Brave New World: Aldous Huxley's Sexual Attitudes

Comparing Sexual Attitudes in Brave New World to Today’s Society After reading Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World I was confounded by how accurate Huxley’s prediction of modern day sexual attitudes was. Huxley’s portrayal of Lenina Crowne is especially profound, because Lenina represents the exact opposite woman of Huxley’s time, but a woman that could be found in modern society. Lenina is a free spirted nurse who works in the hatchery, immunizing embryos. When Lenina is not at work she can be found hanging off the arm of the man she plans on taking home that night, probably high on soma. A similar type of sexual revolution has taken America by storm, starting in the 1960’s. Advances in contraceptives as well as birth control for women as opposed

According to Murstein “the length of skirts was standard at a few inches above the ground” (Murstein, 419) which speaks to just how important small facets of women’s lives were pertinent to their sexuality. Huxley’s description of Lenina’s jumpsuit would only be coming into style and acceptance at the time of him writing the book. Her clothing is first referenced while in the changing room, “pulling at her zippers—downwards on the jacket, downwards with a double-handed gesture at the two that held trousers” (Huxley, 42) noting that she was not wearing a skirt at all, which at the time was unheard of. According to Delores Monet’s article “Women’s Fashion During WWI: 1914 to 1920” women did not traditionally wear trousers throughout the era. Instead they opted for a long narrow skirt or dress. Monet says, “In 1915 hemlines rose

This is a direct reference to birth control pills that women of today take. Although Huxley was not perfectly accurate in the way in which he describes birth control, as “to be taken three times daily… Placentin: 5cc to be injected intravenally every third day” compared to a simple pill that is taken once daily or an IUD, or intrauterine device, which is placed into the uterus to release hormones that prevent an egg from being released by the ovary. Birth control was a leading cause of the sexual revolution, coming into popularity around the time of Brave New World’s writing. It was not legitimized, however, until the Supreme Court ruled that birth control could be prescribed in 1936, a few years after Brave New World was published. Once women had access to personal birth control they became apt to use it, with rates going up steadily until peaking in 1995 with 18.9 percent of women using at least the pill form, according to the Center for Disease