Sadly, no. The entire Common Era (that is, the one defined by Christianity) has made sexual hang-ups the social norm throughout all of western society (and eastern, once we started trading there). Combined with the industrial revolution (which moved us away from livestock getting it on, which helped normalize sex), we don’t know how to speak plainly without automatically painting ourselves as sluts and perverts.
It gets worse with the rise of far-right cultural identity movements like the transnational white power movement / Christian nationalist movement in the US, which intrinsically gatekeep and seek to prosecute anyone outside the mainstream norm, and tend to walk back sexual equality, including sexual liberty, suffrage and personhood.
That said, some places we’re actually teaching consent to kids, starting outside sexual context (e.g. can I hug you? You can play with my toys if you like) and including these lessons all the way through adolescence, which might not only inform intimacy, but contracts and terms of service with commercial interests. In contrast those of us without consent training just learned to tolerate transgressions of our privacy and our rights because the serving companies held the power.
With the SCOTUS ruling of Trump v. United States (2024) fresh on our minds, and awareness of the nearness of tyranny, we expect autocracy and hard times ahead, but may emerge from it a more enlightened, more cooperative society who is able to speak more openly about our needs without being judged.
But it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Sadly, no. The entire Common Era (that is, the one defined by Christianity) has made sexual hang-ups the social norm throughout all of western society (and eastern, once we started trading there). Combined with the industrial revolution (which moved us away from livestock getting it on, which helped normalize sex), we don’t know how to speak plainly without automatically painting ourselves as sluts and perverts.
It gets worse with the rise of far-right cultural identity movements like the transnational white power movement / Christian nationalist movement in the US, which intrinsically gatekeep and seek to prosecute anyone outside the mainstream norm, and tend to walk back sexual equality, including sexual liberty, suffrage and personhood.
That said, some places we’re actually teaching consent to kids, starting outside sexual context (e.g. can I hug you? You can play with my toys if you like) and including these lessons all the way through adolescence, which might not only inform intimacy, but contracts and terms of service with commercial interests. In contrast those of us without consent training just learned to tolerate transgressions of our privacy and our rights because the serving companies held the power.
With the SCOTUS ruling of Trump v. United States (2024) fresh on our minds, and awareness of the nearness of tyranny, we expect autocracy and hard times ahead, but may emerge from it a more enlightened, more cooperative society who is able to speak more openly about our needs without being judged.
But it’s going to get worse before it gets better.