The last two waves of feminism are rushing back out to sea, and the high-water mark of the first one is in danger. As we become more conservative, more pornified, and more heartless commodifiers of everything it won't get better any time soon.
With the resurgence of truly reactionary theocratic conservatism in the US there is more talk of "traditional values" which means less support for women's civil rights, less willingness to help them overcome the effects of discrimmination and more emphasis on making them some sort of 1950s fantasy Stepford Wives. We already see movements to help the poor oppressed boys because they are no longer ahead of girls academically. It's become fashionable to excuse women's lack of advancement in professions as their biological fault. And feminism has been so effectively smeared and slandered that many women whose actual positions are classic third-wave feminist are afraid to so identify.
Take a look at
How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America. It's not just about the abortion issue. There are strong currents at work to undo the more equitable relations between men and women, outlaw contraception, suppress women's sexuality entirely and go back to an era when men ruled their wives "as Christ rules the Church". There are no women at any point in their reproductive lives who remember a time when birth control wasn't available, when it was considered wrong for women to have sexual needs of their own or when most professions and full civil rights were barred to them by custom or law. The people who want to undo all of that have the ear of the White House and Congress and make government policy.
Now, I am not against porn or prostitution
per se. Legality, regulation and vicious penalties for coercion, abuse or human trafficking are about the best we can do. Besides, fantasies and arousal are basically Good Things(tm). And as long as it's illegal the women and children caught up in the trade are werewolf bait and can't go to the police when they are victims of violence or exploitation.
But there's more than that. With stripping mainstream - a local free weekly advertises poledancing aerobics for "everywoman" - and pr0n to suit any taste immediately available we are seeing a nearly unprecedented commodification of sexuality and plenty of education in unrealistic expectations and fairly nasty behavior for the impressionable. Much has been written by liberals and conservatives on the subject, and many of them are in surprising agreement. It filters down to teen and pre-teen girls. I've seen ten year olds playing at stripping moves. And I must admit to experiencing near physical pain at the shock. Pimps, the meanest form of semi-human life, lower than whale shit, are trendy. In my neighborhood it's not uncommon for boys to refer to girls as ho's and the girls to stand for it.
I won't risk melting the server by giving my opinions of sites like "Hot or Not" and their effects on the young and insecure.
Sex is good, and romance is over-rated, but if everything is reduced to a cold commercial transaction we've sacrificed one of the most precious and intimate parts of our humanity on the altar of The Dollar. We are infinitely poorer for it. If there isn't room for love the rest is just monkeys rubbing mucous membranes together. Poetry and song are the vehicles for expressing the deep desire to be special, to be someone's beloved and adored. Every girl has the right to be considered more than a hole for someone's penis.