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Pope Paul VI, Sexual Harassment, and the Pill: Maybe We Should Have Listened
Really want to rile things up at this year’s Christmas party? Bring up Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae. That’s the one in which Paul VI shot down the hope that sex was nothing more than a whole lot of fun. He said no to artificial contraception. So be warned. By the time the discussion is over the guests at the holiday bash may want to kill you.
Humanae Vitae is the ultimate offense against the sexual revolution. The Pope declared (can you believe this guy?) that artificial contraception is an offense against God and the laws of nature; that the use of the pill is intrinsically evil, and the result of such means will be the utter collapse of virtually all moral standards.
What a kook.
Except maybe the Pope had it right. At least it kind of feels that way in light of the daily revelations of sexual abuse. It’s almost become a cliché to say that powerful men are forcing women to give it up and shut-up. As the stories go on ad nauseam—and in nauseating detail—it’s worthwhile to ask how we got to this low estate.
Sexual harassment is nothing new, of course. The Book of Genesis tells of powerful men forcing themselves on women:
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4).
Sound familiar? Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, John Conyers, and countless other men in high places now stand accused of using their power to satisfy their overweening (and bizarre, or used to be) sexual appetites. It’s becoming so regular a feature of the news cycle that it’s almost impossible to watch the news or read the newspaper without having a vomit bag at the ready.
But there’s something particularly vile about the stuff coming out these days. Mona Charen has it right:
…sexual harassment has become grosser than it was a few decades ago. I know of a few women who faced harassment in the 1970s and 1980s (myself included), but honestly, it was practically as polite as a Victorian drawing room compared with the stories we are hearing now about Louis C.K. or Harvey Weinstein or Mark Halperin. Womanizers used to at least make an effort at seduction. Now they seem to act out repellent narratives from porn movies.
I’ve never watched “Mad Men,” but I gather from my wife’s description that the mad men are interested in, you know, actually sleeping with women. They manipulate women but don’t manipulate themselves in front of women. Today’s harassment isn’t Don Draper’s old-fashioned sexual dilly-dallying. These days, onanism in front of the ladies is the source of real satisfaction, calculated to degrade. Weinstein and company don’t even see the women in front of them. Instead, it’s teenage Playboy stuff. For the Harvey Weinstein sort of sexual abuser, actual women are nothing more than breathing dirty pictures–and as easily thrown away. Matt Lauer’s bag of sex toys is the same thing: the focus is on the machine, something inhuman. The women are no more than a techno-tool for base gratification.
Needless to say, there isn’t much romance here.
Paul VI saw the train wreck coming. He warned that artificial contraception would ultimately lead to utter dehumanization of women:
- Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.
The essence of Paul VI’s reasoning lies in his understanding that everything in creation has a final cause, which can be loosely defined as a “purpose.” To forget this, to elevate secondary causes like pleasure above the final cause, generally won’t end well. The final cause of a gun is to kill. We forget that at our peril. It’s a remarkably bad idea to juggle a half-dozen six-shooters in front of a live audience. Just ask the audience.
Sex has a final cause too. It’s how people make babies (I hope that’s obvious). Set the babies aside, encourage a sexual free-for-all, and see where that gets you: Abortion, STDs, and Kevin Spacey, to name just a few of the many delights of never having to say no.
Paul VI was vilified for his defense of truth and the lessons of sin. He was arguably the most reviled Pope of the 20th century. But nowadays he sounds more like a prophet than a spoilsport. I would argue that the Blessed Pope was the greatest Vicar of the 20th Century. John Paul II is rightly beloved, but he was also widely admired. Paul VI was scorned, but things have a way of bursting out all over when reality exposes consequences. Over the years I’ve heard many Catholic intellectuals describe Paul VI as a weak Pope. Yeah, right. Maybe they should take note of his enormous courage in reaffirming ancient Church teaching against near absolute opposition. Paul VI had Hemingway’s grace under fire–guts.
I’m not trying to convert anybody here, but the truth is that the Catholic Church has a genius for understanding human nature. She understands that men are driven to seek pleasure and avoid pain–often to the point of catastrophe. As Paul VI explained, human beings require external restraints to help them to reach true happiness. Absent limits, the average human being is liable to sink into utter depravity. To paraphrase Jack Kemp, if you want more of something, make it free.
But don’t be surprised when the gift giver turns out to be one of those Greek guys.
Published in General
The pill also causes catastrophic anthropogenic global warming. Or it would, if there was such a thing as catastrophic anthropogenic global warming.
It all happened too fast. With the sixties generation’s dominating numbers, their peer dominated self absorption, the war, and the breakdown of college administrations because of their anti war sympathy we didn’t integrate contraception technology with what we knew about man, community and civilization. Everything the Church said would happen and which was laughed at, has happened and gradually welcomed and most of it has not advanced the human condition. So now what?
It takes two to tango.
If you’ll note, I only wandered up to the edge of that chasm with the most generic possible discussion of the activities in question.
