One of our church’s pastors recently recommended “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century” by Louise Perry.
I made some time to read it this week, and I really enjoyed it! A few surprises:
- Louise, based in the UK, is definitely not writing this from a conservative/evangelical/Christian viewpoint, avoiding either “the accounts typically offered by liberals addicted to a narrative of progress or conservatives addicted to a narrative of decline.” However, her book focuses more on problems she sees within the “liberal narrative of sexual liberation which I think is not only wrong but also harmful.”
- Louise also has a personal reason for writing this book: “I used to believe the liberal narrative,” she writes. “I conformed to the beliefs of my class, including liberal feminist ideas about porn, BDSM, hook-up culture, evolutionary psychology, and the sex trade, which will all be discussed in this book. I let go of these beliefs because of my own life experiences, including a period immediately after university spent working at a rape crisis centre.” Regardless whether one agrees with her, I admired her courage and honesty in admitting she has changed her mind over time and now thinks her original beliefs were incorrect.
- As a journalist, Louise writes in a way that is crisp and intellectually combative. She makes no apologies when discussing her viewpoints and explaining how she comes to the conclusions in this book. At the same time, readers can also glimpse her deep compassion for other women, especially those she worked with at the rape crisis centre. This compassion is motivating her to speak out.
- While I’m not sure I agree with everything Louise writes, I found it refreshing and encouraging to find someone who reaches similar conclusions to my own viewpoints on sexuality, but often using a different line of reasoning. It reminds me that oftentimes, people can take multiple pathways to reach the same, or similar, conclusions. As Christians, we believe our first authority is God’s Word, which often tells us what to do, what is right, and what is sinful in God’s eyes. However, it sometimes helps us to be reminded of the why behind the what. Scientific research, much of which is cited in Louise’s book, is beginning to show us the advantages of very Christian-sounding principles regarding sex, e.g. “sex must be taken seriously,” “marriage is good,” “people are not products,” “some desires are bad,” and “men and women are different” – all of which are chapter titles in Louise’s book.
Tips on sharing this resource
As with all sex education resources, I highly recommend parents review this book first – both father and mother together, if possible – before sharing with their children.
Because of the subject matter covered, I recommend it for mature children in the Rhetoric stage, which is generally for ages 16 and above. Louise covers a lot of ground in her book, and I could see this incorporating history, culture studies, language arts, science, and biology, not to mention sex ed!
Interestingly enough, the last chapter, titled “Listen to Your Mother,” is especially poignant as Louise describes a generation of girls “trying to mother [itself]” after having been cut off for so long from their parents:
They’ve been denied the guidance of mothers, not because their actual mothers are unwilling to offer it but because of a matricidal impulse in liberal feminism that cuts young women off from the ‘problematic’ older generation. This means not only that they are cut off from the voices of experience, but – more importantly – they are also cut off from the person who loves them most in the world. Feminism needs to rediscover the mother, in every sense.”
I hope this review gives you some fresh insights and inspiration in how to incorporate sex education with your children in a holistic, conversational approach. Let me know if there’s a specific resource you’d like me to review next!
