America's Sexual Shame Blame Game

The media and the rise of a "liberated" American sex culture are definitely related. Anyone who has been alive for more than 15 years has surely noticed the declining censorship of web, television, and music content. With that, Americans of all ages have grown accustomed to having sexual material accessible with just the click of the mouse, press of a button, or changing of the station.



I don't necessarily "blame" the media for promulgating a social ill, because sex in and of itself is not bad. Moreover, the media is only the conduit through which ideas travel. Clearly, if we are upset that the entertainment content in our nation has become more explicit, we must realize that content begins with the people and succeeds or fails based on public reception. Our nation apparently gravitated towards and continues to enjoy sexually explicit material; the media is only reflecting the interests of the masses in embracing and sharing our emerging sex culture.

This issue is perhaps most interesting because although we are becoming more liberal and open in our views on sex, our society still seems sexually repressed and almost perverted in comparison to many European nations.

Whereas in Europe sex is seen as a beautiful and natural act of life, America's sexual liberalization seems geared towards spreading a careless, hedonistic, health-unconscious, and selfish attitude on sex. Sensuality, the emotional connection, and ramifications of "free love" are largely ignored by media outlets, and our once repressed culture is jumping to the dangerous opposite extreme of being harmfully exhibitionistic.

We've all had conversations with friends about how today's 5 year olds are talking about sex and cursing instead of watching Saturday morning cartoons. We've seen the Dateline specials on Online Sexual Predators and Pedophiles. We've read the reports of school teachers statutorily raping students. You probably also know individuals wasting hours of their life away on Internet porn sites like Xtube.

America's sexual identity is changing. The media bares some "responsibility" because it is enabling and broadcasting the evolution. Nevertheless, society changes ONLY because the people's thoughts and values change. Thus, any attempt to reroute the American sexual revolution would have to start with altering the very way people view/want to view sex. The media does not hold the brunt of the blame, we do. When we want to change, we eventually will.

Be well,

*The video above is a recent news story on Desmond Hatchett, a 29 year old father of 21 children