Someone has got to do something, and quick — before this gets out of control. No, nevermind, it’s too late. It already has. What is it that has gotten out of control? Our unbelievable fascination and obsession with s-e-x.
It arises in us as elementary school students, innocently wondering about where babies come from and why. Next our sexual curiosity progresses in middle school, normally in a more perverse manner, but nevertheless the progression continues. Then comes high school and the informative health class where we get biological explanations of what we heard our friends giggling about in years past. Finally in most colleges, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we are provided with the opportunity to take classes such as human sexuality. And as Chris Oulsey (physical education lecturer at N.C. State) confirmed when she said the course is consistently packed with a long waitlist, students are still very interested in human sexuality. “I probably could easily teach five sections and they’d be full,” Ousley notes. There is nothing wrong with our interest; we are all normal human beings with sex hormones. The problem lies in the way that society addresses sexuality, particularly in the casual form that it frequently appears.
Television, music, radio talk shows, movies, advertisements, etc. — they are all guilty of contributing to this problem. The content of our television shows and even their names (Desperate Housewives) reveal to us that modern society is sex-crazed. Maybe it always has been and things have just recently gotten worse because of the advancements in technology, but that is beside the point. The television shows that are most popular among the people I am most concerned about are ones such as Laguna Beach, Real World and Desperate Housewives, where “casual sex” is a common occurrence. Even the show “Grey’s Anatomy,” I am told, is a show about a hospital but it still contains plenty of sexual content.
On to music. The lyrical content of music these days is more perverse than ever, certainly much worse in some genres than in others. It’s not that it’s just sexual, it is degrading to women and the message that a lot of music sends is not appropriate. But this is not the real problem, the real problem lies in the fact that this offensive music continues to be at the top of the Billboard Charts, # 1 on iTunes, etc. Apparently we cannot get enough of this crap. One of radio’s most popular talk show hosts happens to be Howard Stern — enough said about that.Advertisements are chock full of sexual connotation nowadays and they range from radio ads to billboards on I-95 to television commercials. Speaking of billboards on I-95, anyone who has been on I-95 South knows exactly what I am talking about. “We Dare to Bare” ads are right up there in prevalence with Pedro and J&R Outlets. How does a disgusting place like the “Risque Cafe” even stay in business? Easy, because there are gross people in this world. But what do you expect when society basically tells them that sex isn’t as big a deal as people make it out to be? Did I mention that pornography is a multimillion dollar business these days? Just food for thought.
As a second-semester freshman, I have already come to the conclusion that “casual sex” is not an uncommon thing during college. This deeply saddens me, but I think that the blame is to be split — half of it should be on the people who actually made the decision to have sex and the other half should be on society and the media for telling them that what they did (or plan on doing) is commonly accepted and thus is OK. Before I go any further I just urge anyone and everyone reading this column to think not only about the short-term effects and consequences but also the long term. How will it feel on your wedding night to tell your husband or wife that they’re not the first? Common sense tells me that that “special night” won’t be as special. What will you feel like when you tell your kids (oh kids, how could I forget about that effect?) that they should wait until they’re married to have sex? Hypocrisy does not feel good.
In writing this column, I don’t want to be seen as a mere advocate for abstinence — that is everyone’s personal choice. I just simply wanted to remind you of it in a world where society seems to have forgotten.
