Louise Perry

The bestselling feminist book, now adapted for a young adult audienceBefore the 1960s, sex before marriage was frowned upon and pornography was difficult to get hold of. We are now much freer to do what we like – there has been a ‘sexual revolution’. This must be a good thing, right?Wrong, argues Louise Perry. These changes have had many negative consequences, especially for girls and women. The main winners from a world of rough sex, hook-ups and freely available porn are a tiny minority of rich and powerful men. Women have been forced to adapt to these changes in ways that often harm them.Louise Perry carefully guides readers through the difficulties of sex in the 21st century. Her advice will be invaluable to all young women and men who may be feeling lost in a world where ‘doing it’ can sometimes seem dangerous or confusing.

The bestselling feminist book, now adapted for a young adult audienceBefore the 1960s, sex before marriage was frowned upon and pornography was difficult to get hold of. We are now much freer to do what we like – there has been a ‘sexual revolution’. This must be a good thing, right?Wrong, argues Louise Perry. These changes have had many negative consequences, especially for girls and women. The main winners from a world of rough sex, hook-ups and freely available porn are a tiny minority of rich and powerful men. Women have been forced to adapt to these changes in ways that often harm them.Louise Perry carefully guides readers through the difficulties of sex in the 21st century. Her advice will be invaluable to all young women and men who may be feeling lost in a world where ‘doing it’ can sometimes seem dangerous or confusing.

Den sexuella revolutionen skulle befria kvinnors sexualitet. När gamla inskränkta sexualnormer löstes upp, p-pillret introducerades och aborträtten utökades, skulle kvinnor överge förlegade återhållsamhetsideal och, för första gången i historien, fullt ut kunna förverkliga sin sexualitet. Så var det tänkt att den sexuella revolutionen skulle fungera. Men de vackra löftena infriades inte. Istället kom den sexuella frigörelsen att i hög grad missgynna just dem kvinnorna som den var tänkt att frälsa. Det menar den brittiska feministen Louise Perry. I sin bok Sexsveket gör hon en kritisk genomgång av den moderna sexualsynen som växte fram på 1960-talet och de negativa effekter som den haft för inte minst tjejer och unga kvinnor. Samtidigt föreslår hon nya ideal för sexuella relationer i vår tid. Louise Perry är en brittisk journalist, författare och aktivist. Hon skriver i tidningar som Daily Mail och New Statesman, har substacken Maiden Mother Matriarch, är chef för den feministiska tankesmedjan The Other Half och verksam inom den ideella organisationen We Cant Consent To This, som syftar till att bekämpa problem kring våldsamt sex. »Om vi verkligen ska kunna göra något åt den sexuella revolutionens negativa samhällseffekter behöver vi gå grundligt till väga. Vi måste undersöka sociala strukturer som har visat sig fungera väl genom historien och jämföra dem med varandra i stället för med något utopiskt alternativ som aldrig har funnits och förmodligen aldrig kommer att finnas. Vi behöver återuppbygga de sociala skyddsräckena som rivits ner. Och för att göra det måste vi börja med att påpeka det uppenbara: Vi måste ta sex på allvar. Män och kvinnor är olika. Vissa begär är dåliga. Samtycke är inte tillräckligt. Våld är inte kärlek. Sex utan kärlek är inte makt. Människor är inga varor. Äktenskap är bra.« LOUISE PERRY»En omistlig bok där Perry på ett lysande sätt går till radikalt angrepp mot liberalfeminismens misslyckande genom att våga påstå att den så kallade sexuella revolutionen på ett häpnadsväckande sätt har svikit kvinnor, i synnerhet unga och fattiga kvinnor.« PHYLLIS CHESLER »Den här ytterst välskrivna och originella boken efterlyser en sexuell motrevolution å det snaraste. En bok lika upplivande som en skopa iskallt vatten som får en att vakna ur en mardröm.« HELEN JOYCE »Perry går till frontalangrepp mot den sexuella revolutionen och dess följdverkningar ... en modig bok som inte väjer för svåra frågor. Vi måste börja behandla varandra med värdighet igen, menar Perry. Festen är över länge leve kärleken, dygden, engagemanget och vänligheten.« NINA POWER »I flera årtionden har vi pådyvlats lögnen att feminism är att hylla sexarbete, våldsam pornografi och tillfälliga ligg. Hur i helvete lyckades den misogyna globala sexindustrin göra feminismen till sin främsta hejaklacksledare? In kommer Louise Perry med sitt laserskarpa intellekt och en genomtänkt och spirituell bok där hon klär av den sexpositiva feminismen och visar att den varken är positiv eller sexig. Hon argumenterar för ett nytt tankesätt med kvinnors verkliga intressen för ögonen.« JANICE TURNER

