As long as boys and girls exist, there will always be touching, ogling, improper comments, and even a little behind-the-scenes hanky-panky. There is nothing, absolutely nothing anyone can do about this short of neuter the population. It is quite normal for boys and girls to meet and inspect each other, regardless of age or proclivity. We must never forget that this has been occurring ever since Eve presented Adam with a full-disclosure bite from her apple. In fact, today like yesterday, sophisticated adults still generously use their sex appeal in one way or another to finalize a deal.
Sex is the fuel that makes the world go around. It is a need too basic to suppress, regardless of how unorthodox and self-destructive the act may seem or even be. Referencing it in its many variations has brightened many smart salons and board rooms with fresh, giddy spins since the beginning of civilization. To watch the sanctimonious right or left attack each other over indiscretions, however modest, horrifies me. You would think a touch, a witty innuendo or an unwanted kiss was grounds for capital punishment.
As long as no one is held captive to the act and can walk away from the incident intact, it should be regarded for what it is, a temporary annoyance or an exercise in bad taste, which, as shocking as it may seem, we have all been guilty of at one time or another.
When I hear of adults confessing and shedding painful tears over some harmless act that may have occurred years ago, I become suspicious. If they were so severely damaged psychologically or physically by some unwanted assault, why didn’t they create a trail of complaints before surprising everyone years later with their accusations?
Regardless, unwanted sexual activity is a serious problem when someone is raped, drugged, injured, or knocked up. And it becomes a deadly sin when the predator molests or kidnaps a child or an adult in order to gratify some evil or depraved need, either for profit or pleasure. But to accuse someone of violating them years later without supportive evidence is, in my opinion, a vicious attempt at character assassination.
As a society, we have abandoned decency by allowing horrendous sex acts to become the norm. To understand how this has gotten so out of hand, we need to step back a moment in time. Wasn’t the sixties and seventies the beginning of the sex revolution? Wasn’t that the period in history when sex in all its variations broke out of the closet and began to shake up America – with its music, its movies, and even its tasteless sex education classes in the schools?
For many who survived, it was an era of sad beginnings in which the young tuned in, dropped out, and flew high. Because of adults like Harvard University’s Psychologist Timothy O’Leary, many of his students under the influence of LSD (and probably other drugs as well) went on terrifying journeys of all kinds without a return ticket.
As a result, many teenagers (and adults) were prematurely robbed of their innocence and introduced to high-voltage fornication (and drugs) everywhere – in the streets, in the movies, and in the basement with the janitor. The sixties and seventies launched a new era, in which the entertainment industry accelerated the corruption of Americans with salacious and vulgar music, dance, and sexual gymnastics on film. In one way or another, the entire American population succumbed and became victims of a New Age, an in-your-face, get-it-on revolt against propriety. To have escaped unscathed, you would have had to have been locked up in a cloister with neutered monks or nuns numbing your mind with fire and brimstone sermons.
Let me emphasize: no one escaped the sexual revolution. In one way or another, we all became victims – and for some, unfortunately, we remained victims.
Nevertheless, I believe breaking free of our puritanical overdose, which once dulled our great nation, was a good move. But instead of allowing our children to grow up with grace and discretion, we threw them into a hot cauldron of excess, where many remained, trapped. What we are seeing today, over 40 years later, are the angry results. The lynch mobs are everywhere, and they are ready to destroy anyone guilty of any indiscretion. No one really seems to be interested in learning what’s behind this change. The spectators are having too much fun watching the mighty fall to concern themselves about what the purpose of it all is.
In my novel (and also in my published play) Teacher of the Year, I playfully satirize one of the major groups responsible for damaging our children, specifically, the educators. Although collectively educators are doing considerable mental damage to our children through the process of education, they don’t deserve full credit for what is happening today. For this, we need to give some of that credit to our mass communication system, which carefully nourishes sultry ideas that often lead to horrendous acts.
To bring a halt to this societal suicide, we need to provide our children with a responsible education and environment that will allow them to mature gracefully into mature adults with a healthy respect for their libido. And we must stop classifying as criminal what in some cases is innocent and normal behavior between the sexes.
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Joe David is the author of numerous articles and six books; among them are two novels on education, Teacher of the Year andThe Fire Within. www.bfat.com
