By Carlos Flores
In early April I had the opportunity to attend the Stanford Anscombe Society’s excellent conference, Facing History: The Legacy of the Sexual Revolution. Though a Stanford LGBT student activist group presented the Stanford Anscombe Society with some difficulties in organizing the conference, the event went through without a problem.
Upon arriving I had an opportunity to meet the bold members of the Stanford Anscombe Society as well as students who had travelled form virtually all parts of California to attend the conference. I found that establishing relationships with these other like-minded college students was a very valuable experience. And, as I had expected, the talks given at the conference were excellent and inspiring.
Particularly eye-opening and concerning was Mrs. Jennifer Lahl’s talk on surrogacy and egg donation. Mrs. Lahl explained in saddening detail how so-called reproductive service providers trick women through false advertising and prospects of financial gain into letting them use their bodies to intentionally create human life for the purposes of buying and selling – as one might buy or sell a dog or cat. The injustice that inheres in surrogacy and egg-donation, Mrs. Lahl noted, manifests itself not just against women, who are used as instruments and incubators, but also against the embryos and children that are created from such surgical procedures, who are either destroyed or created with the intention of being separated from their biological mother and father to whom they have a deep and inexplicably important attachment.
Insightful as well was Dr. Jason Caroll’s presentation. Dr. Carroll made a convincing case that the prevailing platitudes about relationships and marriage—particularly the “test drive” analogy as regards pre-marital sex—are demonstratively false and, in fact, counterproductive to the very goals that they claim to facilitate.
Particularly moving was Dr. William Hurlbut’s speech. Dr. Hurlbut recalled with somber remorse the advancement of the sexual revolution that he witnessed first-hand as an undergraduate at Stanford during the Sexual Revolution. Dr. Hurlbut observed how strange it was for him to witness people celebrating and exalting a device—the contraception pill—that impeded the proper functioning of women’s bodies. In addition to this, Dr. Hurlbut provided a haunting recollection of his experience seeing an abortion first-hand. During this procedure, Dr. Hurlbut explained how a medical doctor asked him to open his hands only to then place the remains of an unborn child in them. You could hear and feel the ache in Dr. Hurlbut’s voice and, in turn, in the audience.
Perhaps the most unfortunate thing about the sexual revolution is that everyone seems so unwilling to talk about it, much less to subject it to scrutiny. This is unfortunate because the effects of the sexual revolution have been vast. In many cases, these effects have been utterly pernicious and inhumane. This is why conferences like Facing History: The Legacy of the Sexual Revolution are so important. It is voices, anecdotes and arguments like those of Mrs. Lahl, Dr. Carroll, and Dr. Hurlbut that we must pay attention to and deeply ponder, and that we must urge others, particularly partisans of the sexual revolution, to consider. We owe it to them and to future generations to do so. The policies and social norms that we put in place today will have marked consequences for everyone who comes after us.
Carlos Flores, a junior at the University of California – Santa Barbara, is a philosophy major and founder of the UCSB Anscombe Society.
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