Since the 1960s there has been a rise of women liberated to explore their sexuality in the open, bravely in front of the world. Unfortunately along with the rise of women’s sexual liberation came a vocal hatred of male heterosexuality in any form, even if those very men identify as bisexual or their sexual identity included an interest in women at all. While it seemed women’s sexual liberation may finally gain women the right to be valued as more than their sexual purity, their own movement reinforced the traditionalist puritanical ideology that has now led to a generation of young people declining to have sex at all. The radicalized consent culture, theories on the subject-object dichotomy (i.e. objectification and sexualization as inherently wrong) and general hatred toward men who show sexual interest in women openly outside of the confines of traditional monogamous arrangements has now led to men who are returning to almost militant anti-sex stances and young people opting for voluntary celibacy. Men now go to gyms and look at the ground fearing that they’ll accidentally look “weird” or like “creeps”. While some women vocally say “as long as you do not leer, it’s okay to glance” others act as if the slightest look is worthy of placing the man on blast via social media. This has led to a rise of men rejecting sexual expression by women, attacking it and even calling for bans on it. This of course is a great thing to the radical puritanical religious people or those whose secular dogma or ingrained hatred of men/male sexuality has led them to preach that overt sexual expression is immoral and a degradation of society.
The Puritanical Ideals of American Thought
If you’ve ever paid close attention to the history of the 16th and 17th century then you’ll realize that in what is now the UK, this was a period of great religious strife. It actually was in Western Europe from the advent of the printing press and the protestant revolution began by Henry VIII and Martin Luther, between the twixt we saw a violent disagreement birthed between denominations and in particular between the protestants and Catholics.
No group of protestants however became more violent and warlike than the Puritans who began to militantly spread their ideals through England and into the new world. Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan warlord actually managed to successfully take over England, wreak havoc on the innocent people of Ireland and behead the King. All of this in the name of Puritanical philosophy, a doctrine that America was founded upon and still holds. By far the most violent, extremist philosophy to emerge in that time period with the most support.
To this day, America, the world military leader with ongoing aggression from sea to shining sea has been the beacon of violence both domestic and foreign. While not for openly theocratic reasons, the effort by many politicians to install a true theocracy is an ongoing threat to American society. America is known for violent crime in the inner cities, mass shootings, road rage, bullying and our movies are perhaps some of the most violent themed in the world. Many kids grow up in American society playing extremely violent video games, while this has not been proven to be a cause of violence it certainly does suggest that people in America prefer those themes over sexuality. While first person shooters are some of the most popular themes in American video games, RPGs and cooperative monster hunting games have been more popular in East Asian nations like Japan. This is a stark contrast when it comes to the mindset Americans have versus other nations on overt violence.
On the flip side, the number of Americans claiming open sexuality is immoral and a danger to children is immense. Narratives on theoretical, outer space reaching hypotheses on when a woman or virtually anybody is able to consent seems to be the where feminism exists now. Younger people such as Millennials and Gen Z seem to not even realize that they parrot feminist theory, claiming male sexuality inherently takes women’s consent from them. Narratives like sex work being inherently exploitative, even when all people who work service work are no less exploited by the need for income or nice things. The dogma of puritanical values just changes to secular explanations of the same toxic belief system even when religion is removed.
The fact is, if people cared about their children in America they’d want to make it less violent. When people tried to start fights now seemingly over nothing, which we encourage as being “badass”, maybe we’d collectively call them out as barbaric.
It’s Time to Move On from the 17th Century
The children, no wait, every person in this country is better off if we can overcome our sex negativity and reject violence. The free love hippies of the 1960s who said we should give peace a chance and love each other were right. It’s important to be strong in the face of foreign or even domestic aggression, but all Americans are safer in a society where people are more willing to indulge in sensuality rather than harm. It’s not 1620 anymore, we aren’t just departing the Mayflower on Plymouth Rock and we don’t wear buckles on our hats anymore thank heavens.
American Feminism Needs Empathy Toward Men Who Have Sex With Women.
It’s fine to be concerned with the consent and safety of people engaging in sex. However when it’s such an obsession that you call any effort to express sexuality from one gender “toxic” then maybe it’s actually your movement that has become “toxic”. If you think that gender needs more empathy when the political system and social narratives slant entirely in your favor, maybe it’s you who needs “empathy” or better yet a more realistic view on what humans can give to one another which is not “empathy” but “sympathy” for their needs and dreams. It’s not all about women, it’s not all about men, it’s not all about anybody else identifying any other way. We have to learn to compromise and make our lives the most mutually enjoyable.
This means men can look, this means men can overtly say they’re sexually interested and we need to stop using the word “weird” wrong or “creepy” even just because some guy wants to express that he’s into someone else. If wouldn’t be an issue if women did it, but if it was an issue at that point then it just means we as a society have dived off the deep end of prudery. It doesn’t mean that anybody was wrong. While “no means no”, we cannot have a society of witch hunting old men for their sexual past or doxing men who glance at a woman in a gym who intentionally wore booty shorts.
Is America a Bad Country with Terrible People?
Absolutely not. It’s a great place with enormous opportunities, but we have to challenge what we call our “values” because in some cases, especially around sexuality, they’re very subjective and outdated. We prioritize violence way too much here because we view toughness as strength. We’re rapidly reaching a time where robotics and intellect will fight our wars. We won’t need the rough and tumble machismo culture we once did and the time of the cultured gentleman is upon us. This is why we must push back against puritanical ideals in American society as one of the major world powers or perhaps the most influential at this time. Americans routinely call for foreign nations to become more prudish like they are and that needs to stop.
America is a high tech, thriving nation full of natural beauty and great people in many respects. Calling out some of the inherent mindset problems however is necessary for Men of Culture to enjoy their lives without being attacked for who they are. It’s necessary for women and people who otherwise identify to embrace who they are as well. America claims to be a free country, but allowing vice and sexuality is truly freedom and embracing human rights. This was not meant to bash America or Americans, but to provide some much needed constructive criticism in a time when we seem to be hurdling into even more extreme puritanical ideals and social enforcement than we’ve ever seen and for what? If even one person who thinks sex is worse for America than the violent mentality we have, in part because of the repression, then explain it rationally with the data to back it up. Show how sex itself causes the problems in society and makes cities less safe. However if that argument is made, make sure to offer data where only sex is the variable at play and the outcome didn’t cascade as a result of prohibitory legislation such as we see in cases where sex workers take shelter with drug dealing pimps due to American anti-sexuality laws on sex work. If you don’t like them in the streets, why pass laws that prohibit online advertising and make private in-calls nigh impossible.
We need to have this discussion and more people have to be vocal, even if that’s a risk to their livelihoods. America must break free of the 17th century mindset of Puritanism.