2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographCOLUMN: Bilateral masturbation: The dehumanization and degradation of sex and intimacy
By John Bambenek
Posted: 9/15/06 Section: Opinions
Sexual liberation was supposed to free women to enjoy the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of sex. It's those darn fundamentalists that think sex is such a dirty thing. Abstinence education won't work because people "will just have sex anyway."
At least these are the lies we tell ourselves in this society.
I've taken a stroll through a few bookstores lately to test a theory. Every bookstore has a section on sex complete with Kama Sutras, guides to masturbation and assorted books of poses, all in addition to the myriad of medications that help with the physical attributes of sex, such as Dapoxetine which helps premature ejaculation.
If sex is this wonderful physical, emotional and spiritual act, why is it that only the physical aspects ever gets addressed? In an interesting twist of fate, the only book I found that addressed the spiritual and emotional components of was not found in the sex section of Barnes & Noble. It was found in Christian Inspiration.
Sex is supposedly this wonderful, special and unique act that brings couples to a heightened level of intimacy. If it is indeed so special, why is it traded as if it were worthless? The things that are important and valuable to people are shared with only close friends and family. Trust must be earned.
If intimacy is the goal, I would be interested in hearing how that is achieved by hooking up after a couple of watered down cheap beers at the local syphilis buffet. A society that practices the hook-up inherently disregards intimacy.
The constant preoccupation with "performance" demonstrates the deception that emotional and spiritual components have anything to do with sex in this society. "Sexual compatibility" is often cited as a condition of marriage. Apparently it just matters if they're good in bed, their identity is secondary.
What is left is sex that is effectively little more than bilateral masturbation. It's an act of sexual self-satiation. After it's over, the two people are left in an awkward silence in bed next to a stranger. Far from producing intimacy, it generates alienation.
At least these are the lies we tell ourselves in this society.
I've taken a stroll through a few bookstores lately to test a theory. Every bookstore has a section on sex complete with Kama Sutras, guides to masturbation and assorted books of poses, all in addition to the myriad of medications that help with the physical attributes of sex, such as Dapoxetine which helps premature ejaculation.
If sex is this wonderful physical, emotional and spiritual act, why is it that only the physical aspects ever gets addressed? In an interesting twist of fate, the only book I found that addressed the spiritual and emotional components of was not found in the sex section of Barnes & Noble. It was found in Christian Inspiration.
Sex is supposedly this wonderful, special and unique act that brings couples to a heightened level of intimacy. If it is indeed so special, why is it traded as if it were worthless? The things that are important and valuable to people are shared with only close friends and family. Trust must be earned.
If intimacy is the goal, I would be interested in hearing how that is achieved by hooking up after a couple of watered down cheap beers at the local syphilis buffet. A society that practices the hook-up inherently disregards intimacy.
The constant preoccupation with "performance" demonstrates the deception that emotional and spiritual components have anything to do with sex in this society. "Sexual compatibility" is often cited as a condition of marriage. Apparently it just matters if they're good in bed, their identity is secondary.
What is left is sex that is effectively little more than bilateral masturbation. It's an act of sexual self-satiation. After it's over, the two people are left in an awkward silence in bed next to a stranger. Far from producing intimacy, it generates alienation.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.