There is a “Christian right” as Herzog seems to intend it. These are the minority of evangelicals who attend church at least weekly. These are the people who do save themselves until marriage, who do believe disease and heartache follow naturally from premarital sex. They believe in patriarchy and female submission and an abundance of children. No doubt Herzog will be dismayed to learn that in national surveys, the wives in such marriages say they are happier and have more orgasms than the average American woman. But they, their husbands and their pastors do not dictate sexual mores in the rest of the country.
In 15 years, Herzog writes, the Christian right has “managed to undo the most important achievements of the sexual revolution.”But Herzog’s friends trapped in sexless marriages are not turning to Tim LaHaye for help. They are talking to their shrinks, or watching HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me” for clues about what’s normal. The national conversation about sex and love is not dominated by Lou Sheldon or Donald Wildmon or even Rick Warren. It’s dominated by Carrie Bradshaw and Us magazine and Nerve.com.
Herzog laments that the United States is not Europe, where teenage sex is considered natural and beautiful (or at least a subject for long, lugubrious coming-of-age movies). But this has long been a puritan country, where sex comes loaded with guilt. Only these days, the problem is not so much teenagers being manipulated by their youth pastors. Instead, it’s the hookup culture and Miley Cyrus posing almost naked and average 16-year-olds freely sharing the details of their sex lives on MySpace.
I will consider posting comments on this article which are submitted first by email to: KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Hanna Rosin reviews Dagmar Herzog's Sex in Crisis
There is a “Christian right” as Herzog seems to intend it. These are the minority of evangelicals who attend church at least weekly. These are the people who do save themselves until marriage, who do believe disease and heartache follow naturally from premarital sex. They believe in patriarchy and female submission and an abundance of children. No doubt Herzog will be dismayed to learn that in national surveys, the wives in such marriages say they are happier and have more orgasms than the average American woman. But they, their husbands and their pastors do not dictate sexual mores in the rest of the country.
In 15 years, Herzog writes, the Christian right has “managed to undo the most important achievements of the sexual revolution.”But Herzog’s friends trapped in sexless marriages are not turning to Tim LaHaye for help. They are talking to their shrinks, or watching HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me” for clues about what’s normal. The national conversation about sex and love is not dominated by Lou Sheldon or Donald Wildmon or even Rick Warren. It’s dominated by Carrie Bradshaw and Us magazine and Nerve.com.
Herzog laments that the United States is not Europe, where teenage sex is considered natural and beautiful (or at least a subject for long, lugubrious coming-of-age movies). But this has long been a puritan country, where sex comes loaded with guilt. Only these days, the problem is not so much teenagers being manipulated by their youth pastors. Instead, it’s the hookup culture and Miley Cyrus posing almost naked and average 16-year-olds freely sharing the details of their sex lives on MySpace.
I will consider posting comments on this article which are submitted first by email to: KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com