after reading about Raquel Welch's new book.
Welch has written a book, "Raquel: Behind the Cleavage," which might just stand out on bookstore shelves. We need it to!...
Further, what she writes knocks the glimmer off the rose of so-called "sexual freedom." The concept, ushered in by the pill, she says, "has taken the caution and discernment out of choosing a sexual partner, which used to be the equivalent of choosing a life partner. Without a commitment, the trust and loyalty between couples of childbearing age is missing, and obviously leads to incidents of infidelity. No one seems immune."
I'm not one of those pro-lifers who is anticontraception. I think that contraception does give a woman a certain degree of control about when and whether to have children and that the power of that is important for women to get to do other things in their lives that they want to do.
But having said that, the sad truth is that the sexual revolution has done more to dehumanize women than anything of the last hundred years. The rise of sex without love or responsibility has caused women (and men) to do things with their bodies that the vast majority would never have thought about doing were it not for contraception and abortion.
I've been castigated repeatedly by the likes of Amanda Marcotte for suggesting that women can and should say "no" to sex when it is outside marriage, where both partners have a commitment to a lifelong relationship. To scratch the itch, then find oneself connected to a guy one doesn't know, must be a disgusting and nightmarish thing. But complaining that the contraception didn't work is childish and, frankly, the least of the woman's problems. Why have sex with a person that you don't want to be linked to for life? And this isn't even talking about divorced parents, which is an entirely different type of problem. How on earth can a person be so flippant with one's body as to give it to anyone who has the slightest appeal, or perhaps only convenience?
None of this is to excuse men for doing the same thing for centuries. But if men's biological history is any indication, not being responsible for bearing children tends to make a person less responsible with their sexuality than knowing that you could be bearing and caring for this person's children for decades to come. Most men aren't so irresponsible. They desire a wife and family. But our society seems to have evolved into a system supporting, through entertainment and politics, the very basest of instincts of mankind. For a presidential candidate to say he wouldn't want his children "punished" with a baby, and that that justifies killing the punishment, should have made most voters recoil. How can a man who says he wants citizens to trust him with so much power hold life in such contempt? And yet, 53% of Americans voted for this man, arguing that his philosophy was "centrist."
When Raquel Welch of all people is arguing that contraception has cheapened sex and dehumanized women, it should give us all pause. I'm sure feminists will howl that she only regrets what she's gotten the chance to do and that she now wants to stop others from having fun. But that's an argument any 14-year-old would make. Having "control of your body" should mean more than throwing it away.
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