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In my opinion a lot of younger people are having sex too soon or too often, out of a need for the feeling of love and acceptance, and thats not a healthy way of going about getting either. What has caused this rise in the openness of sharing so deeply without any emotional significance or attachment?
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I've talked about this before, and I'll bring it back again.
We live in fundamentally disconnected times. We spend more time thinking about the images of ourselves than for ourselves. I know that sounds confusing, but the fundamental difference comes in the desire to rise to living in the spectacular. Moderation and contemplation have been replaced with immediacy for understandable reasons. The idea of living "hard" and to the "max" have become the dominant ideologies in this time, which is the opposite of finding a few things of value and making them personal. Our existences have never been more commodified, and this certainly includes sex. Sex as currency then leads to valuing more activity, more partners, etc... basically - MORE.
The tension between external and internal value structures tends to end with external structures winning. The once idealized moderation stance has been removed with the ideal state of living it up in the most extreme ways we can. The nihilistic stance of these times states that there is no right and wrong, just that people do what they want. Often, it is stated, "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, it is ok."
Personally, I think most of the indifferent happy-go-lucky attitude towards sex stems from negative or dis-illusioning events surrounding sex. Seeing sex as a vehicle of power-over individuals, sex and how it has abused people, sex and violence, and being over-saturated with sex in the media makes it difficult to see sex in a spiritual light. Often, I can see that people will respond by saying that people who strive to see sex in a spiritual light don't get it because the meaning of sex is self-created and "sex is sex" or something along those lines. I think the argument can as easily be made that choosing to view sex in a minimalistic gaze is also a choice that has many drawbacks.
In any event, I do have a hard time with any argument centered around the concept that "we are just animals". Humans have vast intellectual capabilities that shape how events are view and create meaning, to pull that out of the equation when dealing with sex discredits what people truly are capable of.
I predict that the rise of extremities in sexual activites will continue in this post-modern era. I don't see any reason at this point in time for large numbers of people to revert to more traditionalist views of sex. I don't see any reason for large numbers of people to spend a lot of time re-examining what sex means to them and how to make it more meaningful spiritually.
Detachment has become a value equivalent to independence. There is a belief that strength comes from independence and not needing things from others in our culture. With sex, strength comes in the disposability of others. If you can throw something away, then you are better than it. In many ways, this attitude shows why we have such problems with sustainability, but that is another thread...