The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution

by Carl R. Trueman

heterosexual sex will be replaced by polymorphous pansexuality—essentially a free-for-all in which sex acts are no longer constrained by heteronomous moral codes built around traditional heterosexual norms.

Third, reproduction will, via the application of technology, be available to both men and women.

Fourth, the role of the mother will thereby be abolished, replaced with a more communal form of education.

abolish the “tyranny” of the biological family.

sexual revolution ultimately has one great goal, the destruction of the family. It

family is the primary means by which values are transmitted from gene...

sexual morality today, we need to understand that we are actually thinking about what it means to be human.

Once the genie is out of the bottle, sexual freedom goes in directions

takes on shapes that nobody imagined. And ultimately it leads to questions about who a person is and what it means to be human.

victimhood came to possess huge cachet in the Sittlichkeit of the West.

not having one’s sexual preferences positively affirmed by wider society, for example, or not being allowed to

marry

a same-sex partner. And merely tolerating...

proclivities and activities would not be enough, for tolerance is not the same...

Technology—from easy access to the pill and the legalization of abortion to the internet and the consequent ability to access pornography with little risk of social stigma—is also critical.

but the nature of the self and of identity was central.

the self that is totally detached from, and uninhibited by, any of the conditions of material life.

The message is clear: the unconscious is the guide to truth.

One might also add this: the truth is therefore arcane and hidden; opaque depth is to be understood as truth; that which has

we maintain that the activity of interpreting the world must continue to be linked with the activity of changing the

world.

The purpose of surrealism was profoundly and aggressively political: to overthrow Christianity (and its corollaries—families and moral codes governing sexual behavior). And

actually served to help the process by which society’s judgment of the cultural value of pornography changed from something bad and detrimental to something good and healthy. This is the process Del Noce categorizes as “the ascendance of eroticism,”

sexual taboos and restraint were fundamentally negative in their effects.

consumption of which is no longer restricted to the shadows of society or to seedy nightclubs and cinemas but something that

now forms a basic part of recreational activity for many—children as well as adults.

Hugh Hefner was a classic example of a hero of the anticulture so ably described by Philip Rieff.

the kind of sexually explicit antics featured in many mainstream television shows such as Game of Thrones,

direct mention of fatness or middle-age I have not found it. Birth and death are not mentioned either: nor is work, except that a few recipes for breakfast dishes are given.

cult of beauty has become the cult of sexuality.

instinctive Christian response to pornography is fundamentally

pornography involves the promotion of lust and the objectification of women.

shapes the sexual expectations, behavior, and relationships of those who consume it.

sex trafficking.

the moral status of pornography is irrelevant; the big question is whether it works for the individual, whether it enhances

the individual’s understanding or experience of her own sexuality,

That meant

that some kind of respect for the needs and wishes of the other person was necessary in any sexual act.

consent as providing the one necessar...

for ren...

encounter morally acceptable. Where this respect is lacking, the act is regarded as rape,...

The sexual encounters between a husband and wife find their deeper meaning not in the personal pleasure of the moment

in the way those encounters are intended to strengthen and reinforce the unique relationship that exists between the two partners, one shaped by a shared past and present and open to a shared future.

The pornification of culture inevitably involves the trivialization of sex.

idea grips the popular educational imagination, where every sexual issue, from teen pregnancy to sexually transmitted diseases, has to be addressed from the perspective of more sex education—and that of a merely technical kind, divorced from any traditional moral framework.

Reality TV, the apotheosis of expressive individualism as entertainment,

full of sexual themes, as are soap operas, sitcoms, and movies.

What is interesting, however, is that her lyrics are very sexually explicit, with frequent references to sexual intercourse, insatiable sexual desire, and casual sexual encounters.

These singers would be mocked if they produced songs with lyrics advocating celibacy or criticizing premarital sexual activity. The erotic/pornographic

advocacy of traditional sexual mores that has come to be regarded at best as ridiculous, at worst as downright