Sexuality Stack Exchange Archive

Why is the approach to sexuality so different between Europeans and North-Americans?

I live in Austria, in the heart of Europe (in its capital city Vienna), and I was shocked to read in this question that obviously prostitution is illegal in the United States (except one state) and in Canada.

Prostitution

Where I live (Austria, but the situation is the same in Germany and many other European countries), prostitution is legal. There are lots of brothels in Vienna (approximately 100, five of them in the noble inner city-district, one of those in the same block as “Palais Coburg”, the hotel, where some weeks ago US foreign minister John Kerry met Iranian Politicians to talk about the Iranian nuclear strategy). And the prostitutes have places (in the outer districts) where they are allowed by the city government to stand on the street to get picked up by their clients.

Prostitutes have a special document, where it is reported when they visited the medical officer (they need to visit a medical officer once a week), and this document is checked by police routinely.

If you are 18 years old, you legally can work as a prostitute (in Switzerland you can do it from the age of 16, but until you are 18, you need a paper with a permission signed by your parents). All you have to do is to apply for this document. You will be checked by a medical officer, and if you are healthy, you can legally earn money for offering sex.

Sex shops - In every bigger shopping center, there is at least one sex shop. In Vienna’s best known shopping-street (Mariahilferstraße), there are two sex shops (it was four some years ago), and the biggest (“sexworld spartacus”) has two big floors where you can buy any sextoy that you can think of, as well as thousands of porn DVDs and magazines, and it has a porn-cinema with a gay cruising area included.

Age of consent - Or take the age of consent (the age of a person that makes it legal for its partner to have sex together). Where I live, it is 14 (it was 12 in most parts of Europe before the 1970ies), but in the USA it is 16, 17 or 18.

Nudist areas - I give you another example, that from Europe’s point of view not really has to do with sexuality, but seems to be linked very strongly to sexuality in North-America: Nudist areas

I’ve heard, that in the United states nudist areas are rare, and that they build high fences around nudist areas (I’ve never been there, people just told me) and that you must be over 18 to be allowed to enter those areas (which means, that there is someone who checks your ID-card).

Through my hometown Vienna flows the river Danube and lots of ships sail on it. In the region of Vienna, this river is split into two riverbeds with an island in-between, that is 21 km long and between 50 and 300 m wide. And at the south-east end of this island is a nudist area, and also on the banks opposite of this part of the island.

But there is no fence, and no age-control. There are just the letters “FKK” written on the street, that mark the border of the nudist area:

Border of a nudist area in Vienna
FKK is an abbrivation for “Freikörperkultur”, with is German and literally means “free body culture”. It is the usual German term for being naked in nudist areas.

Some years ago, I was riding together with some friends, among them a couple from the USA, on bikes along the beautiful bank of the river danube, and so we inevitably had to drive 5 or 6 km through the nudist area, and my American friends couldn’t believe all the naked people sunbathing there. They told me something like this never could exist in the United States.

Censoring in newspapers - These differences are best visualized by a story of a Swiss parliamentarian worker who posted nude selfies online. American and European newspapers used the same pic for their stories, but look what they censored (left: Europe, right: USA):

Same pic in American and European newspapers Here are the original Stories (including the same picture):

Why? - But why is this? Why are Europe and USA so different in everything that has to do with sexuality? What are the historic reasons?

Both regions have similar values in other things. When watching the United States from the European point of view, you see a modern country with highly qualified scientists and the world’s best universities, but Americans are dealing with sexuality in a manner, that - measured by European standards - looks somewhat medieval. We Europeans would expect laws that prohibit prostitution in countries where religion is strongly connected with politics, like in Islamic countries, or non-democratic countries where the people is used to be suppressed by their leaders, like Russia or China. (To stay precise: Russia has democracy, but it does not meet Western standards.)

Why is the United States so prudish (compared to Europe)? Why is Europe so open minded (compared to the USA)?

Answer 360

TLDR; America was colonized by Europeans, yes, but in large part, not by “average” Europeans, but rather by “ultra” conservative Europeans with a moral ax to grind.

A full understanding of the differences between American and European sexual attitudes is impossible to address here–perhaps anywhere.

But a very superficial understanding of the differences is quite possible.

As mentioned in the question, American culture was found primarily by Europeans. But it’s important to remember why these Europeans left Europe. Surely there were a plethora of reasons, but one reason in particular stands out as relevant to this discussion: Religious freedom.

A large number of religious groups emigrated to America over the course of several hundred years, often for the purpose of experiencing greater “religious freedom.” How this “religious freedom” was anticipated and/or played out varied according to each group. But one prominent example still holds sway, by legacy, over much of American society: The Puritans.

The Puritans “sought to reform the Church of England by creating a new, pure church in the New World.”1. Massachusetts, New Haven, Saybrook, and Connecticut colonies were all founded by Puritans (New Haven and Saybrook were latere absorbed into Connecticut).

Puritans “hoped this new land would serve as a “redeemer nation”. They fled England and in America attempted to create a “nation of saints” or a “City upon a Hill”: an intensely religious, thoroughly righteous community designed to be an example for all of Europe”

Puritan hegemony lasted for at least a century2, but its indirect influence is still felt today in American culture and politics.

Quakers also played a significant role in early American colonization, and had significant influence in Pennsylvania (founded by Quaker William Penn), and Rhode Island. (Interestingly, the Quakers fled to the US to avoid Puritan persecution in Europe, only to initially find resistance in the Americas as well, but that’s another story…)

Many other religious groups came in large groups to the Americas, and later to the US, through at least the late 1800s3 to experience what they perceived as greater religious freedom, or to escape persecution and/or moral depravity.

All of this to say: America was, in large part, colonized by Europeans who were not happy with the status quo of European life. On average, their views on many things were more strict (or “conservative”) than the general population in Europe.

This religious fervor, and the moral views that accompany it, naturally had a large and lasting impact. The campaign in the 1920s and 30s leading to the 18th amendment to the US constitution prohibiting alcohol was spearheaded by religious people who viewed alcohol as immoral (or at the very least as a sign of immorality). And to this day, a large portion of US Christians refuse to drink and actively shame those who do.

Today Evangelical Christians, the Religious Right, and other formal and informal coalitions of conservative Christians have a very strong hold on certain aspects of society and politics. This naturally extends to attitudes toward sexuality, nudity, etc.

America has a long legacy of being morally restrictive and “conservative,” and while those attitudes are changing, changing such ingrained attitudes is naturally slow. In a way, America is (by its own intention and design, in large part), several hundred years behind Europe in overcoming Victorian morality standards.

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