Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Americans have been fighting culture wars since the nation was founded four centuries ago. In 1624, John Morton arrived in what is now Quincy, MA, and a decade late this apparently rakish fellow published New English Canaan (1637), what today would be called an exposé. One critic called it “a harsh and heretical critique of Puritan customs and power structures that went far beyond what most New English settlers could accept.” It is the nation’s first banned book; it would not be the last.
Two centuries later, in 1814, former president Thomas Jefferson blasted efforts to ban a French book, La création du Monde by Regnault de Bécourt. The book contained some passages criticizing religion, and Nicolas Dufief, a Philadelphia book dealer, was accused of blasphemy for having sent it to Jefferson at de Bécourt’s request. Jefferson lashed out, writing:
“I am really mortified to be told that, in the United States of America, a fact like this can become a subject of inquiry, and of criminal inquiry too, as an offence against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can be carried before the civil magistrate.”
He added, “Is this then our freedom of religion? And are we to have a censor whose imprimatur shall say what books may be sold, and what we may buzzy?”
Donald Trump was re-elected to lead the next round of the culture wars. He has strong support from the Christian right, which now has control of the Senate, the House and the Supreme Court. Conservative Christians successfully led the campaigns to overturn Roe; they pushed for 3,362 instances of individual books banning (affecting 1,557 unique titles) in in libraries and schools 2022-2023; and they fought to ban transgender children from school bathrooms,; among other efforts. In many ways, the Christian right has won this round of the culture wars.
On April 9, 1966, Time magazine’s cover posed a profound question: “Is God Dead?” It noted: “It is a question that tantalizes both believers, who perhaps secretly fear that he is, and atheists, who possibly suspect that the answer is no.” By posing the question, Time helped launch the round #1 of the culture wars.
In the late-60s, 98 percent of Americans believed in God and one of those — and who likely read the Time article — was James Dobson, the future founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, an evangelical Protestant organization. In response to what he perceived as the ‘60s cultural upheaval and the deepening crisis of the family, Dobson wrote Dare to Discipline (1970). In it, he railed:
“God is dead; immorality is wonderful; nudity is noble; irresponsibility is groovy; disrespect and irreverence are fashionable; unpopular laws are to be disobeyed; violence is an acceptable vehicle for bringing change (as were childhood tantrums).”
Yet, over the last half-century many traditional American “sins” have been normalized, integrated into popular social life. For example, divorce has become common; almost 90 percent of couples have sex before they marry; and more than two-thirds (70%) cohabit before marriage. In addition, homosexuality is no longer a pathology, and gay marriages are legal; and there are an estimated 1.6 million transgender people in the U.S.
In addition, old “vices” have been integrated into the market economy. Alcoholic beverage sales in 2024 are estimated at $183.5 billion; legal commercial “gaming” is estimated at $63.5 billion and “illegal and unregulated gambling operations” at $510.9 billion. In addition, an increasing number of states decriminalized the medical use of marijuana, and 24 states decriminalized its recreational use.And sexuality – including in many of its once-illicit manifestations (e.g., fetishisms)– has been normalized.
Often overlooked, the U.S. sex market is estimated to a $75 billion operation consisting of ten key segments. Most surprising, it has not been targeted by Christian moralists. Three segments are likely targets by the Christian right in the next round of the culture wars — pornography, sex work and sex paraphernalia. Additional segments include sex clubs and online hookups as well sex-enhancement medical procedures and drugs.
• Pornography is now a hip, high-tech billion-dollar industry easily accessed through TV/cable and satellite television, DVDs, print publications, a zillion online porn sites and VR. The 2023 U.S. porn market is estimatedat $13 billion.
• Sex work is legal only in parts of Nevada, “consensual” sexual commerce is estimatedto be an $14 billion business and being “decriminalized” in New York, Maine and other states. (Belgium sex workers have been granted full employment rights, including maternity pay, sick days and pensions.)
• Sex paraphernalia has been rebranded as “sexual wellness” and is estimatedat $11 billion; it includes vibrators, rubber penises, anal beads and lubricants as well as costumes, unique jewelry, erotic lingerie and other sex-related products. And there are an estimated 5,365 “adult stores” – i.e., sex-toy retailers – operate throughout the country; Amazon is the biggest retailer, offering an estimated 60,000 sex-related products.
Perhaps most surprising, the sexual market has flourished among fundamentalist Christian and orthodox Jewish women, who participate in “passion parties,” i.e., sex toy get-togethers. A host of website welcome married Christians, including Christian Love Toys (i.e., “a Christian sex toy store for married couples”), Covenant Spice (i.e., “enhancing intimacy in Christian marriage”) and Married Dance (i.e., “Christian sex toy store run by a husband and wife since 2011”).
Pushing the patriarchal agenda, 12 state legislatures have introduced fetal personhood bills to restrict if not end in vitro fertilization (IVF). And 25 states have banned access to gender-affirming health care for transgender people under 18 years of age. Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruled that a frozen embryo created during in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments should be considered a child.
The Center for Intimacy Justice reports that Instagram and Facebook prohibit the sale of vibrators, along with breastfeeding and menopause products, while accepting ads for erectile dysfunction products. In addition, Texas outlaws prostitution and pornography as well as “obscene devices,” which are defined as “a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.” And Etsy, the e-commerce site for handmade products, has bannedproducts “applied to the genitalia” or “designed for genitals to be inserted into them,” including dildos, vibrators, rings and the like.
One can only wonder what’s next in the culture wars now that the Christian right has state power through the Trump administration, the Congress and the Supreme Court. Will ever-more conservatives succeed in prohibiting parishioners from participating in passion parties or shopping in risqué retail sex shop or online outlets? A new era in the culture wars is emerging.
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