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Sex-Negative Culture, it's Consequences, Groups Like Moms for Liberty and Even the Bible [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-11-09
Commenting on the KOS article, Moms for Liberty sounds like an American chapter of the Iranian sex police or yet another Republican front group, or both. A 17 year old girl has more in common with an adult than a child, selecting her to make their pathetic police complaint represents a group obsessed with sexual negativity, repression and control.
But the issues they raise are supported by many other organizations, including religious, political and social ones. When they or a Republican uses the word “Liberty” or “Freedom” what they really mean is authoritarian patriarchy.
A Hidden Epidemic, The Consequences of Silence
Child Sexual Abuse: A hidden epidemic.
I may get bashed by some for saying this, but very young children have a developing sexual curiosity and we should not pretend they don’t. The real issues and dangers are adult exploitation of that fact. Even at an early age, it is part of what children experience and sometimes think about on some level. Yes, it’s not any where near an adult level. But it exists.
Taught to Conceal
It is very real and a curiosity children are “taught” to conceal. Frequently by the total absence of any mention of something of a sexual nature and the uncomfortable way many parents will react if the issue comes up.
I will cite myself as an example. I was about six, playing inside a large cardboard box with 3 or 4 other kids my age. We were curious about our private parts, and innocently exposed them to each other. Somehow we knew this to be something we were not to tell anyone else. And none of us did.
Why Child Sexual Abuse is so Common
Lists of suspected clerical child abusers
This leads me again to the real issue of how child sexual abuse can occur and why the victims of it will often not disclose it. Many adult parents attempt to completely conceal sexuality of any sort from their children and never speak of it in any way. Often out of the same guilt us four boys in the box later felt.
That guilt comes sometimes from sex-negative religious training as well as a general societal and parental belief that children need to be “protected” from the notion of sexuality.
It is transmitted by parents who are very reluctant to discuss any issues connected with sexuality with their children.
The children begin to feel a sense of guilt for whatever level of sexual curiosity they are experiencing. I myself got a double dose of that, attending 12 years of Catholic schools where I got an authentic 100% sex negative education, as well as zero info either way from my parents, who in every other way were great to me. I had a crush in my second year at Holy Name on my teacher, a young nun in her 20s, and a rare teacher that was kind, attentive and motherly to her students. Never told a single soul about it until now.
Abusers are Rarely Strangers
No segment of society is free from sexual abuse.
The adult abuser, often a relative, authority figure or clergy member, is familiar with the guilt children often feel about sexual matters, and will frequently get away with such abuse for years.
Pedo-clergy, mainly priests in my case, had a virtual free reign in the Catholic schools to abuse young children, spurred on with their god-like status to the children.
Children in many cases who felt terrible guilt and conflict about their experiences and therefore could not share this fact with anyone else, parents included. Same may happen as well in other patriarchal sex-negative religions.
Reducing the Risks
A sex education book for children
It must be stated honestly. We live in a society which has a strong tendency to avoid sexual education and affirmation, especially for younger children. This goes for most schools and is practiced by many parents instinctively based on their own upbringings.
The result of this lack of appropriate age related sex education is often exactly what is feared the most, their children are sexually abused without anyone’s or their parent’s knowledge. Or young people past puberty wind up either fathering or birthing a child long before they are ready for handling it.
While there are books for kids available on the subject, even less is done during the early years of schooling. I tried to find some worth recommending but as of this writing had only read some reviews. But I did find two that seemed typical. The first:
Sex Is a Funny Word: This engaging comic book format book covers concepts of sex broadly without providing concrete, scientific explanations or medically precise illustrations (emphasis mine). It’s inclusive and positive, making it a great choice for kids of all ages.
What are we Afraid of?
This book appears a better choice to me.
I’m honestly not sure what precisely should constitute early age sex education, but believe it is nevertheless essential. The language in italics above was pretty common in the reviews. Which seemed to me bordering on defeating the purpose of sex education to begin with. Much of what we learn about our sexuality is learned on “the street”, not in school or from our parents and is often wildly inaccurate or downright false. The book appears to — and I haven’t actually read it — be leaning toward the Walt Disney concept of sex and nature.
This book on the right sounded more on target. It seems to include more info which could help a school aged child avoid falling victim to an adult predator. I also don’t think we have to keep kids ignorant of the consequences of sex on their lives, emotions and relationships, both positively and negatively. There are, of course, very sound reasons for avoiding teenage pregnancy or fathering a child too soon in life in industrialized societies. These should be shared with a child as they approach puberty. So should birth control methods.
Birth Control: Understanding use and Having Access are Essential
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Parents and guardians typically advise or demand abstinence in the early teen years, but it often has little influence one way or another on preventing unwanted pregnancies. Birth control should be made available without dispute as an essential human right.
So should information on different methods. Especially after the age of 15. Sad to say, young men of teenage years and older are, more often than not, notoriously unreliable at taking such responsibilities.
Parents should also be open to issues of sexual orientation and their child’s emotional feelings on the issue if expressed, which often takes time to evolve with clarity. I still think the Kinsey Studies from the 40s and 50s went a long way toward revealing that sexual orientation varies from person to person, with some not being strongly committed to being straight or gay and others strongly and exclusively committed.
The Historical Damage Attributable to Sexual Negation and Patriarchy
Probably the ultimate question on the subject is why sex negative religions were able to develop so widely and have held on so stubbornly? In the Bible’s Old Testament sex was inferred to be the very reason men and women were thrown out of the Garden of Eden by a vengeful God and became mortal. It’s worth examining parts of Genesis 2:4-3:24 (without abbreviation) because patriarchy remains alive and well today:
. . The woman (Eve) said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 16 . . . So the Lord God said to the woman, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Patriarchal Justification?
Painting depicting the Garden of Eden
Some believe this story described as from an angry/cruel God evolved to justify the oppression of women by patriarchy. Some segments (verse 18 & 19) also seem to justify male enslavement and having to work for others. When Adam was offered the forbidden fruit according to the story, it is widely interpreted as an accusation and declaration that Eve, i.e. women, represent the “original sin” of human sexuality.
Defining Human History
The other “64 thousand dollar” question is how such sex negative practices may have influenced the very nature and direction of human history? Clearly, sex is the natural driving force to the successful development of any species. Demonizing it has had long term negative consequences we have been reluctant to admit or do analysis on.
Eternal MAGAism?
Meet the new boss . . . same as the old boss.
MAGAism, for example, has been around for thousands of years, under different names and wearing different disguises. Is it not true that aspects of their angry, vengeful and imperfect tendencies line up with the angry and vengeful personality attributed to God in Genesis?
Admittedly, this last point is a subject for a much longer, more detailed and referenced article. But I believe that the effects of sexual negation and repression have removed much of the natural humanity of our species. Declaring the very reason for our existence as an immoral practice outside of the very unnatural institution of contract marriage has had deadly consequences often hidden from history and our consciousness.
Recommended Reading:
The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich
The 17 Best Books on Gender Identity and Expression
Facts of Life — a very short but to the point article.
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