Seeing as my last thread lightly touched on this and there is large scope for analyse I thought I'd express my ideas; This thread will only really deal with modern western culture.

Religious 'Morality'
Religion is frequently cited as the origin of the sex taboo however although Christianity institutionalised the sex taboo but it did not create it; there are biological and social origins of sex taboo which have nothing to do with Christianity. Religion, along with ideas of 'morality', are manifestations and not origins of the natural stigmatisation of sex.

Biological factors
Now this primarily focuses on female biology. Its often repeated in the community that women must commit alot more than a man when having sex. They are the ones that are pregnant, they are the ones that will give birth, and they are the ones who will have to nurture the child and so naturally sex and choosing the right partner is a big deal to women. Men however have less commitment, we dont have one egg per month, but millions of sperm being made daily. We can blast out our load and be on our way. This partially explains biologically why sexually active women are branded 'sluts' and their male counterparts complimented as 'players'. It's the mans job to inpregnate women, its the womans job to choose the best mate - female promiscuity is evolutionarily a negative trait and thus this leads to repression and stigma socially.

Humans however are no longer the hairy primatives we were biologically designed to be; people have characteristics from evolution that are misplaced in modern society. This is not to say we should go back to clubbing women as a means of seduction, but this is to say there are outdated elements in the human mind. With the invention of contraception sex has changed; sex used to always carry a strong possibility of conception and this of course made it something not be taken lightly but now it can be relatively risk free. The biological inhibitions of sex no longer apply the same degree which has lead us to question the social stigma of sex.

Cultural factors
Now although sex no longer carries the same risk of pregnancy it still carries the risk of disease amongst other nasties. Throughout human history it makes sense that casual sex was frowned upon because the people that did it would often catch diseases and/or live in (greater) poverty because of the large amount of children. Casual sex in olden times was irresponcible and the ideals of the enlightenment enforced this; the desire to have sex is an animal urge, not a product of the thinking mind.

Skip to now, these ideas that have been installed in society for thousands of year are still present. But there are still reasons for their existance. Sex still carries risks; pregnancy and disease are largely avoidable but still there and there are added risks, especially for women, of violence and other forms of abuse. Naturally the controlling element of society wants to avoid unneccessary disease or abuse and so the taboo is reinforced through media etc. Sex is fun but it makes sense that many people have inhibitions to it despite the 'sexual enlightenment' gradually removing the stigma. So, what is the solution?

The Solution
We continue our responcibility as sexually enlightened beings. All that needs to be remembered is that much of the stigma attached to sex is preinstalled from many different sources yet it is largely a false inhibition provided its done responcibly. Now of course women we meet are unlikely to have our liberal attitude and we must empathise but do so knowing there is absolutely nothing morally or physically wrong about wanting to experience a very natural and healthy form of enjoyment with another human being. There is nothing embarassing or immoral about the act of sex provided it is done for the right reasons and in a mature way.


PS: To the NHS, make my cheque payable to...