The sexual revolution enslaved us — here's how we break free

The sexual revolution promised liberation and fulfillment. Women were told that casting off sexual restraint would bring empowerment. But now, decades downstream from its launch, the promises ring hollow.

Unbridled sex isn’t delivering freedom — it’s deepening bondage.

Pornography and casual sex will never satisfy. But grace is available for those who believed the lies.

As it turns out, human beings are more than pleasure machines wired through the nerve endings of our genitals. We are more than dopamine-driven robots. We are embodied souls — created by God, endowed with dignity, purpose, and the need for boundaries.

Yet our culture’s sexualization continues at breakneck speed.

Access to pornography has never been easier. Research suggests that 30% to 65% of teenagers have been exposed to online porn — most accidentally. A report from Brigham Young University found that roughly 12% of all websites host pornographic content.

Meanwhile, the rise and normalization of platforms like OnlyFans showcase and glamorize pornography, rebranding prostitution as “sex work” — the new socially acceptable euphemism. These online “stars” feed the demand of 305 million users, racking up over $10 billion in gross transactions — pun very much intended.

But the shine is fading — and not just among traditional critics.

The data is clear

A recent article titled “The Delusion of Porn’s Harmlessness” in the New York Times offers a revealing glimpse. The author, while careful to avoid “sex shaming,” couldn’t ignore the harms. She described the rise of “porn-trained behaviors” among Gen Z: Choking, slapping, and spitting during sex. These are learned behaviors.

An entire generation has been catechized by the tutor of the porn industry. A report indicated that 79% of teens who have watched pornography believed it has helped them learn how to have sex. When porn forms our instincts, abuse masquerades as desire.

As our culture drifts farther from monogamy, covenant, intimacy, and the procreation purpose of sex, we find ourselves increasingly fragmented and sexually broken.

The harm is real

One of the most disturbing and revealing illustrations of this trend came from a social media stunt by Lily Phillips, a young woman who makes her living on OnlyFans. She recorded herself sleeping with 100 men in a single day — for content. What followed was not a celebration and definitely not empowerment, but a sobering breakdown.

She cried. She described feeling “robotic,” disconnected, and hollow. She was shattered.

Her tears trace back to a root far deeper than fatigue or regret. They point to the soul’s protest. We were not made for sex severed from love, trust, and covenant. Humans are not just sex-driven beasts. We are made in the image of God. We are body and soul, inseparably bound.

Sex is profoundly spiritual. Though it occurs in the flesh, it reaches into the soul. It doesn’t simply join us physically to the other person, but spiritually as well (1 Corinthians 6:16). When we transgress God’s design, we don’t just sin with our bodies — we entangle our souls in shame and bondage that can’t be numbed or ignored.

This is why sexual sin wounds us in ways others sins often do not.

The apostle Paul warned in Romans 1:18 that sinners “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” That’s what’s happening. We push down truth to avoid reckoning with its demands on us. We’d rather bury the guilt, ignore the shame, and pretend everything’s fine.

Lily Phillips, despite her tears, hasn’t rejected the lies of the sexual revolution. She’s still clinging to them, even as they leave her in pieces. There are many like her.

The truth is freedom

Unfortunately, those lies continue to spread. For decades, the cultural narrative has insisted that the church is sexually repressive and anti-sex. Why? Because it poses a threat to the prevailing narrative.

But data paints a different picture. In fact, regular churchgoers report the most frequent and satisfying sex lives in America. Sex within the covenant of marriage — between a man and a woman — isn’t just moral. It’s joyful. It’s free from guilt and shame. It’s good. Maybe that’s why church-attending married couples are having more sex.

There is a better way than the world offers. It’s not repression of our sexual desires — it’s redirection. It’s not shame — it’s sanctity.

As Christians, we must resist the temptations surrounding us on every screen and scroll. We must see how broken the porn industry is — and how broken it makes those who produce and consume it. Pornography and casual sex will never satisfy. But grace is available for those who believed the lies. Forgiveness is offered. Healing is possible. Through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, there is restoration — for the consumer and the creator alike.

The sexual revolution promised the world liberation — but left us groaning as slaves. Only Christ breaks the chains.