is sex too censored?

[artistrampage]

i was just thinking, and someone please debate me because i want to hear another perspective on this, that sex in general may be far too censored,almost to a point of it being glamorized and hyped up as a result. the way i see it,if something is seen as forbidden and almost kept a secret it will grab my attention and sex in my eyes as a young boy was exactly like this.things were blurred out on TV,words were bleeped out and any talk about it could have possibly resulted in a heart attack.I know that some might say that we live in a world thats over sexualized and that it has desensitized today's youth but the bottom line for me is that we all have genitalia and we all have sex at some point.so would it be so bad for early sex education?

[Chip]

One of my philosophy professors in college, who is a brilliant scholar, did a lot of study and thought in this area. He had a lecture that he gave publicly about twice a year, in which he discussed all of the factors you describe above. I can't do his presentation justice, but in effect, he argued that sex (and pornography) are the shocking and taboo things that they are simply *because* society creates the taboos around them. He said that at the point we stop putting such a "forbidden fruit" label on sex in all forms -- public nudity, pornography, etc -- that we as a society will stop buying into the glamorization, hype, and message that sex is shameful. And as a byproduct, it will cease to have its effect in marketing and selling products.

To some extent, I think his statements have been borne out by the more relaxed attitudes people have these days. People in their teens and 20s seem a lot less uptight about sex and in particular about talking about sex, which is probably a good thing. But at the same time, I think there's a risk of making it too casual and meaningless by completely normalizing it.

I see it as an interesting conundrum.

[Daryn]

I agree. People make sex into something "dirty" and "forbidden" in an effort to try and get teenagers not to try it, but I think it backfires a lot of the time. By trying to keep it a secret, they make it into this huge deal.

[thedreamwatch]

Chip, I've heard a lot about what your philosophy professor proposed. I'm in my early twenties and the people my age are usually pretty open about things like this.

Honestly, I don't know why people are always saying there's too much sex on tv. If I had kids, I would care SO MUCH LESS if they saw adult consensual sex on tv than the other things you see like people getting shot in the face.

More sex, less killing, I guess.

And I completely agree. Forcing sex to be a huge taboo and also abstinence-only sex education, simply cause problems. Teen pregnancy, STIs, you name it.

Sex is normal and natural and should be treated that way. I don't think that making it "not a big deal" to talk about sex will take the meaning away from it, for those people who put meaning into it. Not everyone thinks about having sex as a big emotional deal, and that's okay too, but regardless, everyone being safe and knowing a little bit about sex makes it a whole lot better for everyone.

[TheEdend]

I don't know. I personally think we are pretty good right now.

Everyone I talk to is pretty open about sex or whatever and my school started sex ed when I was 9 or so. My family is also pretty open about it, but not too open. A pretty decent balance and most of my friends have had the same experience.

I think that if we go even more out there then we start crossing a line, but who knows.

[thedreamwatch]

Originally Posted by TheEdend

I don't know. I personally think we are pretty good right now.

Everyone I talk to is pretty open about sex or whatever and my school started sex ed when I was 9 or so. My family is also pretty open about it, but not too open. A pretty decent balance and most of my friends have had the same experience.

I think that if we go even more out there then we start crossing a line, but who knows.

That is really awesome. There are some place though, even here in the US where they are not allowed to talk about sex in schools except to say "don't do it" and where parents keep it a secret and kids are getting pregnant and getting STI's...there is still work to be done in those places.

[Enaithor]

I think it is waaay too censored, I mean it's to "protect the kids" because they "don't understand" but obviously they won't understand if it's always hidden

[malachite]

yes.

[Flyers2011]

I think it all depends on where you live. Some places are really liberal and have sex ed programs in schools. Others, not so much.

Where I grew up, we had sex ed three different times by the time we were upperclassmen. Does that mean sex is something that isn't taboo? Not exactly, there's a strong 'church prescense' at my school. Some people get really offended by sex talks and things of that sort. Some people even removed their child from the sex ed classes we had.

