How Today’s Sex-Related Behavior is Distinguished from that of Other Times

   How sex is expressed or dealt with varies considerably from one time and place to another. I am sure that a huge number of books have been written on the subject—all unread by me. If some historian to more of them have already characterized and described that entire scene in contemporary U.S. I haven’t seen it, but I have read enough to have in idea as to some of the goings-on that will be among its ingredients. So herewith some traits that should appear in a characterization of the current scene. Call the forthcoming some remarks for an historian of current sex-related behavior.

     Perhaps the most notable trait is that women are speaking up. Not very long ago they suffered or gloated in silence, leaving it to a few mostly educated women to speak and write for a much larger number. What they are speaking about is what men do to them that is unwanted—from “mere”talk to rape. Men can no longer rely on a response that is limited to suffering in silence.

   In some ways the behavior of men is similar: they are speaking up; about their wrongful treatment of women in their  past. Nor are these reports limited to confessions; there seem to be plenty of third-person reports about male sexual transgressions.

   So far I have pointed to talk—talk you hear now of which you heard little until recently. But there are also actions. Organizations are getting rid of people with recently revealed dubious records. Levine is no longer at the Met: an amazing jump from Before to After. There’s much more to be said, but I leave that to you.