We’re born with a hunger for roots and a desire to pass on a legacy.The past two decades have seen a boom in family history services that combine genealogy with DNA testing, though this is less a sign of a robust connection to past generations than of its absence. Everywhere we see a pervasive rootlessness coupled with a cult of youth that thinks there is little to learn from our elders. The nursing home tragedies of the Covid-19 pandemic laid bare this devaluing of the old. But it’s not only the elderly who are negatively affected when the links between generations break down; the young lose out too. When the hollowing-out of intergenerational connections deprives youth of the sense of belonging to a story beyond themselves, other sources of identity, from trivial to noxious, will fill the void.Yet however important biological kinship is, the New Testament tells us it is less important than the family called into being by God’s promises. “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Jesus asks a crowd of listeners, then answers: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.” In this great intergenerational family, we are linked by a bond of brotherhood and sisterhood to believers from every era of the human story, past, present, and yet to be born. To be sure, our biological families and inheritances still matter, but heredity and blood kinship are no longer the primary source of our identity. Here is a cure for rootlessness.On this theme: - Matthew Lee Anderson argues that even in an age of IVF no one has a right to have a child. - Emmanuel Katongole describes how African Christians are responding to ecological degradation by returning to their roots. - Louise Perry worries that young environmentalist don’t want kids. - Helmuth Eiwen asks what we can do about the ongoing effects of the sins of our ancestors. - Terence Sweeney misses an absent father who left him nothing. - Wendy Kiyomi gives personal insight into the challenges of adopting children with trauma in their past. - Alastair Roberts decodes that long list of “begats” in Matthew’s Gospel. - Rhys Laverty explains why his hometown, Chessington, UK, is still a family-friendly neighborhood. - Springs Toledo recounts, for the first time, a buried family story of crime and forgiveness. - Monica Pelliccia profiles three generations of women who feed migrants riding the trains north.Also in the issue: - A new Christmas story by Óscar Esquivias, translated from the Spanish - Original poetry by Aaron Poochigian - Reviews of Kim Haines-Eitzen’s Sonorous Desert, Matthew P. Schneider’s God Loves the Autistic Mind, Adam Nicolson’s Life between the Tides, and Ash Davidson’s Damnation Spring. - An appreciation for Augustine’s mother, Monica - Short sketches by Clarice Lispector of her father and sonPlough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to apply their faith to the challenges we face. Each issue includes in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art.

Ditching the stuffy hang-ups and benighted sexual traditionalism of the past is an unambiguously positive thing. The sexual revolution has liberated us to enjoy a heady mixture of erotic freedom and personal autonomy. Right? Wrong, argues Louise Perry in her provocative new book. Although it would be neither possible nor desirable to turn the clock back to a world of pre-60s sexual mores, she argues that the amoral libertinism and callous disenchantment of liberal feminism and our contemporary hypersexualised culture represent more loss than gain. The main winners from a world of rough sex, hook-up culture and ubiquitous porn – where anything goes and only consent matters – are a tiny minority of high-status men, not the women forced to accommodate the excesses of male lust. While dispensing sage advice to the generations paying the price for these excesses, she makes a passionate case for a new sexual culture built around dignity, virtue and restraint. This counter-cultural polemic from one of the most exciting young voices in contemporary feminism should be read by all men and women uneasy about the mindless orthodoxies of our ultra-liberal era. Also available as an audiobook narrated by the author.

Ditching the stuffy hang-ups and benighted sexual traditionalism of the past is an unambiguously positive thing. The sexual revolution has liberated us to enjoy a heady mixture of erotic freedom and personal autonomy. Right? Wrong, argues Louise Perry in her provocative new book. Although it would be neither possible nor desirable to turn the clock back to a world of pre-60s sexual mores, she argues that the amoral libertinism and callous disenchantment of liberal feminism and our contemporary hypersexualised culture represent more loss than gain. The main winners from a world of rough sex, hook-up culture and ubiquitous porn – where anything goes and only consent matters – are a tiny minority of high-status men, not the women forced to accommodate the excesses of male lust. While dispensing sage advice to the generations paying the price for these excesses, she makes a passionate case for a new sexual culture built around dignity, virtue and restraint. This counter-cultural polemic from one of the most exciting young voices in contemporary feminism should be read by all men and women uneasy about the mindless orthodoxies of our ultra-liberal era. Also available as an audiobook narrated by the author.