I’m tired of sex. Not the sex I have between the sheets with my husband of thirty+ years. I’m tired of the images of sex that assault my eyes and assail my sensibilities each time I open a magazine or turn on the television or even walk through WalMart.
It used to be that I had a choice about whether to look at scantily clad men or women with revealing cleavage. I could decide if I wanted to hear details about a neighbor’s adventurous sex life or sordid affair. I had to read books or seek out court records to find out about child pornographers and pedophiles. And discussions of “sexual difficulties” and diseases were confined to a doctor’s office. All that has changed.
Now anyone from an anchorwoman to a carton character can wear a shirt that either appears to have buttons missing or is cut so low it would have made my mother blush. Unfortunately no one seems to blush anymore. One of my favorite crime dramas has a female character who is educated, soft-spoken, intelligent, and witty. She also dresses like a slut. How many professional crime investigators dress that way? And don’t get me started about reality shows, soap operas, and talk shows. I can’t even watch most of them.
Of course I don’t have to actually watch a television show to hear about sex. Commercials for medications, diet pills, and a dozen other products give me all the exciting information I could ever want. I’m old enough to remember the first bra commercial featuring a real woman. I wasn’t sure that was necessary and I’m not sure the current round of medication commercials is either. It seems to me that if I needed help with sexual function I would talk to my spouse and my doctor about it. I wouldn’t trust something touted on television.
There is no decorum in reporting the news either. It isn’t enough to tell me that someone is a pornographer or pedophile. The broadcasters appear determined to give me every distasteful detail they can uncover. I’ve actually heard some news reports that were so complete, in any other context they would be pornographic! How do parents let their children stay in the room during the news? Reporters give warnings about graphic violence and nudity, but they seem to think that a good description never hurt anyone!
Men’s magazines still need a paper cover on most newsstands. But tabloids, women’s magazines, fitness magazines, and entertainment magazines show so much skin that I’m not sure which is more distasteful. I recently saw a magazine prominently displayed at a WalMart check stand that was so offensive I did a double-take; no doubt what the publisher intended!
It’s not enough to see naked bodies all the time. Now I have to hear about sex from adolescent girls so attached to their cell phones they have no concept of the term “privacy”. They discuss anything and everything while shopping, waiting in lines, and eating lunch. I have a message for them: Please don’t tell me your personal secrets. Please get that phone out of your ear and remember where you are. Please shut up!!
I know what you’re thinking- I’m a prude. I disagree. I’m merely prudent, and there is a marked difference between the two. A prude is someone “excessively attentive to propriety” or who “affects extreme modesty”. A prudent person shows wisdom, judiciousness, or discretion. I am not offended by sex or naive about it’s real place in our lives. I’m merely weary of our attempts to make it part of every waking hour. I’m tired of its importance being equated with breath and thought. I’m exhausted by the sheer volume of words used to express its allure. And I’m bored by nudity. Enough already. I’ve come to the conclusion that the reason why there aren’t more nudist colonies has nothing to do with morality or modesty. We simply know in our hearts that we’d be bored to death!
With all the problems in the world, you would think we would spend more time and energy on something worthwhile, like our children. They see the same images I see. They hear the same words I hear. I only hope most of them have parents who are willing to explain the world to them. I hope they have parents who know the difference between sex and love, between vanity and health, between curiosity and concern, and between nonsense and knowledge. I hope they have parents who read the Bible and tell them about the real purpose of sex.
I’m a patient person. I know society will soon tire of its fascination with sex and skin. I only hope we haven’t ruined a whole generation of young people in the meantime.
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