I’m going to be satisfied to say that nobody can point out any measurable harm which could possible come to my wife as a result of this decision. Life, as always is a series of tradeoffs which have to be assessed. In this situation, any costs are so small in relation to the benefits as to make the question only live to the most picayune theologian.
So it’s divine intervention…. not something that can be rationally explained. One wonders why God would give us Perv’s in the first place….
If sex is always consensual is there any objectifying going on?
exactly right….
I don’t accept the assertion that women are devalued or objectified more today than in the past.
Sure. Consensual sex doesn’t preclude objectification.
Ummm that was the lunar landing…. stepping foot on the moon has doomed us all…
if it’s consensual sex is mutual objectification objectionable?
So, I’ll be the one to say that the pill isn’t always a horrible thing, and can be a cheap and convenient way to treat stuff aside from fertility.
At first I resisted being put on the pill to treat perimenstrual asthma, because I wasn’t sexually active and didn’t intend to become so before marriage, and I didn’t want the pill to serve as stumbling block for my intentions. Eventually I decided to try it, though, and I’m glad I did. And no, it wasn’t a stumbling block for my intentions. It just meant better control of asthma, migraines, etc.
Because, let’s be honest, it’s more important to Dame Nature that females between menarche and menopause be fertile human beings than that they be functional human beings. As far as nature’s concerned, fertile women are pods, husks, discardable as long as they’re pumping out the babies. Nature is cruel like that. But civilized people rise above nature.
Not by me. It’s up to the couple to decide how objectionable the objectification is.
Being on birth control didn’t make you treat sex any differently? Amazing… or not…
Actually this debate, as first laid out by the OP, isn’t about the pill specifically, but artificial contraception generally.
The pill has often been singled out specifically, though, and appears to get no exception to being intrinsically evil, no matter how it’s used.
Any institution that has been around for 2,000 years is bound to produce it’s share of scoundrels as well as saint’s. the United States has only been around for 242 years, and we seem to have produced our fair of share of scoundrels as well. In 2,000 years the Church has seen empires rise and fall, governments come and go, and it has seen that human nature has been remarkably consistent throughout this time.
The Enlightenment, which worshiped man eventually substituted bread and wine for human sacrifice. There was no need for priests when men became gods. Millions upon millions lost their lives in warfare and behind the wire. Over 55 million in the United States have been slaughtered before they could leave the womb. In the 300 year history of the Inquisition 3,000 people lost their lives, and that is nothing be proud of, but the Enlightened man has been more ambitious.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
I admire Pope John Paul II very much. But I don’t think the pill in and of itself is to blame for the vulgarity of interactions between men and women over the last fifty years. I would put the blame on the mass media–and I include everything in that bundle from the newspapers to the book publishers to the Internet website makers and the movie and television studios.
Marketers are always trying to find the one thing that so many human beings have in common that the market for their products is unlimited. They found it. And, wow, are they good at exploiting this market. They absolutely know what they are doing.
What’s different today from fifty years ago is that we are surrounded by vulgarity almost all the time. Fifty years ago, a person had to go out of his or her way to find such a milieu. Today, a person has to go out of his or her way to get away from it.
@mikerapkoch: do you believe that America now has a “rape culture” caused by contraception? You never used those words, but it does sound to me like that is what you are arguing. Could you provide some clarity here?
The RC church does not condemn the use of hormone treatments for non-contraceptive purposes, even if contraception is a side effect. In much the same way that the church doesn’t condemn lethal force in self-defense, even though someone may die as a result. The pill was a necessary and morally appropriate treatment for some women in my extended family, though we tend to be on the more orthodox side of Catholicism.
Thanks. I have heard mixed messages on this.
Mike, your post represents a crisp, gutsy statement of something that needs to be stated–again and again.
And I’m with you. The more I ponder the pressures Paul VI faced, and the grace and courage he displayed, the more deeply I find myself respecting him. The Church may have yet to make a formal declaration of this, but the man was a saint.
Thank you Peter. Paul VI was beatified by Pope Francis in 2014. I pray that he will soon be canonized. If I needed a miracle, I’d seek Paul VI’s intercession.
I think the word you’re looking for is “revelation”, not intervention. And Aaron offered you a rational, Aristotelian explanation. Try reading the posts.
Isn’t the birth control debate similar to the gun control debate? They are a danger to society so government must decide who has access to them. Never mind that most people are responsible users….
Mike, excellent post. Thanks. Very interesting and lots of food for thought.
With subjects like this I always like to note that Bill Buckley talked about the many lost causes of the last 70 years. He says that when NR was first started they were arguing intensely against no-fault divorce — that ship has sailed and so he had to give up on the subject to handle more immediate crises of the day against the barbarians.
I think no-fault divorce is all of a piece with your subject.
Great comments here. Thanks for an interesting morning.
Completely agree Larry. Thanks.
Don’t be silly, everybody knows {COC}.