Sex
Aug 07, 2008, 09:03AM

War On Sex?

There's no doubt that our popular culture has been dramatically sexualized over the last decade. But has that had any effect on people's behavior? Some conservative groups would like you to think so, and are willing to go against small government principles in their proposed solutions. One commentator thinks that Americans deserve more credit than the right-wingers give them credit for, since rape, divorce, and teen sex have gone down over the past 10 years.

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Photo by extranoise

The liberal scaremongers' solution is always: more government.

But conservatives scare people, too.

When I was growing up, most everyone agreed that it would be a terrible thing if young people were exposed to sex. It must be kept out of sight.

Complaints from groups like Sprigg's inspire politicians to make noises about "protecting" America by banning such sex from the public square, even if it means legislating some of our liberty away. Sen. Joe Lieberman promised action to stay "the rising tide of sex, violence and vulgarity," which he says "has coarsened our culture."

Sprigg says it's a reason for problems like "the rise of sexually transmitted diseases [and] the increase in out-of-wedlock pregnancies and births."

But where is that increase in out-of-wedlock births, etc.? We were surprised to find that although STDs are up and the '60s sexual revolution brought an increase in teen pregnancy, over the past 10 to 15 years, the rape rate, the divorce rate and the percentage of teens having premarital sex have steadily declined.

Discussion
  • Great piece. I hope that one result of Obama's victory (just assuming the likely) is that these morality nuts will shut up, or at least not be given much media coverage.

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