Sexual repression

[*****]

Since the discussion in the Egyptian rape thread got out of hand, I figure we should have a little spin off.

 

[ParkCungHee]

As I clearly pointed out, I am doing nothing of the sort. You are fabricating complete and utter nonsense based on your own preconceived notions of what my opinions must actually be.

So fine, without drawing comparisons to Europe, and comparing it only to America, show how America's sexual practices are somehow different from the cultural standard.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

One point to note: if Europe's so much more free and enlightened, why does most of Europe have a higher suicide rate than the US?

 

[*****]

So far as Formaldehyde's claim that Europeans don't view abortion as murder, here's the German constitutional court's opinion on the matter.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Why should I when I completely reject your absurd notion that I can't compare sexual repression in the US with other clearly more advanced countries?

I don't really the patience to continue to battle your obviously deliberate reinterpretations of my actual opinions, so I'll provide this article written by a self-professed Christian which sums up my opinions in this matter fairly clearly:

http://www.libchrist.com/political/folly.html

The Folly of Sexual Repression

An Essay by Shiva Rodriguez

Being a citizen of the United States of America, I am accustomed to hearing proud, flag-waving Americans loudly proclaim that we are the land of the free. However, this freedom apparently does not extend to sexual matters, and our society pays more dearly for that than most people are aware.

Sexual repression is nothing new. Many societies around the world place restrictions on the sex lives of their citizens, often with heavy consequences should an individual deviate from what is considered acceptable in that society. Adulterers, unwed lovers, homosexuals, and even people caught in the act of masturbating have been institutionalized, tortured, mutilated, or even executed for committing acts of sexual gratification.

While we no longer hang people for having sex out of wedlock or clamp spiked rings over the penises of masturbators, we can still hear the harpies of morality screeching their anti-sex agendas from pulpits and campaign platforms across the country. Concerned citizens boycott stores that carry literature about certain forms of sexual activity and lobby to squash anything remotely resembling sexual education in our schools. Television and radio producers are fined and chastised if their programming is deemed to be too racy for those moral-minded, sensitive American audiences. Adult-oriented establishments are greatly restricted in their activities, watched like hawks, and heavily fined or shut down completely for whatever whimsical reason the vice squads can dream up.

Even in the privacy of their own homes, citizens are strongly discouraged against practicing any type of sexual activity outside of mundane and marital pairings. And while some bold groups of open-minded individuals may stand up and claim their right to have sex with whomever and however they’d like, they quickly find themselves being held up as the poster children for everything that is wrong in America. Oh, how a much better place the USA would be if we didn’t have all those pesky homosexuals, masturbators, swingers, fetishists, and fornicators around, they say.

I say rubbish.

Some of the side effects of sexual repression as observed in human beings include lack of self-confidence, low self-esteem, depression, suicidal tendencies, and higher aggressive behavior. A child who has been taught to believe that sex is dirty and bad will often mature to become an adult who is self-conscious about his body and overwhelmed with guilt when the natural desire to breed arouses him. Adults who are restricted in their sexual inclinations will often experience frustration that can result in either suicidal actions or violence towards others.

It should come as a surprise to no one that societies that have more relaxed legislature over sexual matters enjoy a lower violent crime rate and are not often seen butting heads with other societies on the war field. This phenomenon was best documented in a study of one of our closest relatives, the Bonobo ape.

Bonobos, closely related to chimpanzees and also sharing more than 98 percent of the human genetic profile, are a species of primate which uses sexual activity not only for reproduction but also for social bonding. Bonobos have been observed to be indiscriminate in their sexual relations in regards to age or gender, and also are considered to be one of the more peaceful groupings of animals on the planet. Unlike chimpanzees and other animals that have a dominant-male or a strictly monogamous structure, the Bonobos are not often observed being aggressive towards one another over food, mates, or territory.

Even in human studies, sexual relief has been proven an effective remedy for anxiety, stress, and even some forms of depression. The personal vibrator itself was originally designed as a medical tool for doctors to use on their female patients to “relieve hysteria.” (Strangely enough, masturbating was considered to be an extremely unhealthy activity at the time, but it was OK if a physician did it for you.)

Numerous medical professionals, psychologists, philosophers, and other champions of sexual liberation and its benefits to society have been defamed and their work bastardized by political and religious leaders on the platform of morality and wholesome family values. Citizens of such societies are therefore instructed to deeply repress many of their strong natural urges and desires, resulting in an increase of frustration, stress, and emotional instability that is disguised with the mask of being “the right thing to do.”

Often this opens the door wide for religion, particularly the brands that demand their followers forsake earthly delights and suppress all natural inclinations as proof of being a good and worthy person. Never has the idea of how sexual repression can result in aggressive behavior been better demonstrated than with the history of the followers of such religions butchering and torturing other peoples whose attitudes on such subjects differed from their own. Nor is it a coincidence that the punishments dealt to such people often involved the mutilation of their sexual organs.

Even in modern times, we find an astounding number of violent sex crimes committed by perpetrators who speak of sexual repression and insecurity when interrogated. While the moral-minded platform speakers would have us believe that such criminal behavior is a model example of what people would be like if we were free to do as we pleased sexually, they fail to acknowledge that such crimes are often committed as the result of intense and long-term suppression of sexual desires.

