In the dystopian novel BRAVE NEW WORLD (1935), Aldous Huxley portrayed a heterosexual culture in which no woman said "No" to having sex with any man who wanted to have sex with her. Women and men also participated regularly in group sex orgies.
To be sure, Huxley satirized numerous other aspects of our Western scientific and technological culture.
But Huxley was satirizing the trend of sex on demand for men who demand it from women who are culturally conditioned never to say "No" to sex in order to be thought-provoking. He was not imagining this fictional world in order to invite men and women to fantasize about such a world of sexual indulgence.
Of course Huxley portrays consensual sex. But rape culture on American college and university campuses is not about consensual sex. It is about men who cannot take "No" for an answer from a woman. Moreover, rape culture on American campuses is about culturally conditioning women not to say "No" to men who demand to have sex with them. In short, women do not have the right to say "No."
Moreover, rape culture on American campuses is about culturally conditioning women to understand that they will seldom succeed if they bring rape charges against a male rapists, or male rapists in the case of gang rape. Furthermore, rape culture on American campuses is about culturally conditioning women to fear that they may suffer recriminations or reprisals if they say anything about the rape.
Now, in recent years, some feminists have tried to get us in American culture today to stop shaming women for their sexual activity. They have popularized the expression "slut shaming." They want us in American culture today to stop slut shaming and recalibrate our attitudes about women and sexuality. They want us to be less puritanical in our expectations and attitudes and views about women and sexuality. They want us to be more pro-sexual in our expectation and attitudes and views about women and sexuality.
But, by definition, rape involves non-consensual sex. A woman who has been raped by a man usually experiences shame about what has happened to her. Moreover, many women who have been raped by men fear telling even their women friends about it because the friends may feel repulsed by hearing about what has happened.
Thus our puritanical cultural heritage has encouraged a multi-directional slut shaming that can lead women who have been raped and their women friends to feel shame about what has happened in the rape.
No doubt the aim of recalibrating our puritanical sexual heritage in American culture is a desirable goal. Instead of mindlessly advancing our puritanical sexual heritage, we should aim to develop more pro-sexual attitudes and views and expectations.
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