The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Sex vs. Babies

Posted on | January 29, 2010 | 5 Comments

“In every society, there are two critical lists: acceptable conditions for having a baby, and acceptable conditions for having sex. . . . It was only with the widespread acceptance of contraception in the middle of the 20th century, creating an upheaval in the public psyche in which sex and babies no longer went hand-in-hand, that the two lists began to diverge.”
— Jennifer Fulwiler

Category: Abortion, Sex

Comments

5 Responses to “Sex vs. Babies”

  1. MrMaryk
    January 29th, 2010 @ 10:29 pm

    And I’d say as a result one has been following the other, despite the disconnect. Witness the increasing acceptance (even exaltation) of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Even as far back as 20 years ago – Dan Quayle and “Murphy Brown” anyone?

    Biology and social norms are intrinsically linked. It takes a herculean effort to pull biology in the direction of a social norm, and an equal effort to keep it there. We’ve decided, out of necessity, to no longer stigmatize illegitimacy. Because we thought we could disconnect sex and procreation with contraception and abortion.

  2. MrMaryk
    January 29th, 2010 @ 10:29 pm

    And I’d say as a result one has been following the other, despite the disconnect. Witness the increasing acceptance (even exaltation) of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Even as far back as 20 years ago – Dan Quayle and “Murphy Brown” anyone?

    Biology and social norms are intrinsically linked. It takes a herculean effort to pull biology in the direction of a social norm, and an equal effort to keep it there. We’ve decided, out of necessity, to no longer stigmatize illegitimacy. Because we thought we could disconnect sex and procreation with contraception and abortion.

  3. MrMaryk
    January 29th, 2010 @ 5:29 pm

    And I’d say as a result one has been following the other, despite the disconnect. Witness the increasing acceptance (even exaltation) of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Even as far back as 20 years ago – Dan Quayle and “Murphy Brown” anyone?

    Biology and social norms are intrinsically linked. It takes a herculean effort to pull biology in the direction of a social norm, and an equal effort to keep it there. We’ve decided, out of necessity, to no longer stigmatize illegitimacy. Because we thought we could disconnect sex and procreation with contraception and abortion.

  4. Mindy
    January 31st, 2010 @ 1:14 am

    There’s been a “trivorce” (three-way divorce) between sex, marriage, and procreation in our culture. We have sex without marriage, babies without marriage, marriage without babies, sex without babies, marriage without sex, and babies without sex.

  5. Mindy
    January 30th, 2010 @ 8:14 pm

    There’s been a “trivorce” (three-way divorce) between sex, marriage, and procreation in our culture. We have sex without marriage, babies without marriage, marriage without babies, sex without babies, marriage without sex, and babies without sex.