The Politics of Prurience

The "culture of life" is a misnomer - this arm of the Christian right-wing (more like the entire body of this loud-mouthed ideological faction) should operate under the title "culture of prudes." Not as catchy, perhaps, and certainly not as humanistic or grandiose, but much more a propos. Stem cell research is not about protecting the "weakest among us" but about recriminilizing abortion and hopefully, for many social conservatives, a whole slew of currently legal and rampant practices. The gay marriage amendment is not about shoring up an institution that divorce has thoroughly ravaged - outlawing gay marriage is about preventing men from doing you know what with each other. Stopping our activisit judiciary is not about checks and balances, but about stamping out any hope people have for intimacy without significant government interference. Terry Schiavo is not about the "culture of life" versus the "culture of death" - Terry Schiavo is about abortion. And abortion is not about defining life, abortion is about sex.

Why at this late date, with Brittany Spears running about half-nekked, three-year-olds parading down runways in makeup and slinky numbers, and every other show on Fox revolving around sexually active teenagers and their adulterous parents, would anyone bother with the politics of prurience? Maybe the response is "better late than never." Others might say the movement is a backlash for our three decades of glorious (and sometimes painfully confusing) freedom. But I prefer to think of the Christian Coalition and their brethren as the last gasp of old-time religion. Oh sure, they control the legislatures, executive branches, and wide swathes of the judiciary. Rest assured these folks are on their way out and this is last hurrah. How can I be so cocky (no pun intended)? I watch television. I see movies. I pass glossy magazine covers in the grocery store. Sex sells and what sells in this country wins.

These tight-pantied old prudes may get their legislation passed, reversing decades of progress in women's and civil rights. They may even get a whole Supreme Court chocked full of their brothers in arms. But they cannot stop people from having sex where the end goal is not reproductive. If you ask me, they should blame God for this. God (aka Nature) made us this way - made us want to have sex all the time, whether we are ovulating, infertile, too old or too young (and yes sixteen is too young to have a baby in this culture). The sexual revolution is natural, though perhaps not orderly. Nobody beats nature, not even humans, with our fancy pants smarts, high tech gadgets, and medical wizardry.

Nature's bitch-slaps - the tsunami or global pandemics - are generally pretty spectacular. So why do we keep messing with Nature? Instead of constantly carping on what is "right" or "wrong" according to the doctrine of a bunch of primitive folks running around the desert 4,000 years ago, we should try to figure out the true way of things. Maybe if Republicans would learn to get with the Tao, their policies would make more sense and they would no longer look like a bunch of hypocritical hooligans. And maybe, just maybe, if we stopped talking and fretting about sex, if we did not freak out and bristle at the mere mention of the word, we might be less interested in the whole topic, develop a healthier approach, and get on with our lives. After all, shouldn't a "culture of life" be first and foremost about living? So let's stop making every little thing about sex and live a little.