(LifeSiteNews) — In the first chapter of my book How We Got Here: A Guide to Our Anti-Christian Culture, I provide an overview of the devastation wrought on the West by the Sexual Revolution. It is not simply true to say that our sexual economy is thoroughly sick; it is literally true. From Chapter 1:
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021 saw 1.6 million new chlamydial infections, 700,000 new cases of gonorrhea (a 28% increase since 2017), and 176,000 cases of syphilis (a 74% increase since 2017). The CDC now estimates that one in five Americans has a sexually transmitted disease—about 20% of the population, with a minimum estimate of $16 billion in direct medical costs annually. Research indicates that around one in seven Canadians ages 14 to 59 may have an STD, with 100,000 new cases of chlamydia reported annually. This trend is true across the West—England, for example, has experienced a 24% rise in STDs since 2021, a 50% rise in gonorrhea, and 392,453 new cases reported in 2022.
There are many good reasons to save sex for monogamous marriage, and for cultures to stigmatize sexual behaviour outside of marriage. But one of them is the barely reported story of the skyrocketing rates of STD infection. In fact, our sexual culture has become a breeding ground for new sexually transmitted diseases, including an uncurable STD called “genital herpes simplex virus (HSV)” types 1 and 2, which, according to a recent study from the British Medical Journals Sexually Transmitted Infections is at a global high.
According to a Fox News report, an estimated 846 million people between the ages of 15 and 49—one in five—had genital herpes in 2020. The World Health Organization estimates that someone contracts genital herpes every second, for a total of around 42 million people every year. Both Type 1 and Type 2 are incurably, lifelong, and can cause symptomatic genital ulcer disease (GUC). Researchers says that HSV-2 “almost always” causes genital infection, while HSV-1 usually causes oral infection, but can be sexually transmitted as well.
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According to the report: “The infection can lead to painful genital sores and blisters that typically recur in random episodes throughout life. In 2020, more than 200 million people in the same age group suffered at least one painful symptomatic episode, data shows. Not every case of HSV is symptomatic, which makes transmission more likely.” Researchers stated that the “high incidence and prevalence” of this incurable disease requires “new prevention and treatment measures,” but of course, monogamous marriage and chastity were not suggested solutions, but rather new vaccines.
“Symptomatic genital herpes imposes a substantial global burden, affecting 200 million people annually and incurring significant economic costs, estimated at $35 billion per year due to health care expenditures and productivity loss,” study co-author Laith Abu-Raddad told Fox News. “Addressing this pressing health challenge requires a fundamental solution. Developing a vaccine capable of protecting against HSV-1 and HSV-2, the viruses responsible for genital herpes, represents a pivotal step toward controlling this infection on a global scale.” He also observed that there is currently no cure for HSV, which can also be transmitted from mother to child during birth.
Anna Wald, professor of medicine, lab medicine, and epidemiology at the University of Washington concurred. “[A] cure is likely to require gene therapy, which is a potentially risky approach for a non-lethal disease,” Wald told Fox News. “So progress is slow as a result.” Wald suggested that the best health approach to the global spread of incurable to herpes is a “preventative vaccine”; again, there is no suggestion that perhaps a disease contracted through behaviour could be reduced through behaviour modification. In our post-Sexual Revolution culture, it is considered realistic to change the climate but unrealistic to suggest that people keep their pants on.
In the meantime, perhaps people might be willing to “follow the science,” as it were, and recognize that their sexual actions have real consequences.
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