Brave New World Promiscuity Analysis

Theodore Dalrymple, in the essay “All Sex, All the Time” reflects on the change of view of the people about sex and how it has lead people into more confusion and conflict than before. Dalrymple’s real name being Anthony Daniels, he picked up the pseudonym of Theodore Dalrymple for the purpose of his essays. There were times when virginity was a pride to men and women. However, it still prevails in some countries, this custom and the people have been changing. He states that the world is now free to enjoy sexual pleasures without any fear of the myths and taboos that existed in history. Although people feel that they are satisfied and are free to choose this path of life, sex has lead people into “confusion, contradiction, and conflict” states Dalrymple (Dalrymple 1).

Sex has been reduced to a common action with no social bindings and it is not a gesture of showing love for someone else as people think of it today. When will today’s society be consumed with only the physical aspect of sex? With all of the premarital sex and the age of becoming sexually active decreasing every generation, it leaves a question to be answered; where did the value of love and responsibility of partnership go? Monogamy, in “Brave New World“, is unheard of and taboo to everyone except those who see how powerful love is. The connection that unites people is reduced to a competition to see how many times people have it rather than which the person is. In the book, John knows the importance of love and even resists the temptation to have sex with Lenina. John is among a few people who have not been reduced to mating animals but rather humans that still feel a need for love and companionship.

In his article, “The Invention of Sexuality”, Weeks argued that sexuality is a product of society and is shaped by

In Brave New World, authorities encourage individuals to sleep with as many people possible as often as possible. In previous generations, marriage controlled these sexual impulses but when people tried to confine them, such institutions unraveled. By abolishing marriage and encouraging these sexual behaviors, the leaders of the new world have gotten rid of the inherent dangers.

Though it would have been impossible for these Americans to return to America unscathed by the experience of war, it was expected by the Homefront Americans that they should return to “the humdrum routine of American life as if nothing had happened” which was considered unacceptable. Before the war, sexual freedom, as stated earlier, was forbidden topic for the youth. Yet somehow, “boys and girls were becoming sophisticated about sex at an earlier age” following the war. Allen describes how parents and teachers cried out in alarm and seemed bent on preventing the “morality” of America become undermined. However, influential leaders like Sigmund Freud proposed ideas that fueled the youth’s enthusiasm for change, including the proposition that the “first requirement of mental health was to have an uninhibited sex life.” As movies displayed “the same lucrative theme” as sex magazines, moral defenders especially those in clergy would attempt to halt the spread of such radical ideas through censorship. Despite this,

Ira L. Reiss, a well-known sociologist, has contributed greatly to the field of human sexuality and in the 1960’s brilliantly predicted the revolutionary changes in sexual attitudes. In his novel, An End to Shame: Shaping Our Next Sexual Revolution, Reiss develops the notion that our previous sexual revolution did not adequately eliminate the inequalities related to sexuality. In reality he argues that America is in need of a newly formed sexual revolution, one that will address the negative consequences that our sex negative culture is experiencing. A significant portion of our population argues that these consequences are due to the fact that we talk too much and too soon about sex. This is an inaccurate view of the reasoning behind the sexual problems we are experiencing in America, as in reality the negative sexual outcomes we observe are due to the opposite of this view. This misconception is a common explanation for our sexual problems and many believe it is the key to solving our sexual crisis, but in reality is part of the problem. Reiss argues that “America is long overdue for a rendezvous with sexual reality” (18) and that the future of our nation depends on accepting these realities.

Besides, Lenina’s perspective about sexual activities is greatly affected by the conditioning. To Lenina, making love is just like recreation. When Bernard mentioned about being alone with her, she replied that they would be alone all night but her actual mean was about making love with him. In the World State, being alone is considered odd or queer but having sex is an ordinary activity that even the children do so. Later, while Bernard and Lenina flew back, Bernard “began to fondle her breasts” (Ch.6). It is ironic that Bernard’s action was considered offensive and Lenina was supposed to feel uncomfortable but she was not. In fact, she actually felt relieved as she thought he was all right again. In another scene, after hearing John’s confession about his feeling toward Lenina when she came to him, she started to seduce him (Ch.13). Though John was trying to explain about how much he loved her, and that he respected her and wanted to marry her, Lenina couldn’t understand what he meant. Under the conditioning of the government, she was not aware of marriage‐the life-long commitment between two human beings, and she only knew that people made love when they were in love. Hence, once John

