The recent tsunami of sexual misconduct disclosures from entertainment and political realms has truly been jaw-dropping. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure what to make of it. I have far more questions about this issue than answers while this revolting underbelly is exposed. It all feels very culture-changing, but I’m not sure exactly how. I write from a place of uncertainty.

It’s difficult to comment on only one of the many very public cases; there are so many. And each is a creature of its own. How do we compare Harvey Weinstein’s casting couch (and much worse) to Louis C.K.’s disgusting behavior, Roy Moore’s liaisons with underage girls, or Kevin Spacey’s assault on a teenage boy? There’s Al Franken’s USO (Unsolicited Sexual Overtures) Tour or George H.W. Bush’s apparent butt-grabbing hobby that (it appears) may have preceded his current wheelchaired senility. There are many others, but the point is that there are issues of age and pederasty, coercion, quid pro quo, authority and control — and each case is different to the point of incomparability.

I feel compelled to pose a very uncomfortable possibility, sure to trigger those protective of the promiscuity borne of moral relativism. For decades, we have been erasing the boundaries that define sexual mores and with reckless abandon exploring the erotic metropolis as if every light is green and there are no speed limits or brake pedals. Who honestly believes that decades of celebrating indulgence and ridiculing restraint would not have produced this crop of true despicables whose capacity for self-control was lost long ago in the hurricanes of their own unregulated libidos?

Is it possible that the sexual revolution that promised to liberate women ironically and inevitably led to their objectification and victimization? Notice that was a question, not an assertion. I struggle with the answer, because women and children have no doubt been suffering various degrees of sexual assault through the ages. I’m just not convinced that the doctrine of sexual liberation hasn’t had — like prudish shame-based sexual repression — some tragic unintended consequences. We’ve had a generational false choice between shame and licentiousness when neither produces good outcomes.

Whatever your view of our origins, nearly all of us are wired to be sexual. It doesn’t really matter for this discussion if you believe our capacity to procreate is a sacred gift from God or a result of natural selection favoring organisms with stronger sex drives. I think it’s clear humanity has struggled to figure out how to tame the damn thing because it’s such a deeply embedded primal instinct. Ultimately, healthy mores cultivated from our conscious brains are the only thing keeping us from acting like wild rabbits.

I get spooked when I skim over the darkest chapters of human history and come to a recognition that respecting consent is a learned skill. I’m guessing the Neanderthals never had sensitivity training. Think of the rampant sexual obsession and pedophilia that spelled doom for the Roman Empire, and — contemporarily — the rampant nonconsensual sexual brutality that radical Islam tries to hide from the world. Consent may be a social construct, but it is one we need to defend at all costs, because as much as we hate to admit it, inferior cultures wouldn’t blink at Kevin Spacey or Harvey Weinstein’s predation. But if consent is the only remaining virtue of sexuality, it won’t last long.

I’m hopeful we’ll learn deeper lessons from all of this than using personal scandal to leverage political points or participate in a hashtag driven social media outrage of the week. It’s more than a big news story.

It’s a marquee, warning of something much deeper.

Associated Press award-winning columnist Neal Larson of Idaho Falls writes at www.neallarson.com. He is also the author of “Living in Spin.” He is a conservative talk show host on KID Newsradio 106.3 and 92.1, and also at www.kidnewsradio.com. “The Neal Larson Show” can be heard weekday mornings from 8:00 to 10:00. His email address is neal@590kid.com.