Is Sexual Freedom Truly Free?

What is Sexual Freedom?  As defined by the Woodhull Foundation, “Sexual freedom is the fundamental human right to experience, express, and define one's sexuality, pleasure, and relationships without shame, guilt, coercion, or state restriction. It promotes autonomy over one's body and rejects rigid social, moral, or gendered norms, allowing individuals to dictate their own consensual sexual lives.”  

What is the Woodhull Foundation?

The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, also known as Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance, is an American non-profit organization founded in 2003 that advocates for sexual freedom as a fundamental human right.

It was named after a woman’s suffrage advocate - and 1872 candidate for President, Victoria Woodhull.  Born in the 1830’s, her father was a con man and a thief; her mother was an illiterate spirutalis.Victoria lived in squalor, was beaten and malnourished, and exploited and possibly sexually abused by her father. At 15, in order to escape her father’s brutality, Victoria eloped with a 28 yo  alcoholic doctor who fathered a son and daughter. After five years, Victoria left him and struck out on her own, working as a medium and clairvoyant.  It appears her experience radicalized her views on sexuality, relationships, and children, which eventually forced other defenders of the women's suffrage movement, such as Susan B Anthony - to distance themselves from her. 

Victoria preached a doctrine called “Free Love” that included the notion of marrying for love, as well as an easement of the divorce laws. 

This quote from Woodhull “ Sexual freedom means the abolition of prostitution both in and out of marriage, means the emancipation of woman and her coming into control of her own body, means the end of her pecuniary dependence on man, means the abrogation of forced pregnancy, of anti-natal murder of undesired children and the birth of love children only.

Today the Woodhull Foundation promotes all forms of sexual activity as a fundamental human right. 

3 of the patterns of sexual freedom:

1.    The lack of  “selectivity” among women: a lack of discrimination on who they choose to sleep with and an increase in “hook up” relationships. 

2.    The misuse of Plan B:  sometimes be the reason the women are pregnant.  

 3.    Consequences of promiscuity: women are significantly more likely to end up with an unexpected pregnancy, get an STI at a drastically higher percentage than men, and bear the long-term negative consequences of both of these.

Selectivity:

The birth control pill has been proven to change women’s taste in men. Scientific American, The National Institutes of Health and other well respected research outlets have reported several times on the impact of the birth control pill. Evolutionary Biologist Sarah Hill reports on studies that show that estrogen increases women’s preference for men who exhibit cues to the presence of relatively high levels of the male sex hormone, testosterone. The pill and other hormonal contraception keeps estrogen levels low, thereby suppressing those unconscious ways we women choose suitable mates.  The research also finds that women taking the pill reported less sexual attraction to their partners, less arousal than women not on the pill.  It has also been found that women who met their partners while on the pill and subsequently stopped taking it reported less marital satisfaction.  This is not true in all women, but was statistically shown to have an effect.

There are studies that have been done that show physical changes to the brain that occur when taking hormonal contraception – such as reduced inhibitions and lowered fear responses.  In a June of 2022 article in the Frontiers in Neuroscience a group of researchers used functional MRI technology to track the difference between brain function in a woman with a natural menstrual cycle vs a woman taking oral contraception. They saw visible differences in function in the prefrontal cortex and serotonin signaling areas in the brain.

 Misuse of Plan B.

Women who are sexually active continue to use Plan B as their method of birth control.  Plan B emergency contraceptives work is to delay ovulation, not stop it.  If the woman has already ovulated, it acts to deplete the lining of the uterus which can inhibit implantation of the fertilized embryo. 

In 2022 the FDA changed the wording on their Consumer Information Leaflet to say that that there is no direct effect on postovulatory processes. It can have an indirect effect that ends up with the same outcome. Abortion.  It also defines pregnancy as occurring after implantation in the uterine rather than at fertilization. 

Plan B contains a dose of progestin that is 10 times higher than the level in daily birth control. This huge dose of progestin causes more side effects such as headaches, menstrual changes, and it will significantly increase the risk of developing a blood clot in a vein in your body.

Sexually Transmitted Infections: 

Women are vastly more impacted by STIs than are men, and more likely to become infected.  Women have larger mucosal surface area, and sex can cause microlesions that contribute to women's greater vulnerability to STDs.

Women are told they have sexual freedom – and if you do get pregnant abortion is your answer. Sexual freedom is not enhancing the lives of women physically, psychologically, and emotionally. Our society says that we need abortion to “free” women and men from responsibility, to help them achieve their goals. But in our population, women are broken by a culture that says Sexual Freedom is right and empowering. 

What is true Freedom? 

The late Father Servais Pinckaer’s, O.P., a Belgian Dominican – wrote after the 1960’s 2nd Vatican Council and the start of the sexual revolution, descriptions of what he saw was the tale of two freedoms: Freedom for Excellence vs Freedom of Indifference.   Freedom for excellence is the classical view of freedom, which was the main view of freedom since the time of Plato and Aristotle.  It presupposes that man is naturally ordered to choose the good and so he has the capacity to act with excellence as he wishes. This freedom indicates that ultimately we all want what we perceive as good and use our free will to pursue that good.  It unites one’s actions into an ordered whole that more likely results in human flourishing and authentic human joy. It's the difference between a child freely banging on the piano and that same child receiving piano lessons and practicing so he or she can play a tune. 

By contrast, a relatively new idea, the freedom of indifference, posits that freedom is the ability to choose anything one wants, without limit or reason. We are free from restrictions and even responsibility – it is a freedom “from” and not a freedom “for”.   

Which freedom will lead to greater flourishing in the long run?