This is the result of our society's move away from religious values and toward the secular.

Ironically, while the religious realm was thought to be about the afterlife, it turns out that Christianity in particular was reasonably successful in encouraging stability in the secular realm. The reason for this is that Christianity places a high value on traditional families - with a mother, a father, and children living together - and provides roles within those families that offer meaning to each member of the unit. Individuals understand their role and learn to interact from birth in a way that is logical to them, encouraged (or enforced at times) by those who know them best.

Unfortunately, as US society largely abandoned religious values after WWII (this was a process, not an event) in favor of "science!"( ^tm ) and progressive social ideology, the positive role models associated with these family structures were lost. It didn't help - needless to say - that the representatives of the church itself were also engaging in immorality with the children of their congregations. This unsurprisingly accelerated the destruction of the moral foundation offered by Christianity in the US.

This model for society wasn't perfect. Humans are imperfect, and there are lots of screwed up families. No argument there. But crime statistics are crystal clear on the link between a lack of family structure and all forms of anti-social behavior. In net terms, traditional families are the foundation of greater stability and meaning for individuals. When society was centered around traditional families, our society functioned more effectively. This is not a belief; it shows up in every statistic on the subject.

What's left today, however? Well, areas with the strongest concentration of "progressive" thinking and politics demonstrate the purest form of the new culture. Look at the most liberal parts of the country (our major cities), and find a massive explosion in sexual abuse. The tip of the spear was the normalization of pornography and changes in terminology such as calling prostitutes "sex workers", suggesting that this is just another acceptable section of our economy. The current flowering of this phenomenon, however, has led to a shocking number of people outright rejecting the biological reality of sex entirely. While I'm not surprised that a percentage of people who are sexually abused as children find no value in maintaining the reality of a sex that has only caused them pain, the official promotion of people violently rejecting the bodies they are born into (which is a form of ritual suicide) is shocking.

In the current model, where are the role models to encourage us in maintaining some sense of self-worth? The political state has decided its rules and policies are better at raising functional citizens than the rules and norms of families. Once again, families are not perfect; but the state's encroachment on these responsibilities has only made matters exponentially worse. Corporations, meanwhile, place zero value on home life, and corporations are now the force that define the structure of our social arrangements through control over our employment (how we must use our time to survive), and where we are encouraged to spend our resources. This is the root of the issue. Letting corporations and politicians (two expressions of the same personality) dictate social norms is disastrous. Politicians find their meaning is exerting power over others; corporations exist to ensure short-term profit. Full stop. Neither the raw exercise of power nor short-term profit motive leave any room for raising healthy humans. Healthy humans - as opposed to humans with miniscule attention spans seeking after the latest shiny gadget - are not easily marketed to.

And sex sells. This is an obviously true statement and has been so forever.

A society built around corporate needs and political narcissists (we are nothing if not that) will develop horrific values leading to maximal possible sexual exploitation.

Welcome "cuties". Just the latest example.