I love how Christians somehow have a reputation for being joyless, sexless prudes, as though the choices at hand are either to be the most promiscuous, gonorrhea-laden, Sex in the City/Desperate Housewives wannabe OR to mew yourself up in a convent. People don’t think that way about food; we all observe some reasonable restrictions there and don’t give it a thought. For example, you don’t eat raw pork because you know you’re at risk for trichinosis. You know that a consequence of overeating is to become fat, and you don’t rail against someone who points that fact out; it’s an undisputed truth. We teach our children not to take candy from strangers. We have limits on the age at which people can legally consume alcohol. All of those things are understood and rarely questioned. But if you point out that male to male anal sex puts you at risk for HIV more than any other sexual activity, promiscuous sex has serious negative consequences, that teenagers should not have sex, and pornography is harmful to both men and women, you’re judgemental, prudish, and anti-freedom.
In point of fact, studies have shown that Christian women are having more fun in bed than our secular sisters are, and every so often there is a mini-movement in the church at large to remind us that that’s okay. We had a pastor once who was fond of saying, “Before marriage – hands off. After marriage, make up for lost time.”
Some things, in fact most things, should be subject to reasonable restrictions. Sex is one of them. Some things are private – sex is one of them. But limited and private does not equate with ’shameful’ and every so often it’s nice to have a reminder of that.
http://stuffcatholicslike.com/2008/05/15/xii-sex/
Popular, this sex stuff.
“…most things, should be subject to reasonable restrictions.”
I don’t think that anyone would argue against this. The problem figuring out just who gets to decide what those restrictions should be, upon what basis they are decided, who must follow the restrictions, how they are enforced, and who gets to enforce them. Its those sticky details that gets people from different backgrounds a-fightin’.
Indeed.
Laura said, “In point of fact, studies have shown that Christian women are having more fun in bed than our secular sisters are…” There is a very good reason for that. Women in a Christian marriage have a secure basis for their sexual relationship. They can give themselves fully, expecting and knowing that they are loved and cared for by husbands who have accepted a responsibility for them forever. With that sort of security, why should they not be able to feel complete abandonment to sexual union with their husbands?
Single women, on the other hand, know that if they engage in sexual relations, whatever results from that will be their problem to deal with alone. Whatever they get out of the sexual experience is simply for the moment, brief, transient, and passing, except for a possible pregnancy or STD. For them, it is an altogether different situation.