The Long Leash of Sexual Liberty

We enjoy unprecedented—if incomplete— freedom in our sex lives. Dr. Drew Pinsky examines the hidden biological boundaries that surround our most intimate choices

- DR. DREW PINSKY

Over the past 50 years, Western culture has seen unprecedented progress in our sense of ourselves as sexual beings. The so-called sexual revolution, with its rejection of puritanical values and embrace of “free love,” enriched our ability to be open about our sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual practices with vastly reduced shame and judgment. But the unintended consequences of this revolution continue to unfold in a dazzling array of manifestations—among them teen pregnancy, internet pornography, Tinder, sexual addiction, epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases and a frequently impoverished interpersonal landscape.

As a physician, I’m always alert to the biological contexts of cultural change. At least some of the attitudes about sexuality that we’ve transmitted across generations have a basis in biological reality. A good deal of ink has been spilled suggesting it was the advent of hormonal contraceptives (a.k.a. the pill) that allowed women to have mastery over their reproductive potential. And one must remember that throughout human history, a significant percentage of women died in childbirth. When obstetric and medical advances decreased this threat, sex was uncoupled from reproduction for the first time. This certainly contributed to the freedom we’ve enjoyed since.