5 Countries That Do It Better: How Sexual Prudery Makes America a Less Healthy and Happy Place

Sexual attitudes in Europe are the stuff of the Christian Right’s nightmares — yet many of those societies are better for having more open attitudes toward sexuality.

To extreme social conservatives of the far right, the word prude is not an insult — it’s a badge of honor. Prudes, they would argue, should be upheld as exemplary role models because a sexually repressive society is also a society with fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer sexually transmitted diseases. But not only do the facts not bear that out, they also demonstrate that the exact opposite is true. Countries that embrace many of the things social conservatives detest (comprehensive sex education, pro-gay legislation, nude or topless beaches, legal or decriminalized prostitution, adult entertainment) tend to be countries that have less sexual dysfunction than the United States, not more. And when one compares sexual attitudes in the United States to sexual attitudes in Western Europe, it becomes evident that there is a strong correlation between social conservatism and higher rates of teen pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases.

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