Interesting Times with Ross Douthat

Is it Time for a New Sexual Revolution?

June 25, 2026·55 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

The growing alienation between men and women is, to my mind, one of the biggest stories of our time. It’s warping our politics and culture through the rise of misogynistic influencers on the right and a growing sense of feminist despair on the left. My guest this week believes that our problems today can be traced back to the sexual revolution. She argues that it reset relations between the sexes in a fundamentally negative way and ultimately benefited men. Louise Perry is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal’s Free Expression section and the author of “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution.” 0:00 - Intro 01:28 - “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution" 16:20 - What is reactionary feminism? 21:30 - The effects of the digital revolution on men and women 30:29 -  The tradwife phenomenon 34:58 - What about premarital sex? 43:38 - Can female emancipation and sexual restraint coexist? (A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com. Please subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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