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Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema. This again was never put into plain words, but in an indirect way it was rubbed into every Party member from childhood onwards.

In 1984, the Party controls every aspect of human life, including something as basic (and to us, personal) as sexual activity, as this quote from Book One, Chapter 6 reveals. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: The Impact of Totalitarianism (the third quote).

The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime.

One possibly unexpected consequence of the Party forbidding sexual activity aside from for the purposes of procreation is that it makes having sex an act of rebellion. We will later see how this works to incentivize the rebelliously spirited Julia to have recreational sex. Read more about this quote in Quotes by Theme: Hopes for Resistance and Revolution (the first quote).

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