Page 54 - Advanced Romance

Advanced Romance* 51
Since the 1960s many Americans no longer believe sex to be a sin if it’s between consenting adults and if
it is responsible. Responsible means that you agree on the meaning of the sex act, that you use birth control if that’s your goal, and you’ve come clean about the STD situation. Or you can be a sexual predator spreading sexually transmitted emotions, STE’s, STD’s and babies without concern for who you hurt or infect or make pregnant.
This is not to say that some sex can have very negative effects, tantamount to what could be considered a sin. Unwanted pregnancies, broken marriage oaths, casual sex when the other party takes it seriously, AIDS ... are among the few examples of what horrible effects sex can have.
But after the 1960s the Puritan view was mostly replaced by the view that sex is a pleasurable experience which, if handled responsibly, was fine in marriage, and for many, fine outside of marriage. Of course, there’s no telling where we’ll end up after personally polygamous Trump gets through manhandling American society. The Handmaid’s Tale may come true.
But until then, this fundamentalism is long gone for most people trying to live a freethinking life, but it’s still very much powerful enough in our psyches to add to the silky veils that make sex and relationships so hard to think about.