A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century

A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century

Louise Perry (Polity, $19.95, 165 pages)

In 2022, feminist journalist Louise Perry wrote The Case against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century, which poignantly prosecuted the case against the notion that the Sexual Revolution liberated women. She has updated and adapted her book to gear it toward young women, A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century. Although it is full of data, it is easy to read, and her message is one that Gen Z needs to hear. Perry argues that men and women are biologically different and that due to that fact, men and women seek different things from sexual intimacy. In short, most men enjoy casual sex, while many women feel exploited and used by it. (There are, of course, exceptions.) In relatively brief chapters (about 15-20 pages each), Perry argues “sex must be taken seriously,” “not all desires are good,” “loveless sex is not empowering,” “consent is not enough,” “violence is not love,” “people are not products,” “marriage is good,” and “listen to your mother.” The academic research supports the folk wisdom that women are happier in marriage than feminists like to admit, and that the healthiest sexual relationships are embedded in long-term commitment. In her chapter, “People are not products,” Perry criticizes pornography and prostitution as dehumanizing to women by turning them into consumer products designed to satisfy men’s unhealthy desires, which in turn warps later relationships many young men later form. The book could be criticized for painting all men as bad for their interest in sexual conquest, and she insufficiently addresses those women who do, in factm find casual sex enjoyable, but as general rules Perry hits the mark. She is also correct to decry the “disenchantment” of sex in the post-Sexual Revolution world of hookup culture, where sex is about mere pleasure, momentarily feeling good. Unfortunately, approaching the topic secularly, she cannot see the sacredness of sexual relationships within marriage as God’s plan for procreation, the very enchantment that she grasps for but misses. That said, A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century should be read by young men and women to better understand what to avoid in toxic relationships, and if that seems overly optimistic, read by parents who want to warn their children about unhealthy relationship practices.

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