Gert Hekma: Shouldn't we keep the sixties' desire for self-determination?

[Interviewer:] The sexual revolution seems to have a bad reputation these days. High divorce rates, pedophilia in the Catholic Church... Are we living in a new age of conservatism and have the attitudes towards the meaning of the sexual revolution changed?
[Gert Hekma:] Moral conservatism is growing in some places, but not as a general trend. In the fifties and sixties, the idea that sexual desire should respect equality was revolutionary. Before, social differences were accepted as the motor of desire: between male and female, effeminate gays and heterosexual men, straight trade, butch lesbians and straight femmes, rich and poor, old and young, client and prostitute, across racial borders. They were all unequal relationships. It's generally accepted that the demand for sexual equality is a result of the sexual revolution. So equal gay and lesbian couples are now celebrated, but unequal sexual relations are being demonized: pedophilia, bestiality, prostitution, SM, traditional heterosexual relations wherein the male is dominant and the female dependent. The conservatism shows itself in how people view the sexuality of children (they should remain innocent, sex is a risk and children should be protected - for example in regards to the internet) or in sexual and gender variations (often seen as "weird"). In the sixties, the goal was sexual self-determination (also for youngsters) and there was strong critique of traditional institutions that imposed their morality: family, school, law and police, psychiatry, religion and so on. People wanted to decide for themselves. Marriage and family were sexist for feminists and homophobic for LGBTs. People sought "individualization". Now, LGBTs often embrace marriage and many want to go into the army and church. So quite a shift. The critique of the sexual revolution is that we have “gone too far” and taken too many liberties, essentially becoming egocentric loudmouths. That may be true, but shouldn't a free society allow us all to decide for ourselves? Shouldn't we keep the sixties' desire for self-determination?

source: 'Interview with the author Gert Hekma' by Gordan Duhaček; speakeasy.nl/abc-perversions/; Ebook: ABC of Perversions; Interview: March 2013