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Notes -
A week ago, in the context of a discussion on some NYT article, @2rafa commented that “there is an unstated (on the progressive side) premise among all people that casual sex is a bad deal for women and devalues or dishonors them in some way”. It generated a few replies but basically no further discussion, even though I’m sure it’s worthy of further discussion, and here’s why: as far as I’m aware, it’s certainly not the case that progressives had this attitude from the beginning of the Sexual Revolution, which is what the context is here. Obviously they used to have a different view in general, but sometime along the way, they changed their minds, because things turned sour, essentially.
Before continuing I think it’s important to qualify, as 2rafa also did, that other ideological groups also share this basic view, but the two main differences are that right-wingers tend to state this view openly, whereas progs are usually reluctant to do so, and that they do so on religious and moralistic grounds, whereas progs concentrate on women’s individual long-term interests, not on any other considerations.
So anyway, I said to myself: surely these people, being progressives, believe that the Sexual Revolution, while a laudable event, went haywire at some point, and didn’t bear the fruits it was supposed to. And I can tell that this is a relatively widespread view, because I can see it expressed in various online venues all the time, not just this forum.
What went wrong then? What did the Sexual Revolution basically promise to average progressive women, and why did that turn out to be a lie?
I’d argue that the more or less unstated promise of the Sexual Revolution to young single women was that: a) they will be sexually free without inviting social shame i.e. normalized sexual experimentation and promiscuity on their part will not have an unfavorable long-term effect on men’s attitudes towards them, and women will not sexually shame one another anymore b) they will be able to leave their constrictive gender roles to the extent they see fit, but this will not lead to social issues and anomie because men will be willing to fill those roles instead i.e. men will have no problem becoming stay-at-home dads, nurses, kindergarteners, doing housework etc.
And none of that turned out to be true.
Am I correct in this assessment?
I'm not convinced that 2rafa is right. I have not gotten the impression from progressives I have personally known, both men and women, that they think casual sex is a bad deal for women. This viewpoint might be unstated because the majority of progressives simply do not hold it, not because they hold it but do not wish to admit it.
And I think that the belief that the Sexual Revolution went haywire at some point is even less common among progressives than the belief that casual sex is a bad deal for women.
Regarding the promise of the Sexual Revolution, I think that probably the more common progressive belief is that to the extent the promise has not been fulfilled it is because the Sexual Revolution has not gone far enough, not because it is inherently incapable of fulfilling those promises.
Progressive women who come to hold this view usually don't do so until they're in their 30s, I assume, which is an important caveat here. With regard to progressive men, I'm sure the whole issue doesn't even occur to them unless they have younger sisters, or daughters.
It probably is an important caveat, but I have known a number of progressive men and women in their 30s, 40s, and older, so I am not basing my opinion just on interacting with progressives in their 20s.
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