Monday, December 4, 2017

The sex mess


As more and more of the powerful and notable are outed for their sexual misdeeds, it becomes more and more clear that sexual misbehavior happens across all of society. While this is a men’s problem at root, solving the problem can only come with honest discussion of the larger context and maze of related issues, some of which are:
Biology: The evolutionary message.
Manhood: We have no rituals to identify reaching manhood and many confusing and contradictory ideas of what it is.
Sex and love: In life and entertainment these are confused and confusing elements.
Marketing: Sex is used to sell just about everything, so why not itself?
Pornography: With Internet access, that speaks for itself.
The seductress: Traditionally one role for powerless women, but now
inadvertently (?) more common in the makeup, dress and persona of women.
Powerful women: This is a new issue for many men who have seen sexuality largely in terms of conquest.
Entertainment media: Sex sells and attracts audiences. So from daytime talks shows to sit coms to dramas we get titillating and generally unrealistic sexuality based on physical attraction, often in the workplace. Movies don’t fare much better.
There are issues I likely passed over. It’s all a mess and we are just now seeing the tip of the iceberg.

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