Sexing the Millennium

by Linda Grant

Book Overview

"Grant is passionate yet blessedly free of rhetoric and gush. And how welcome is her evocation of the [sexual revolution's] optimism -- even its loopy naivete -- at a time when AIDS stamps eros with death, when the religious Right uses illness to stake sexual terror." -- The Village Voice

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802133495
• ISBN13: 9780802133496
• Release Date: June 1995
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 282 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Sexual freedom, no power

Linda Grant's nostalgic book reflects on the beginning of the age of sexual freedom starting with the marketing of the Pill. The Pill had evidently a major impact on female sexuality. There was no fear of pregnancy any more. Motherhood became a choice. Women became more confident, more independent, and freer. The old socio-sexual order of women servicing men's physical needs was over at least in the Western world. The Pill also attacked the power of the Church, who commanded that women convert themselves into mere brood sows (H.L. Mencken). For the freedom movement, the State had no business legislating matters of personal conscience. It forced the Establishment (which controls the State) to liberalize the laws on contraception, divorce, abortion and homosexuality. But why has the sexual revolution globally failed? Why was it only `a Molotov cocktail thrown at the Establishment'? Why is the exploitation of women (rape, prostitution, slave labor, sexual dependency) still rampant and abortion still under threat? The human genes don't change in a few generations. As the author states, `women are attracted to power, men to youth and beauty'. Power is life. The average lifespan of `The People of the Abyss' (Jack London) (20th century) was 29 years. Youth and beauty (= health) are life, because they only can transmit one's genes. In a capitalist system power equals wealth, equals economic domination. The system is still marching on and is now embracing the whole world. Linda Grant's book reflects mainly on the `individual', not on broader socio-economic aspects of sexual freedom. Her female hero is Madonna, a most sympathetic, but only, an entertainer. A worth-while read.