I like sex; it's fun. In fact, I love sex, and have been known to get a little kinky on occasion when the mood strikes. However, my perverted comments on Facebook not withstanding, my sex life, and my reasons for engaging in the practice, are my business.
So why are so many conservative Christians obsessed with it? Not just mine, but with the sex lives of almost everyone else in this country? I guess if it feels good, it must be bad.
Sex has long been a "bone" of contention for the fundamentalist sects, although admittedly, it has gone from being strictly about procreation to the union of one husband and one wife in a "spiritual" sense, as long as they leave each and every union open to the "possibility" of conception. Catholics and Mormons both teach this, and there is a very small, but very vocal faction known as Quiverfulls, who not only support this, but believe it is a woman's duty to submit to the will of her husband and have as many children as God is willing to give them so they can bring forth His holy army. (Psalm 127: 3-5)
Wait...you've never heard of the Quiverfulls? Ever heard of the show 19 Kids and Counting? I hate this show, and all shows like it. If a woman really wants to be nothing more than a uterus, that's her right, but I am opposed to glorifying this as if it is some blessed way to live. Childbirth is extremely hard on a woman's body; the more kids you have, the more damage your body sustains. (A Catholic friend of mine just had her seventh child. She has been having kidney issues and bladder control issues and a few other pregnancy related problems, so she and her husband as their priest if they could stop having children. He said God may forgive them for not wanting more, since it was affecting her health. Really??!!) And the more children a woman has, the more likely she will need to be dependent on someone else for her support and the support of her children; they are a great way to keep a woman subservient. In many of the fundamentalist polygamist sects, where women really are nothing more than brood mares, most of the families rely on you and me for their support.
The churches, and some in particular, have always been obsessed with sex. As I pointed out once before, there are some 200+ proscriptions in the Bible regarding heterosexual sex, and that's nothing compared to the numerous edicts and declarations regarding this particular pleasure which have come down from religious leaders through the centuries. For the most part, anything that had to do with sex that didn't also involve conception was just...plain...WRONG... (Side note - the term "original sin" is not anywhere in the Bible; you can thank St. Augustine of Hippo for that one; while not dealing with the act itself, original sin deals with the fall of man, which introduced death to the human race. Therefore, the reasoning that we are all conceived in sin does not come from the act of sex, which Augustine, who engaged in it freely and recklessly before his celestial conversion, thought was sinful, but because the fall of man elevated the want for sex, as is hinted at in Genesis 1:28 (be fruitful and multiply) to the need for sex, as if there was no need for it for the thousands of years before the Bible was written.)
Even today, sex is such a point of interest for so many. Birth control has become a major issue of contention for some; certain religions think birth control is wrong, and therefore, think they should have the right to refuse to sell the pill or condoms, or to provide sterilization services as part of a reproductive health care program. My answer to this is if you own your own pharmacy or your own health care clinic, fine. You are under no obligation to provide any of the above, and I will take my business elsewhere. However, if you are in a publicly funded hospital or clinic, or if you work for a pharmacy that routinely sells these items, you get no such protection. Besides, why you would want to prevent someone from not bringing another unwanted child into this world is beyond me. (Although I will make an exception for this on abortion; while I believe it should remain legal, it is not an option I would have ever chosen. Thankfully, I was never put in that position.)
Another one that cracks me up is masturbation; I cannot believe how many people I hear talk about how "bad" it is. While we have progressed beyond the blindness/hair on palms prognosis, it is still considered by more than a few to be naughty. Christine O'Donnell has become a source of great entertainment to many for her stance that masturbation is the same as adultery, because adultery can be committed simply by having lust in your heart, and you have to have that lust in order to masturbate. (You would be amazed by how many people share this view.) So for this, I only have one question: just who, exactly, is the 15 year old boy cheating on when he's in the shower smacking it against the wall? (There are no concrete proscriptions against masturbation in the Bible, either; the story of Onan doesn't count, and no one knows for sure what the exact translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 is suppose to be.)
I guess I just find it amazing how something so biological and so natural can be such a source of consternation; I understand the problems with teen pregnancy, unwanted kids (I was one) and STDs, but these things can be addressed, and there is no need to drag "God" into it. Ignorance is not bliss (although a really good dose of sex is), and we are doing ourselves no favors by pretending otherwise.
I honestly think the reality is the people who are so concerned about everyone else's sex life are the ones who just have a major guilt complex, so here's my thought: get over it. You are not going to stop me, nor anyone else, from enjoying it, so do yourself a favor...get in your car, go to the nearest adult store and pick up some lingerie, some handcuffs, some body oils, and maybe even some edible undies (wait - scratch the edible undies; those things taste like shit), and then go home and GET LAID.
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