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Historical Forced Adoption

I thank the noble Lord, but I must correct him: I do not think the Church ever preached that sex was sinful. It was only sinful if you did not have a wedding ring; I think it was quite happy about it once the wedding ceremony had taken place. However, the noble Lord is right that this was a societal and cultural issue. As I said, I think parents colluded in that because of the shame it brought on the family, and it is a shocking thing to say that that might have happened in your own family.

We are in different times. With the advances that have been made in society in our approach, with the great reforms in the 1960s to marriage, to divorce, to contraception and on a whole range of issues, we now think differently. However, the noble Lord is right that there is a movement among those who have a very misogynistic attitude towards women—just look at

the Question we had today about the gang raping of women within relationships having been drugged by partners—and we have to be clear, to speak out and to act, taking action that is as strong as possible wherever it occurs. But that starts with language. In relation to some of the videos online where women are disrespected and it is seen as some kind of macho thing to disrespect women, I think all of us will want to speak out about that and speak out with one voice.