“Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign… [T]he only purpose for which government may rightfully exercise power… over anyone is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.”
- John Stuart Mill, 1859 essay On Liberty

“Puritanism - the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.”
- H.L. Mencken

Do you have or want to have sex? If so, are you willing to limit your sexual expression to the missionary position within the confines of state-sanctioned marriage? If your answer to the first question is “yes,” and the second “no,” you ought to read Marty Klein’s book America’s War on Sex as soon as possible.

Since the onset of the second Bush presidency, we’ve all become familiar with the term “culture war.” (Although its roots go back as far as the Reagan era and the Moral Majority. Someone, I forget who, once said, “The Moral Majority is neither moral nor a majority.“) I’d always thought of this “war” in terms of free speech, prayer in the schools, displaying the Ten Commandments in government buildings or nativity scenes in public places, the separation of church and state, and abortion, contraception and family planning controversy.

The culture war has always been framed as the Right vs. the Left, Republicans vs. Democrats, Conservatives vs. Liberals, theocracy vs. democracy, and science vs. faith. It seems that over the last seven years, the conservatives led by George W. Bush and his faith-based initiatives appear to be winning.

It never occurred to me that President Bush wanted to eliminate the right of the American people to acquire dildos. That’s right. Dildos.

According to Klein, “The state of Alabama has been in and out of court, trying to criminalize the sale of vibrators for a decade. When a U.S. district judge ruled against the state ban on sex-toy sales - twice - the state appealed - twice. Finally, a federal court actually ruled that the government has a compelling interest in keeping ‘orgasm stimulating paraphernalia’ out of our hands. Were they concerned that women would stop having sex with their husbands if they could buzz off with a vibrator?”

Klein goes on to write in depth on the various “battlegrounds” the Right has chosen to fight:

1. Sex Education
Abstinence-only programs. Do they work? No.

a. In Minnesota, sexual activity of junior high school participants in an abstinence program doubled.
- Professional Data Analysts, Inc. and Professional Evaluation Services, “Minnesota Education Now and Babies Later Evaluation Report 1998-2002,” as prepared for the Minnesota Department of Health, January 2004.

b. Young people who take a virginity pledge are one-third less likely than those who don’t to use contraception when they become sexually active.
- Peter Bearman and Hannah Brickner, “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and the Transition to First Intercourse,” American Journal of Sociology 106, no. 4 (2001): 859-912.