Aging Sex Icon Raquel Welch: Contraceptives Shattered Marriage, the 'Cornerstone of Civilization'

Life Site News ^ | May 12, 2010 | Kathleen Gilbert

[GonzoII]

Wednesday May 12, 2010

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Aging Sex Icon Raquel Welch: Contraceptives Shattered Marriage, the 'Cornerstone of Civilization'

By Kathleen Gilbert

May 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Once hailed as the female sex symbol Playboy deemed the "Most Desired Woman" of the 1970s, actress Raquel Welch has now taken a more critical look at the contraceptive revolution during which she shot to stardom. In a recent column for CNN, Welch rejoices in the experience of pregnancy, and laments the havoc that the free-sex ethos has wreaked on marriage and family life.

Welch opens her column by noting that, after Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger opened America's first "family-planning clinic" in 1916," "nothing would be the same again."

"Since then the growing proliferation of birth control methods has had an awesome effect on both sexes and led to a sea change in moral values," she wrote. "And as I've grown older over the past five decades -- from 1960 to 2010 -- and lived through this revolutionary period in female sexuality, I've seen how it has altered American society -- for better or worse."

Welch counters the notion that career-minded women must avoid pregnancy at all cost, reflecting favorably on her decision to keep her children - and crediting the pregnancy experience for helping her "realize that this process was not about me." "I was just a spectator to the metamorphosis that was happening inside my womb so that another life could be born. It came down to an act of self-sacrifice, especially for me, as a woman."

While Welch praises the morning-after poll for allowing women to delay childbearing until after establishing a career, she criticizes its separation of sex from its natural consequence - the responsibility of childbearing.

"These days, nobody seems able to 'keep it in their pants' or honor a commitment!" Welch laments - which, as she points out, has led some to question whether marriage is still a "viable option."

In response, says the former Playboy covergirl: "I'm ashamed to admit that I myself have been married four times, and yet I still feel that it is the cornerstone of civilization, an essential institution that stabilizes society, provides a sanctuary for children and saves us from anarchy.

"In stark contrast, a lack of sexual inhibitions, or as some call it, 'sexual freedom,' has taken the caution and discernment out of choosing a sexual partner, which used to be the equivalent of choosing a life partner," she continues. "Without a commitment, the trust and loyalty between couples of childbearing age is missing, and obviously leads to incidents of infidelity. No one seems immune."

Welch describes the horror of her fellow members of the free-sex generation who, now parents themselves, realized the consequences that the contraceptive culture had brought upon the next generation - including rampant oral sex among middle-school-aged children. "The 13-year-old daughter of one such friend freely admitted to performing fellatio on several boys at school on a regular basis," she recounted. "'Aw come on, Mom. It's no big deal. Everyone is doing it,' she said."

Welch concludes: "Seriously, folks, if an aging sex symbol like me starts waving the red flag of caution over how low moral standards have plummeted, you know it's gotta be pretty bad. In fact, it's precisely because of the sexy image I've had that it's important for me to speak up and say: Come on girls! Time to pull up our socks! We're capable of so much better."

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10051205.html

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[rlmorel]

"...Many think the 60’s were the best of America. Not so. The culture shifted and not in a good way...."

I agree with you 100% on this. And those people (and their devotees) hold the reins of power in this country right now. The radicals. Think of it. A guy like Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn that close to the ultimate seat of power not only in this country, but the world.

Bill Ayers. This guy:

It is hard for me to comprehend and accept. A man who was a lunatic bomb making druggie, and a woman who thought sticking a fork into Sharon Tate's pregnant murdered body was just too cool. The same people who blithely discussed killing 25 million Americans because that was the way it was going to have to be.

Unbelievable.

[ETL]

Ping to post 13:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2512444/posts?page=13#13

[GonzoII]

You’re welcome.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Yes on both. Before she turned 70, I used to quip that Raquel Welch put the sex in sexagenerian.

[GonzoII]

This one trumps everybody's:

[bobby.223]

oh yes I was! but I do remember your/that later years saying. what a time it was to be alive, every damn week it seemed like something big was happening. the merc. gem. and app. launches especially. the ‘space race....wow!

[ETL]

Not these (from the 45 years earlier):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2512444/posts?page=14#14

[freedumb2003]

>>That’s what 70 looks like? I need to learn the name of her plastic surgeon. Wow!<<

That is HER — little if any plastic surgery. You can use Joan Rivers or Burt Reynolds as exemplars: She doesn’t have that Asian or “constant surprise” look.