There are certain labels that are attached to people who per se, visit sex shops. They're viewed as dirty or disgusting. So they like a little kink? As long as they're not molesting/raping anyone its their business. As well as strippers, people view strippers as prostitutes. They're not the same thing. A stripper may get paid to take his/her clothes off and pose (almost like a model), but a prostitute has sex for money. One is illegal and one isn't. In fact, one of my teachers told me about a girl who stripped at a local club until she had enough money to put herself through law school. She never did anything more serious than stripping. Does that make her sexually promiscious or a bad person? No.

I was always taught that it was better to be informed (or ask someone who ACTUALLY KNOWS) than to be stupid and get infected with a disease or get pregnant. Knowledge is power.

There's a lot of stigma placed on sex before marriage where I live. So many people talk about 'saving themselves', but if someone has sex before marriage they are viewed at as a 'whore' or a 'slut'. It's wrong because it's their life, and they're not hurting you so just back off, right?

[Bryan90]

Funny, this is actually a question that I was considering researching on - might be my next big project.

Now, let me explain why I find this a very very complicated question.

Relative Nature
The question "is something too censored" is often interpreted as a culturally relative statement. I.e.: "Is something too censored according to my values, my opinions or my perspectives?" [Replace 'my' with any other subject, i.e. '21st century societal']

Obviously one can speculate that a religious conservative and a open liberal would have different answers so such questions. And so would a 21st century person as opposed to a 16th century person.

If we continue to see this as a relative question, then it's pointless to answer it from an academic view point. It's like asking people do you think Brad Pitt is hot.

Objective Framework
Now, what I want to do is to examine societal perceptions on sex across culture and across time, in order to answer questions the following questions:

1. When did sex become a taboo?
Many historians will argue that societal attitude on sex has moved from being very liberal (during 'pagan' times from a European perspective) to being quite conservative when religion came about. Is religion the answer behind our change in mindset? How come irrespective of religion, civilisations across the world formed a taboo around sex (Indian Civilisation, Chinese Civilisation)? Were there an inter-mix of ideologies around sex?

2. Why did sex become a taboo?
What drove religion and cultures to form this idea that sex should be a taboo? Where there multiple factors or one dominating factor? Do the reasons still apply to our society today? If so, do we need to be careful in de-censoring sex?

3. What are the implications of censorship of sex?
Is it true that if there were less censorship, it would be less glamorised and hyped? Does 'sex sell' because of our over censorship of sex or simply because of our human nature to be captured to physical attraction? Both perhaps, if so, what are the weightage of the factors?


Human desire for sex and physical attraction is a HUGE 'motivation system' as evident by the presence of such desire across species, and the importance of such a system in the propagation of our species. I for one believe that the analysis surrounding 'sex' and 'lust' cannot be restricted to conscious desire for the need to achieve 'orgasm'. What about the desire to cuddle, to kiss? What about raw physical attraction?

I don't know. I have a feeling that this will be a project that I won't be able to fully learn about as science and history are still lagging in answering such questions.

[Aya McCabre]

If I ever have kids then they will get sex ed from me as soon as they're able to understand it. That's partly because I don't want them growing up to be ashamed of themselves (and also because I don't trust schools to do a good job) but also because a young child who would be capable of describing exactly what somebody did to them is far less likely to be targeted by predators.

[Rikudo]

Man I don't know where all you guys are getting that it's too censored but sex is everywhere I see. I don't think people make as big of a deal of it as it used to be. I think it's fine as far as media goes. However education wise it's that everyone is too much of pussies to talk about it teachers and parents. Teachers dont' wanna get bitched out by parents and parents don't want to deal with the awkwardness of talking to their offspring about it.

[Enaithor]

Sex is everywhere (to sell things), albeit very censored (which adds to it being a taboo)
But general sex and nudity is very censored, like nudity is illegal in public, especially for a man (in the UK, women are allowed to be naked in public if their intent is not to shock people - men are not allowed at all) but with general nudity I don't see the problem, because it isn't even particularly sexual it's just the human form...

[Danielle]

Most things are too censored (sex included)