GEORGE JOCHNOWITZ
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In the industrialized West , these restrictIOns began to break
down even before the widespread availability of contraception. In
the late 1960s , a sexual revolution took place in the United States
and in much of Europe, clearly because the risk of unwanted
pregnancy had become greatly reduced . In addition, sexual free–
dom , accompanied by easy access to contraceptives, helped to con–
trol population growth: unmarried couples are unlikely to have
children. (Pregnancies among teenagers and the underclass are in–
creasing, but in a certain sense, these are people living outside of the
industrialized West.) Homosexual acts do not produce children . In a
modern society in which population growth is not desirable, sexual
freedom may be socially useful.
In a religious world , sin is sin, and few people associate sexual
freedom with population control. Therefore , fundamentalist nations
must look upon sexual freedom as evil. Yet the West is not only sex–
ually free, but also rich and powerful. Its movies spread its values
everywhere , and its comforts are tempting. Khomeini thinks of the
United States as the Great Satan. The wealth of American society
and the promise of pleasure offered by American personal freedom
threaten to undermine one of the most central religious prohibitions.
It is much harder to understand why communism is opposed to
sex. Leftists in noncommunist countries are likely to be much more
sexually liberated than their apolitical compatriots. The Soviet
Union went through a brief period of encouraging sexual freedom ,
but no longer does. In China, puritanism is strong. To a certain ex–
tent this is true because of traditional Chinese values, but it is the
consequence of Marxist suspiciousness of personal freedom.
China is desperately concerned about the size of its population .
It has embarked on a one-child policy. No one in China is aware that
there is a connection between the sexual liberation of the West and
its relatively low rate of population increase. Even if the awareness
were there, it would not make any difference , since China is a deter–
minedly antisexual society. Although Chairman Mao is dead and
the Cultural Revolution has ended, China still has not fully accepted
the idea that people should do as they wish .
I lived in Baoding , Hebei Province, China , for five months in
1984. I expected people to tell me that America has no freedom , that
our elections are rigged , our thoughts controlled by propaganda ,
and our liberties meaningless . I had heard such statements back
home, from Americans and from foreign students. But to my sur-
