Sex

 Sex is one of the few things evolution expects of us. Evolution constructed the mechanism for reproduction in human beings and pretty much let it do its work. But human beings layered onto sex all kinds of tasks, restrictions, taboos and rituals. Science, in its search to understand human sexuality, has shed a great deal of light on the subject, changing sexual behavior in significant ways. But society is not always ready to shed its musty ideas about sex.

A recent editorial in the New York Times suggested that we need to have more sex. Studies show that there has been a noticeable decrease in the frequency of sex throughout age groups and genders in American society, especially among men. Yet, sex is a natural, human experience that could heal the isolation and its consequences that we currently experience. Indeed, healthy sex brings intimacy, comfort, affirmation and pleasure, outside of any social or cultural controls put on it.

The writer is not talking about casual sex that comes from desperation or simply to satisfy the libido. The writer is advocating for sex as a part of beginning to know another as a human being. The focus is caring, tenderness, respect through a sexual encounter.

Sex is a human need that must be practiced in a healthy way, a way that is respectful, avoids harm and seeks understanding of love. Humans have to affirm sex that denies all the abuses of sex: rape, harassment, perversion, child abuse, control, manipulation and more.

What the editorial proposes is by no means easy to accomplish, but it is worthy of serious consideration for social healing.