I have so many thoughts on the things you mention. I agree with your worry about current moods and threats.
Still, I think the backlash we face these days is the response to conservatives having lost the culture wars. That is, most people support things like LGBTQ, sex education, erotic stories and movies. While some businesses roll back support, others are increasing support. We’re in a much better place than when I started writing erotica 30 years ago. For one thing, the list of forbidden subjects isn’t as long lol.
Another thing that comes to mind is the idea of sexual liberation. I’m almost 60 and the 1970s were my formative years for sexual development. Popular culture was terribly sexist and hedonistic about sex. From the beginning it wasn’t about giving women the freedom of their own bodies to enjoy however they chose, but to give men more freedom in theirs by shaming women who weren’t having sex as “prudes” and “squares”. Even the research being published by famous sex researchers and women’s magazines in the 70s told women who didn’t have sex—specifically intercourse—that they were repressed and unhealthy. Sexual liberation freed men from traditional responsibilities associated with sex (relationships, marriage) but left women with more responsibilities (single motherhood, low wages and limited job market to support themselves and kids, and still plenty of shame).
A friend who attended Woodstock said all the romanticizing of it being a turning point or watershed moment is bullshit, that it was gross and oppressive to the women who were there and were expected to be available for “free love”—free for men, fee paid by women.
What I value so much about 4th wave feminism and Gen Z (my college-aged kids) is the growing awareness that sex is a continuum that includes asexuality, too. It includes romance or not. It includes poly or not. It doesn’t even center intercourse. My kids’ generation names the shame as mine never did. So I agree we have conservative elements that will attack however they can, but we have more liberal ones that will endure.
Whew…that’s a lot of words for agreeing with you while also believing things are improving.
