Ronald Reagan and Sexual Shame

No, it's not a graduate seminar by -- or about -- Peggy Noonan. It's the subject of a Sully post about his hero, Ronald Reagan. Sully finds this gem in St. Ronnie's Epistle to Penthouse Forum a comely young widow woman in Dixon, IL.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I oppose the dogmas of some organized religions who accept marital relationship only as a "tolerated" sin for the purpose of conceiving children and who believe all children to be born in sin. My personal belief is that God couldn't create evil so the desires he planted in us are good and the physical relationship between a man and woman is the highest form of companionship ...

Ooohh.... what a free-thinker. Marital sex between a man and woman for purposes other than procreation isn't bad.

According to Sully, Reagan's swingin' missive is "particularly embarrassing to the scolds who have come to monopolize much of the discussion of sex in conservative circles." It also reveals Ronnie's "candor about how damaging sexual shame and guilt can be."

I'm skeptical that Ronald Reagan felt much sexual shame when he was banging young women whose names he couldn't recall. Maybe Sully's talking about the sexual shame Reagan felt which kept him from addressing the AIDS epidemic and/or doing anything about it.