We are given some examples of the ways we are being desensitized in the area of sex by the mass media: advertising, movies, sitcoms, drama. Subtle and not so subtle dialogue and pictures that work on our mental faculties, move the heart and can easily influence our actions.
One example from an advertisement we have a woman being compared to food which the man finds attractive and wants to eat. These and similar examples show how often we objectify the opposite sex. In this case the objectifying of the woman degrades her to less than human, to satiate the need of the man.
Dramas, movies and the like when romance begins we have physical contact and intercourse as the natural course that will follow. Dating without a sex mate is 'no fun', romance requires the 'honey and fun'. These words have become common among the young on the Internet.
The popular media has accepted the premarital sexual encounters of the young and chastity before marriage is understood as a quaint 'left over' from the past. Those who want to live chastely are odd balls, stuffy people out of touch with reality: considered by some as not respecting the freedom of women. In a word you are made to feel guilty for your antiquated understanding of sexuality: a sign of the desensitization that has occurred in culture.
In a recent survey made among unmarried 2113 young people: 47% have had a one night experience. 71% see no need to worry about premarital sex. Only 9% found it necessary to be chaste before marriage. A survey made among those in their twenties, about half feel no need to be chaste before marriage. The head of a research institute is quoted as saying that to objectify a person gives pain; when sex loses its meaning life also loses its meaning.
Premarital sex, by many, is seen as a good preparation for marriage but the article mentions the studies made in the States show the number of divorces of those who have had premarital sex are two times the number of the chaste.
Recently on TV we had young celebrities who have made known their desire to remain chaste before marriage. You have those who feel that in our society this kind of talk is playing to deaf ears, and not necessary; the other side thinks giving oneself to another in the loving embrace of unity is done too easily and without preparation. The article concludes with a wish for more discussion on the meaning of sexuality in our lives and society.
