Everybody talks about sex. Whether people are conservative or liberal, outgoing or shy, young or old, male or female, whether they want you to know it or not, everybody talks about sex.
Many people want to hide or suppress this. People become awkward and embarrassed at the mere mention of it. It’s shunned in public, and looked down upon in the media and entertainment. Movies are ranked based on appropriateness, music comes with warning labels and children are told the bare basics in school, giving them enough knowledge to know not to talk about it.
This is something the needs to be talked about. It doesn’t make sense that something so natural has become so taboo. There are dozens of reasons that our culture developed this way, and none of them are really relevant anymore. If people want to talk about sex, than people should talk about sex.
It’s been beaten into society that we should be ashamed to talk about issues and concerns that are natural, but a culture has also developed of gossiping and talking about other people’s lives, with or without their knowledge. Additionally, people love having in depth conversations about sensitive sexual issues behind closed doors. People clearly need to talk about sex. It’s impossible to keep all of that curiosity and all of those feelings bottled up. People will both metaphorically and physically explode.
Sex, sexuality, gender roles and stereotypes are all things that should be talked about because without communication, there can be no understanding, and without understanding, nothing will ever make sense. These are issues that are relevant to everyone, whether they think so or not.
My goal is to change that, at least on a small scale. I wish to bring up topics that will create a basis for conversation. I want to find a way to make people less uncomfortable talking about things that they have genuine concern and questions about. This column is by no means a reflection of my personal life, nor am I trying to force my opinions onto you. I simply want to write about things that are not generally written about, or even considered.
Additionally, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and ideas, either regarding articles I’ve written, but especially topics you’d like to see explored. Please feel free to contact me at nrr001@mcdaniel.edu . I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
