While my brief comment history will confirm that I completely agree with your analysis of Orwellian vs. Huxleyan dystopias, and agree completely about the greater relevance of Huxley's vision to our cultures, I'd nevertheless be reluctant to equate sexual liberation with Huxley's fears. You're absolutely right about his having written about sexual indulgence in that way, and about pleasure-seeking being the opiate that destroys his population's ability to reflect meaningfully on life; but there's something to be said for finding the best expression of human nature and removing its impediments too. Pleasure corrupts, but so does frustration and repression.
What's to be desired is a culture that educates its individuals about how to safely and virtuously find their own happiness with a minimum of self-indulgent excess or Victorian hand-wringing. A more sexually liberated culture isn't necessarily a step in the wrong direction, though the pendulum could certainly swing too far.
What's to be desired is a culture that educates its individuals about how to safely and virtuously find their own happiness with a minimum of self-indulgent excess or Victorian hand-wringing. A more sexually liberated culture isn't necessarily a step in the wrong direction, though the pendulum could certainly swing too far.