| Author: Minnie Note: This essay is an original composition. Please do not copy without my expressed, written consent. Distribution: Please ask. Archive Date: 1/17/2001 Author's Note: I was watching an MTV special on sex and was suddenly full of opinions on the matter. *g* I believe humans are inherently selfish creatures. It stands to reason because we all begin and end with just one, with ourselves. Oh, we may coat ourselves with good intentions, saying we wish to be selfless, but deep inside, lies a part that recoils at this notion. Perhaps this is where the sex as a taboo comes into play. Sex, by nature, is an act of sharing. Whether it is done alone or with a partner, it is ultimately a giving of oneself, an opening of one’s soul. It can render us humans weak, vulnerable, defenseless and ultimately formless. To combat this seemingly paralyzing weakness, we have devised an ingenious plot. A plot that stamps “taboo” all over sex, hiding behind such rhetoric as debasement, depravity and deviation. A plot that prevents us from releasing part of ourselves to the world. What is it that the French call “the little death”? Oh, yes. It is sex. And literally, it is death, because when we explode into orgasmic splendor, we lose a part of ourselves, something we can never regain. We may try to hold onto it by reliving the experience but that part in its original form can never be obtained again. This is why sex has come to be a dirty word, something to be reviled and suppressed. It is not a revolt against sex itself, for who would deny themselves its pleasure, but a revolt against the loss of integral parts of our being, our identity. It is a revolt against the death of the self. Is it any wonder that purveyors of the flesh are decried as anti-Christs and pure, innocent virgins are hailed as bastions of morality? We all see these so-called sex fiends as reflections of our losses, castigating them for daring to promote some form of “death”. We revere statues of the Virgin mother, saying she is the sole embodiment of purity and innocence. In a way, she is. She is the self we all want to protect, the self we do not want to give away, the self that remains solid, unyielding and whole. Humans are inherently selfish. But then again, that is what makes us human. Knowing that we are contained within ourselves, that we are unique, that we are only one. If we give in to it, if we know this fact to be unassailable, then we do not need to come up with external barriers, such as the taboo of sex, to hold on to ourselves. -End- HOME MUSINGS ETCETERA |
| The Taboo of Sex An MTV-inspired Essay |