She is just a beautiful woman who works very very hard to keep her looks naturally.

Here is a pretty good article on her:

http://www.examiner.com/x-14380-Celebrity-Fitness-and-Health-Examiner~y2010m3d26-Raquel-Welch-still-sizzling-at-69-My-beauty-and-fitness-secrets

There are some who think otherwise, but if she has had scalpel help it has been deft and minimal.

IMHO.

[The Antiyuppie]

“Aging”...rather well.

[freekitty]

I have heard she is intellegent; but than I have heard the same of Sharon Stone.

However, I have always liked Raquel Welch. I never thought she competed against women like so many of the celebs today that haved turned themselves into allknowing sluts. Everytime I see a magazine with celebs in or on the cover; they are stripped down or some commercial is relating to how they lost weight and they are showing everything they have.

Had a friend who lived in Beverly Hills tell me a while back that all of them have plastic surgery. Oscar night was the big night to see who had done what. LOL

[The Antiyuppie]

Also, she is a good example of great bone structure (once you get past the obvious). Women (men, too) who have good cheekbones and look good when they are younger, almost always look good when they are older. No amount of plastic surgery as far as I know can duplicate naturally good cheekbones. Darn, all I got were dimples.

[bobby.223]

agreed. hard work, exercise, diet etc.etc. can help so much but it is so much easier for people to malign....damn, look at Jack Lalane, 90 or so? I might be wrong here freed, but I think the green eyed monster might have something to do with the neg. comments about this woman. hard work, attention to your diet and weight etc. can help beyond what the lazies can say.

[TChad]

She came a long, long way since her days as "Skinny Legs" on the San Diego beaches. She even succeeded on Broadway.

Just in case anyone wants to hire her as a speaker:

http://www.greatertalent.com/RaquelWelch

[freedumb2003]

Excellent summary.

And we are sort of caught up on her looks, but if we look at the OP, she properly chastises people — no, WOMEN — who use birth control as a simple escape devise.

Ms. Welch notes the societal costs of the easy out.

“My baby daddy” is more than a meme — it is a lifestyle for many.

She nails that issue.

[bobby.223]

‘a simple escape device’.....damn, a long long LONG time ago I bought into that and I am ashamed to admit that now...but that was SOP then....even after the ‘73 ruling made it ‘okay’. why can’t women look at her and say....’ darn, I could do that....I have had children like she has....I could work out and exercise...I could get my old body back...am I out to lunch here? damn free, is it easier for women now to just say the heck with it....I have my baby...I do not care any longer on how I look? no personal pride? I might be way out here but in my day women cared AND their men helped and complimented them on their looks before and after babies. damn, the work for a women to carry and deliver a child!!?? almost impossible for a man to understand and feel that I guess but there were men then that looked at a pregnant women as beautiful. have things changed? why would women now look at a 70 year old women like this, who looks like this and slam down on her? what is the point other than jealously?

[ottbmare]

I googled the issue. There’s a plastic surgeon who has a blog and discussed this. He says her forehead is nearly immobile, which indicates the use of Botox, she has almost certainly had laser resurfacing, as well as injections of Juvaderm or Restylane or some other filler into her upper lips and the “marionette lines” that run from nose to chin. The laser might also be responsible for tightening her jawline. Technically these procedures are not surgery so she’s telling the truth about that. However he thinks that she may have had actual surgery to put implants in her cheeks and tighten the skin around her eyes. He says point-blank, “She’s a liar.”

She had had a nose job before she came to Hollywood but that doesn’t count in the context of the present discussion.

[HiTech RedNeck]

More grease on the “cheap sex” skids.

[Tainan]

Ya know, I think I would believe anything I was told by Raquel Welch or Sophia Loren.

No matter what they said...I'd believe them.
Yep, I would.

[freedumb2003]

why would women now look at a 70 year old women like this, who looks like this and slam down on her? what is the point other than jealously?

[originalbuckeye]

My brother and sister-in-law are aging hippies. My sister is a proclaimed Socialist and my younger brother is a slacker. My parents were two good Conservatives. I am glad they aren't around to see what has happened with three of their four children. I am also glad they aren't around to see what is happening to their beloved country. Many do believe the 60’s were the best years of our lives. I am not one. I am heartbroken at the condition of our country. Many good people voted for Obama because he ran as a CENTRIST. He is governing as a MARXIST. My family voted for him because he is a Socialist and Black. They used to be smart. Not so now.