let's talk about sex

in a previous entry, i mentioned the new rage in cosmetology. i feel a sense of rage against a particular method that “reconstructs” the hymen, the age-old measure of a woman’s virginity and consequential worth. while i respect that certain religions and ethnicities place value in that frail piece of tissue, i question the effects of such a value on women.

i present to you now, dear reader, an essay of arnold azurin entitled hypervaluated hymen: the deepest domain of male dominance. in the interest of keeping this entry within reasonable length, you may access said text by clicking on the hyper-linked title above. it’s not exactly very well-written and there are seemingly subversive undertones but i think it’s a good eye-opener, particularly for women. some ideas may seem to radical and may shock the more, erm, conservative lot so read at your own risk.

going back to the female genital make-over, the procedure makes absolutely no sense to me. the hymen is not a basis for virginity. a virgin isn’t just someone who’s sexually inexperienced. i think it’s a state of innocence in terms of awareness and thought: purity in mind as well as in body. eek, i sound like a moralist.

god knows how many real virgins are left, not counting children under the age of sexual maturity. sometimes i discount it to ignorance, or in other occasions, psychological defect. there is just something so pitifully sad about a person who knows absolutely nothing on an important, albeit controversial, subject.

which brings me to a standing issue with deped: providing sex education in public schools. the paper i read several days ago reports that cbcp once again shot down the proposal, claiming that it promoted sexual promiscuity and pre-marital sex among the youth. in a related news broadcast, talks are still ongoing regarding the implementation of the program. the show also cited statistics: about 4% of elementary students were already or have engaged in sexual intercourse. an old article i read also reported that a good number of the populations are (were?) unaware that sex (often) resulted children.

a digression: there was a snide joke about the poor having a lot of kids because they didn’t really have much to amuse themselves with. tapos, uso pa naman daw ang brownout o kaya’y wala talaga silang kuryente.

ours is too much of a conservative society. i blame the church. imagine, the government has been unable to pass family planning policies (free condoms?) because the church doesn’t approve of un-natural birth control methods. consequentially, we also have no population control. and there is once again no separation or even distinction between church and state.

i really don’t like taboos. in the long run, i think it makes people ignorant and shallow: able to make green jokes but stupidly silent when it comes to serious discourse. it is for this reason that i like shocking people with blog entries about sex, nudes and other topics most people keep mum about. call me guilty for intellectualizing everything. there are already too many people who waste brain power.

. . .

incidentally, the greenbelt theaters are currently screening kinsey, a movie about a doctor who was a pioneer in studying human sexuality. i've seen it on dvd (my tita has a copy, hehe) and found it very interesting. not for the sensitive or squeamish (read: sex scenes alert). stars laura linney, chris o'donnell and liam neeson as dr. kinsey.

. . .

comments, questions and violent reactions are always welcome. go ahead, and exercise those neurons!