You may be surprised to learn that horny college students who have no sense of propriety or personal boundaries are at the vanguard of a revolution against the pervasive sexual repression on college campuses. I read about it in The Nation, so it must be true:
At its core, the sex column phenomenon is a radical progressive movement in the sense of pushing against traditional silence and the status quo, which is a source of concern for many administrators, parents and even students. Challenges to the columns stem from a conservative mindset--whether that be political, religious or cultural. Given that the Republican Party has become increasingly dominated by the religious right and the issues of the conservative culture wars, with sex smack at the forefront, these columns become politicized in a way the columnists themselves don't necessarily intend. With abortion, abstinence programs and same-sex marriage making up three of the right's key issues, the statement that "sex is OK" becomes even more politically charged when the sex in question is generally unmarried and occasionally queer.
Amazingly, many on the cultural left really seem to believe that young people don't think about sex often enough, and that to think about sex, and to write incessantly about it, is an act of liberation. Next thing you know, they'll claim that flashers are patriots. I'm convinced that for more than a few educated liberals, they'd be fine with economic policy completely run by the right, just so long as they retained the right to have their orgasms without restriction, and to talk endlessly about their orgasms, as well as their abortions. Seriously, are sex columns really an important front on which progressives should be advancing their principles? Really? This is so utterly bourgeois and juvenile. If we had an Old Left still, it would call this sort of thing decadent, from a political point of view.
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Seriously, are sex columns really an important front on which progressives should be advancing their principles? Really?
What an weird -- though perhaps predictable -- take on this.
Oddly enough, the issues of sex, gender, and sexual orientation happen to be areas of interest in sex columns. Hello!!!?!?! Seems pretty reasonable to me.
What's really stramnge is how often they come up in state GOP platforms...
I stand by my point:
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/labels/previous%20generations%20were%20more%20depraved.php
Yes, kids and college students are having more sex than they were 40 or 60 years ago, but not 20 years ago. The big social revolution was the late 60's through to the early 80's. Sexually, I see a country that is little changed from, say, 1984. Even the kids today look and act like those depicted in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", which came out in 1982. However, teenagers in 1982 did not look and act at all like those in, say, 1975.
College students are having sex? When did this happen?
Gerald,
I believe this started in 1088, with the founding of the University of Bologna.
I sit here laughing at the binary premise behind this entire topic, and how it obscures the truth: the generation in question is not a monolithic, all or nothing group on this or any other subject. My children are 26, 23 and 17. I listen when they talk about themselves and their peers. I tend to learn a lot from listening.
So, the binary choice: Adhere to the conservative-religious-moral stance that essentially (do, please prove it if you disagree) suppresses the natural inclinations of healthy, sexually mature people; Or, dance a jig on the concept of restraint and responsibility and shag anything that isn't moving (including those things that were moving but which you grabbed and made captive).
It boggles my mind that when it comes to sex, people just forget what they were taught about being civilized, socialized humans: Going ahead with [fill in blank] without the other person's consent is wrong, and if you cause injury it is a crime. If the other person is not yet recognized, legally and/or socially, as capable of giving consent, you don't do it.
The grey area is illusiory. We permit peer pressure and bully tactics to rise to the same level as consent. We complain that our youngsters are becoming "sexualized" before they are "ready" while saying and doing nothing about the sexualization of our media... and I'm not talkling about erotica and pornography, the preferred scapegoat of conservatism and moralists, I'm talking about turning on the TV at any time day or night to see teenagers bouncing around in advertisements for food, clothing and entertainment, pre-adolescents with makeup or CGI that make them look like adults from the neck up, women who paint their lips and cheeks, wear 4-inch heels and transparent hose on shaved legs exposed up to and beyond mid-thigh who vocally complain about being objectified... need I go on?
The hypocrisy is ubiquitous and deep, made egregious by those who complain bitterly about the outcomes while getting rich on the very things that create those outcomes.
Guess what, America: Your obsession with "more is always better" is the definition of sex just as much as it is with money, power, material possessions and luxury. Until you face up to that, until you see your hypocrisy, I will just quietly keep going, ignoring your bleating, and helping my children maintain what they've learned about ethics and personal responsibility in the face of your children stomping on them at every turn.
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