Commenter “H” passes along a quote from J. D. Unwin,
CH have you heard of J. D. Unwin? From wikipedia page: In Sex and Culture (1934), Unwin studied 80 primitive tribes and 6 known civilizations through 5,000 years of history and found a positive correlation between the cultural achievement of a people and the sexual restraint they observe….According to Unwin, after a nation becomes prosperous it becomes increasingly liberal with regard to sexual morality and as a result loses it cohesion, its impetus and its purpose. The process, says the author, is irreversible:
“The whole of human history does not contain a single instance of a group becoming civilized unless it has been absolutely monogamous, nor is there any example of a group retaining its culture after it has adopted less rigorous customs.”
Unleashed female sexuality is great fun… while poolside lasts. But then a price must be paid, and that price is nothing less than civilization. Why are women primarily to blame? Because as the sexual gatekeepers, their lack of restraint is more destabilizing to societal prosperity. The female sex is, despite cultural pabulum to the contrary, the wilder sex.
Tragically (and this is one instance when the word tragic correctly applies), it would seem shining civilizations are doomed to eat and screw themselves to oblivion. Restraint — i.e., devotion to the gods of the copybook headings — leads to prosperity. Prosperity leads to liberality. Liberality leads to disintegration.
One can as successfully stop this civilizational cycle as one can stop the cycle of tides. So, you may as well clink a glass and enjoy the time you’ve got here.