Lenina is a woman who works in the embryo store of the hatchery. She represents the ideal citizen of the world state, and she undergoes a change in character towards the end of the novel. She begins as a conforming World state citizen, midway she feels some degree of love for John, then at the end she contributes to the death of John. At the beginning of the novel Lenina is the epitome of the world state female, and the world state citizen. She seems to be quite Vapid, a clear description of this was in the discussion between Henry Foster and the assistant Predestinator. Henry says ’Oh, she’s a splendid girl.Wonderfully pneumatic. I’m surprised you haven’t had

Throughout the book, Bailey argues that in cities around the country in the 1960’s, the “ordinary” person battled the constant struggle of both private and public sexual behaviors, which came to follow post WWII in America. Throughout the text, Bailey

I picked this quote because I thought it was odd that Lenina didn't understand or like that fact that Bernard wanted to hang out alone with her and just talk without being in a big group or crowd of people because that's how it works with us in our society. I also think it is weird how when people go on dates in this book they don't care about getting to know someone they only do it because they were toast it was the natural thing to date as many people as possible and not really getting too attached to one person. (102)

First of all, Lenina’s physical characteristics help distinguish her type of character. Lenina is a typical woman in the new world, and she has all the characteristics that describe her as pneumatic. Lenina is a particularly attractive female since many men in the society seem to be attracted to her. Even the Arch-Community-Songster of

At the very beginning of the novel sex is shown to play an important role in the new society because kids are playing sex games in bushes. This should immediately evoke a sense of bewilderment by the reader because sex amongst children is looked down upon by normal society. Throughout the entire novel sex occurs quite often, but love is never correlated with the intimacy. The characters simply choose who they want to be with and then act upon the person without putting forth much effort at all. Having sex with others and not loving the person is something that is normally looked down upon in normal society, so Huxley obviously intended to have a large impact on the readers. To further his exploitation of taboo subjects, Huxley makes the New World a society in which drugs known as Soma are used to fix any problem that may occur. Whenever something that seems like it might be the least bit problematic arises, Soma is taken to ease them of any tension. This eliminates any problem solving and rids of the overall satisfaction from overcoming difficulties. But problems seldom occur to inhabitants of the New World, and Huxley wanted to make drugs commonplace in Brave New World. So, Soma is also taken during most instances of sex which increases the drastic impact on the reader. All of Huxley’s exaggerations of the New World is meant to make the reader think about his own society and think about the path

Sex At Dawn by Chrstopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, describes our current society as a sexual hypocrisy where monogamy is the norm and everything else falls under taboo. Based on prehistoric facts, they argue that we derive from a sexually free and promiscuous culture, and were never meant to be in lifelong monogamous unions. In Paleofantasy by Martha Zuk, looks at evolutionary theorists, like Ryan and Jetha, who use the Paleolithic Age for guidance on how our current society should live. Zuk’s argument is that people want to make our nature into one-form, but humans are not designed for one-way/form of life. As for our sexual system it too can not be put into one-form. Zuk shows various points on popular assertions, creating uncertainty to the reader. This therefore shows how difficult it is to determine a precise natural sexual practice from our past, and debunking Ryan and Jetha. For this reason, Zuk provides a better argument regarding how we should use prehistoric history in present day.

Married Love was an unprecedented book, which inadvertently redefined female sexuality. Often regarded as the precursor of sex-manuals, Married Love launched Stopes’ enormously successful career as a writer. Published in 1918, Married Love reviewed the intertwining relationship of marriage, sex and contraception, which in Stopes’ view were the fundamental components of a fulfilling and rewarding marriage. Like all discourse, Married Love is heavily embedded within a distinct historical and cultural context. Darwinian theory and the development of eugenics had a phenomenal impact on Stopes. Recognising the equal sexual desire of women would make Married Love greatly influential in the shaping of modern perceptions into female sexuality.

The twentieth-century tendency to view human love and sexuality within a dichotomized universe of deviance and normality, genitality and platonic love, is alien to the emotions and attitudes of the nineteenth century and fundamentally distorts the nature of