Everyone knows about the sexual revolution of the 1960s, brought about by the liberal feminism movement. Albeit a radical movement of the time, it was not as radical as the first sexual revolution the world has ever seen. In this article, we shall briefly go through the first sexual revolution and then contrast it to that of the twentieth century.
Travelling back to the first century, the Romans were the most powerful in the world. As awful as it might sound to us now, men of affluence and power in the Roman Empire could have anything they desire sexually. No one has the right to question them for promiscuity, rape, abuse or homosexuality. Only women of eminence were barred from them. This was done to keep the bloodline of the family pure.
It was into this scene that Christianity made its entrance into. Both Jesus and His disciples taught of Christian sexual ethics that were contrary to the popular paradigm. For never in the history of mankind has anyone taught of closed monogamous heterosexual marriage regardless of their caste, creed, affluence and power. The Bible teaches that “each man must have his own wife and each woman her own husband”. Hitherto this movement, every affluent man had as many wives and concubines he could afford to maintain, whereas poor men would live in frustration of not having a woman to wife.
Never in the history of mankind before did women have dignity. In the former days, when the powerful men had their way, women were abused for the sexual pleasures of these men. They were neither valued nor honoured for their personhood – something which women usually seek after from men. The Bible teaches husbands to love their wives as “their own bodies”, and to honour them and give them the due affection.
Never in the history of mankind did anyone consider the cause of the weak. The God of the Bible is the God of the weak, the last and the harassed. He is the voice of the voiceless, and the strength of the weak; the protector of the orphans and the widows. He teaches the husbands to “dwell with them with understanding, giving honour to the wife.”
To say that the Christian sexual ethics stifled the freedom of women is a fallacy. On the other hand, to say that the Christian sexual ethics brought forward a radical change that profoundly impacted the destiny of the world is no inflated claim.
Perhaps, a comparison of the impacts of the first-century sexual revolution to that of the twentieth-century sexual revolution might prove the point:
| The First-century Sexual Revolution of the Christian Faith | The Twentieth-century Sexual Revolution of Liberal Feminism |
| Sexual restraint in all places, save within marital bonds | A total abandonment of sexual restraint, leading to promiscuous sexual behaviour |
| Closed monogamous heterosexual marriage | Open polyamorous promiscuous relationships |
| Protected boys, slaves, young girls and poor women from sexual abuse | Made boys, girls and poor women vulnerable to sexual abuse |
| Gave dignity to women as husbands were instructed to give due affection, honour and love to their wives. | Made poor women particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse via prostitution (as sex work is considered as work) |
| Gave sanctity, honour and stability to the institution of marriage | Destabilised familial bonds and desecrated the honour and sacredness of marriage |
| Brought stability to marriage, thereby reducing crime rates and aberrations in the society whilst increasing economic prosperity | Increased crime and aberrations in the society, and consequently led to the economic regression of the society |
