Was the Pill the Solution?

Historically, I identify the root of contemporary relativistic movements with the 1960’s, when many social taboos were ruptured in the advent of organised groups and certain advancements in medical science.

I submit that the removal of practical consequences directly linked to acts deemed immoral up until the discovery of the contraceptive pill have enabled the pursuit of those acts with greater impunity. This same impunity became the catalyst to a popularisation of immorality.

The rebelliousness of youth – using a new and very appealing social trend to affirm their independence before the previous generation – by and by took to the new practices. Then – having pursued “immorality” – when their offspring followed in their footsteps, they had no moral standing with which to admonish the practice. Through repetition, what was deemed immoral became common practice; thereby becoming normal in the fullness of time.

Yet the change is still incomplete. There remain undeniable ethical and practical complications relevant to human nature in the “normalised immorality.” Our change of demeanour has not changed our inbred emotional and physiological reactions. Emotional attachment and the physiological consequences associated with romantic and sexual involvement are still present. No matter how hard we try to turn our bodies into playgrounds, we are still human and we must learn to recognise that fact. Knowing ourselves, we must not forget how we have learned to restrain our more self-destructive urges. Morality and religion were responses to our darker side. They were tools to enable society to exist. We set them aside at our own peril.

To those who argue the pill brought the promise of freedom and bliss, I say we have enjoyed over fifty years of what the hedonist and utilitarian currents have proposed. Sexual freedom, anthropocentrism and ethical malleability have flourished and prospered all this time. Where is the incommensurable joy that should have resulted from it? Where is the brotherhood of man that would embrace a selfless existence of its own accord? It isn’t here. Quite the contrary, we’ve become selfish and heartless in our petty pursuits and pharmaceutical companies were the ones that prospered alongside abortion clinics.