Frank Bruni, the New York Times ’ first openly homosexual columnist, has written a surprising piece entitled “ The Bleaker Sex ,” in which he laments the emotional and physical damages many women experience as a result of embracing the “awkward emotional fit” of so-called sexual empowerment:
You watch these scenes and other examples of the zeitgeist-y, early-20s heroines of “Girls” engaging in, recoiling from, mulling and mourning sex, and you think: Gloria Steinem went to the barricades for this? Salaries may be better than in decades past and the cabinet and Congress less choked with testosterone. But in the bedroom? What’s happening there remains something of a muddle, if not something of a mess . . . Are young women who think that they should be more like men willing themselves into a casual attitude toward sex that’s an awkward emotional fit?
Charles Camosy at Catholic Moral Theology finds Bruni’s analysis uniquely important, considering his moral commitments:
Happily (and somewhat shockingly) the secular media continue to provide Bruni with huge, friendly platforms for his message about the hook up culture and women . . . Until recently, those who would draw attention to the kind of harm this attitude brings our culture (and particularly to women and girls), have been thought to be conservative fuddy-duddies; people who just need to find something to do besides being a bedroom cop.
Read more here .
Of Roots and Adventures
I have lived in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia (twice), Pennsylvania, Alabama (also twice), England, and Idaho. I left…
Our Most Popular Articles of 2025
It’s been a big year for First Things. Our website was completely redesigned, and stories like the…
Our Year in Film & Television—2025
First Things editors and writers share the most memorable films and TV shows they watched this year.…