The Rise and Fall of Sexual Sanity in Western Civilization

When people think of the sexual revolution, they generally imagine some time in the ’60s when drug-addled hippies at Woodstock were practicing free love, women were liberated from the home and entering the workforce, pornography and pornographic images were lining the newsstands, and abortions were legalized and frequent.

While this idea is not altogether inaccurate, the West has actually experienced multiple sexual revolutions, and each of them happened gradually. In his most recent book “Three Sexual Revolutions: Catholic, Protestant, Atheist,” David Carlin charts the progression and logic of sex and its relation to Western society. The book is succinct, clear, and quite pessimistic. After one sees the big picture, it’s difficult not to conclude that things will get much worse before they get any better.

Ironically, the current confusion about sex that dominates the popular imagination bears some resemblance to the confusion of Ancient Rome, which is where Carlin begins his discussion. In the centuries before the birth of Christ, pagan Rome did at least adhere to some degree of sexual prudence and chastity. Carlin notes, “For centuries Roman women were as famous for their chastity as Roman men were for their courage. But toward the latter days of the republic, things had changed considerably — at least on the chastity front.”

To illustrate this, he cites the scandals of adultery with Julius Caesar, which still meant something in public life. His heir Augustus tried in vain to revive the virtue of chastity, outlawing adultery and even making an example of his own daughter who violated this law. However, right after Augustus’s reign, sexual chaos soon set in, starting from the top, as each successor indulged in increasingly disgusting and destructive sexual fetishes. (Read more from “The Rise and Fall of Sexual Sanity in Western Civilization” HERE)

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