As a European I was shocked the first time I went to the USA. Hollywood projects a fantasy about a modern country but in reality the USA remains trapped in the 1870s, only with nicer toys. It would be lovely to think that one day the USA will escape from such neurotic and dysfunctional social moeurs but the reality is that there are too many forces with a vested interest in keeping things exactly as they are. On the far-right we see Republican politicians leveraging US neuroses and repressions to gain votes. In the entertainment industry we see moguls leveraging US sexual repression to sell product. In US homes we see the influence of peasant cultures from around the world - peasant cultures are generally highly sexually warped and repressive - because the USA is still a nation of immigrants. So, alas, the USA will remain trapped in the 1870s for at least another century and all the harms that result will, like the USA's insane gun violence, simply remain "how we do things around here."