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What is sex? As I begin my ‘healthy sexuality’ segment of my high school Health class curriculum, this question is on my mind now more than ever. In a secularized, dogmatically devoid education system, how will sex be perceived? The answer: no differently than the way our culture perceives it; this is what distresses me. The various caveats that I have with the public schools over the topic of sex is that the emphases, on where to be cautious about it, are lifted out of the traditional context and rearranged somewhere else. The emphases of which I speak, the main points driven home continually in high school health class, can be summed up by this single dictum—only have safe sex. And if you don’t, this, this and this could possibly happen to you. Sex is not something safeguarded, nor is it something encouraged. It is something redefined. Of course, this redefinition is of little consequence to most moderners. We have left the days of demanded monogamy (and more importantly, demanded matrimony) far behind. Sex is no longer something one engages in with a literal soul mate, by which a husband and a wife become “one flesh”. Now it is a pastime, a hobby, or perhaps more accurately, a sport. It is similar to playing soccer, or golfing. Now it is something to be engaged in at one’s leisure, with whomever one pleases (assuming they are willing, because this consent perfectly legitimizes an out-of-wedlock and thus temporary sexual relationship). Do not make the mistake of thinking that I am utterly opposed to the school’s addressing of the subject in a high school curriculum. Indeed, it is something very much on the mind of every teenage student enrolled. I am pleased to see it strongly reinforced that students abstain from frequent sexual activity at their present age; I am pleased to see ‘safe’ sex so strongly emphasized, because I would rather it be ‘safe’ fornication than ‘unsafe’ (we can leave the question of sinning ‘safely’ for another discussion). The only problem is that this notion of ‘safe’ sex is utterly doomed to fail in swaying students as long as an equal emphasis on the notion of sexual purity is left untouched. There is little that can be done about this, unfortunately—as soon as we begin harping about silly things like the concept of retaining one’s virginity as a gift he would fully give to his wife, we get into the argument over church and state relations. But nevertheless, without any concept of sexual purity, there is little to restrain teenagers from having sex with whomever they want, whenever they want, however they want. When morality and purity are lifted from the equation, there is nothing left to sexuality but pure enjoyment; the definition of which is, like everything else to Americans, a matter of enjoying it all the time. A matter of gluttony. Yet where did this mindset come from? There are a number of factors. First and foremost are contraceptives, such as prophylactics and birth control pills. To answer a question for those who are not familiar with my writing—no, I am not Catholic. But as American society grows more and more caught up in free love and individualistic sexual fulfillment, the Catholic position grows more and more obvious and reasonable as well. I do not think the use of every kind of contraceptive (such as condoms) involves the taking of an actual human life, but what contraceptives stand for—or rather, exist for—is what I am displeased with. Sex to Americans, as I said, is similar to the way in which we view hobbies or sports. It is a matter of individual appetite—we can have sex with whomever we choose (nowadays, whatever we choose), whenever we choose, and however we choose. Like a great buffet, we lay the plethora of sexual options out before ourselves and take our pick…whatever works best for us. Getting tired of women? That’s all right, try men! Still too dry for your tastes? That’s all right, try both at once! Since the redefining cultural aneurism that was the 1960’s, sex has been re-forged in a new mold, and now it’s all about you! My dispute with contraceptives is that they contribute to this individualist obsession. Our insatiable cultural appetite for sex has been only whetted now, because we know that sex no longer must come with any ‘strings’ attached (i.e. children). The divorce (how ironic a term here) of sexual activity from marriage has occurred, at least in part, because there no longer is necessarily going to be the chance of becoming pregnant. Now we have manipulated—or are continually trying to manipulate—sex into a risk-free, no-worries, no-consequences, non-binding activity. Our latest immature generations of “genital gropers” (Touchstone) don’t want to deal with procreation and the raising of a child into a new life with Christ—it’s a matter of pleasure, not responsibility. Though we have not yet reached it in my class, I wonder continually how abortion will be addressed. They will not condemn it, this I know, but I doubt they will embrace it either. Nevertheless, it falls into place along with the entire milieu of American sexual ‘revolutions’. For one moment, let’s throw out the ethical issues, but keep the sanctified ‘religious’ view of sex. I want to do this because many Christians I know (including some of my family members) support abortion. Let us pretend for a moment that it does not raise any questions as to the morality of its actions; it doesn’t actually kill a sentient being. The problems, those that I mentioned above with contraceptives, would still exist. Even without the controversy, it would still be having the same effect—diminishing sex to a consequence-free activity that can be engaged in with anyone. It still remains as an encourager to fornication (admittedly, in most cases, not all), something that to a Christian understanding is undoubtedly a sin. Americans don’t understand sex. And they will continue to misunderstand it, as long as the ignorance regarding the church’s position remains. It is the obvious and persistent view of westerners today that, essentially, the church will permit sexual activity, ‘so long as all the fun is taken out of it’. And so I address this to the inebriated western world, though not yet from experience—sex, my friends, is not a matter of ‘fun’. Sex is a matter of love. Love so pure and powerful, so enriching and binding, that it extends well beyond the simple realm of recreation. It is the hand of God fusing two servants together forever, never to be broken apart. The church does not ‘take the fun out of it’. It infuses it with a whole new significance that makes it even better. And I wish that the schools, and indeed the entire American public, would understand this. |
