In this bonus episode exclusively for founding members, my husband and I respond to this question from Martin:
“How much do you think skeptics of the sexual revolution ought to stress the importance of personal responsibility, and to what extent should we discriminate between men and women while doing so? When trying to convince my male friends to give up porn, for example, I find that the ‘limbic capitalism’ argument is an amusing diversion, but it’s more persuasive to tell them that they’ve got a responsibility to stop exploiting vulnerable young women, that the shame of what they’re enjoying would be obvious to them if the woman on the screen were someone they cherished and respected and wanted the best for - in other words, by paying them the compliment of regarding them as moral agents capable of making better choices. I feel squeamish about invoking the same principle of personal responsibility when it comes to female participants in the sexual revolution, and victim-blaming is a real and deplorable thing, but I also feel that this squeamishness - which I sense you share - needs a limiting principle. Do you agree? And if so, what do you think it is?”
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