Selling Sex

We live in a culture that pushes sexuality.  The world has always known that sex sells.  It has brought down kings, destroyed politically leaders, created religious scandals in both Judeo & Non-Judeo settings.  Sex is a powerful aspect of relationships and can be mis-used through rape and abuse.
The power of sex, intimacy, love, romance & the mystery of such an experience between two people always peaks the interest of humanity.

We have movies & TV shows that will create awkward & sex filled scandals to bring in the highest ratings.

GLEE celebrated Valentine's day by staging 2 homosexual sex scenes, two heterosexual sex scenes, a college age guy posing as a male escort and the ending scene was of a college freshman taking a pregnancy Test.  According to TV by the numbers the week GLEE aired it was the 4th OVERALL show on all networks viewed by teens

The TV show NEW GIRL which aired this past week had a non married couple trying to have sex between their work schedules.  The man spent the rest of the episode searching for a condom in any & everywhere possible.  NEW GIRL has a viewer audience that is college & post college age.

I've spent the last 13 years of my life around High School students.  We know that not all teenagers mimic what they see or hear and have sexual experiences out of curiosity or experimentation.  But we do know that the mindset of acceptable standards for sexuality have become very grey in the minds of young adults.

Pornography is a billion dollar industry.  The hard-wiring of a young mans brain literally can get rewired on how he views woman, what value he'll place on woman as well as what his definitions of sex are.  A great read on this is a book by William Struthers is Wired for Intimacy.  This effect on young men has radically changed how young adults view sexual boundaries.

These are two pictures from a bathroom in Las Vegas, Las Vegas Hilton.  What subtle message is this communication?  A woman will find you attractive if your penis will make her gasp and she'll want to pull out a tape measure to see how big it is & take a picture of it.  All while you can stare at the cleavage she is putting out there for the world to see.

It's an ad.  It's a fake sell at a false reality.  I've sat with many couples & talked honestly about sex in their relationship, their marriage & their past relationships.  Not once has a woman declared that she only dated a guy because he was "larger than average".  What these woman have communicated is they need a guy who'll care for their heart more than their body.  The need to know that who they are as individuals is not just for sexual pleasure.  

I wonder how much healthier relationships would be if spouses & significant others wouldn't feel the pressure of needing to be compared to stereotypes and the expectations that are portrayed?  

Asking high school guys how they feel about these pictures and peeing in front of them they say "intimidated", "self-conscious", "Is that really what girls think?".  

As people who believe that life led by Jesus creates a transformation in how we view the world we need to continue to lead the charge of destroying stereotypes and speaking messages of truth to a generation that is being lied to & misled every day.