One observation that counters the idea that sex crimes are the result of being exposed to an environment with relaxed moral codes is the fact that when some countries legalized pornography or other forms of sexual gratification, the rate of such crimes decreased dramatically, even by as much as 50 percent.

Just as an animal will either sink into an unhealthy, lethargic depression or go violently mad when confined to a small cage and denied freedom to abide by its nature, so will humans who are restricted by cages of sexual morality.

 

[NovaKart]

Just a few thoughts:

I don't think attitudes about abortion have to do with sexual repression. Peoples' opposition to abortion doesn't really come from the sex aspect of it I think.

I have noticed that in many parts of Europe they seem to have a more open attitude to pornography and casual nudity than Americans.

There could be a lot of reasons for a place to have a higher suicide rate other than sexual repression. I've heard that suicide is high in Scandanavia and that alcohol consumption is also very high so that may have something to do with it. I don't know how accurate that is however, just I've heard that before.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I don't think attitudes about abortion have to do with sexual repression. Peoples' opposition to abortion doesn't really come from the sex aspect of it I think.

If a male and female engage in intercouse as a form of sexual gratification accidents will occasionally happen. Many people seem to base their advocacy of abstinence with even adults on this basis.

 

[NovaKart]

Yeah but people aren't normally against abortion because of that. It's because they think it's murder.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Why should I when I completely reject your absurd notion that I can't compare sexual repression in the US with other clearly more advanced countries?

Because that's the kind of stuff that gets us believing Japanese people are almost universally depressed, or Africans are mentally disabled because they don't live up to the standards of a clearly more advanced country.
Besides, you claimed before that characterizing your views as Eurocentrism was unfair, yet now Europeans are a "clearly more advanced country."

Lastly, if you're going to claim sexual repressionis an absurd notion, you don't get to use the concept.

 

[ParkCungHee]

If a male and female engage in intercouse as a form of sexual gratification accidents will occasionally happen. This is the primary reason why some in this forum advocate abstinence for even adults.

You know, if they were actually sexually repressed what's the need for abstinence? I mean, it's not like they can achieve orgasm in the presence of others, right?
How about that, how about we tackle the secondary symptoms of sexual repression.
You held Mardi Gras to be an example of sexually repressed catholics.

You know, most people associate Mardi Gras with acts of overt sexuality.
You seem to associate it with akwarrd terror around the opposite sex, failure to achieve orgasm if sex is actually attempted, and a whole mess of people just generally failing to enjoy sexual experiences.
That doesn't sound like Mardi Gras.

 

[Arakhor]

So far as Formaldehyde's claim that Europeans don't view abortion as murder, here's the German constitutional court's opinion on the matter.

I certainly don't, so that should settle the matter, right? (Of course not; Europe is a big place.)

One point to note: if Europe's so much more free and enlightened, why does most of Europe have a higher suicide rate than the US?

Citation needed.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Yeah but people aren't normally against abortion because of that. It's because they think it's murder.

Which leads many of them to be sexually repressed and advocating it for everybody else, at least until they get married, when they may very well become so again after they have had "enough" kids. Many people are now even sterilizing themselves in record numbers, both males and females, just so they don't have to make that decision if they do have another accident.

I don't think you can separate the two issues. They appear to be inexorably linked.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Which leads them to be sexually repressed, at least until they get married when they may very well become so again once they have had "enough" kids. And many are now even turning to sterilizing themselves in record numbers, both males and females, just so they don't have to make that decision.

Again, if Sex is an unpleasant experience for them, why do they need to get sterilized? How did they end up with "enough" kids?

 

[NovaKart]

Or it could lead them to using birth control. I get that sometimes accidents happen but I honestly don't think opposition to abortion is primarily due to sexual repression. I don't see what getting a vasectomy or hysterectomy has to do with sexual repression either. People want to have sex without having a dozen children. How is that repressed? Most people even if they support abortion rights don't like the idea of abortion as a form of birth control.

 

[Rashiminos]

So fine, without drawing comparisons to Europe, and comparing it only to America, show how America's sexual practices are somehow different from the cultural standard.

I'd like to give the floor to Alfred Kinsey on that one.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I'd liken to give the floor to Alfred Kinsey on that one.

Yeah, I'm familiar with the work of Kinsey.
He never claimed American sexual practices were different from American sexual practices.

 

[Rashiminos]

public/private, seriously.

 

[ParkCungHee]

public/private, seriously.

Those are taken as a whole.
That is, you have to claim that American sexual practices in private are different from American sexual practices in private, and/or American sexual practices in public are different from American sexual practices in public.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Or it could lead them to using birth control.

Um, that was a given. If a sexually active couple doesn't use BC and doesn't want more kids, they are likely in for a rude shock.

I get that sometimes accidents happen but I honestly don't think opposition to abortion is primarily due to sexual repression.

No, I'm not stating it is due to sexual repression. I'm stating it leads to sexual repression.

If you think abortion is murder, you are probably going to do anything you can to ensure it doesn't ever happen. The only totally effective way do that is to preach complete abstention until the person is married and wants to have children.

 

[Rashiminos]

And completely ignore the differences between public and private perceptions?