I have been talking with many of the most important women in my life, discussing the politics and morals of sexual relations. I have thought about the European nations where prostitutes are legal and quite publicly displayed. They have regular medical check-ups to avoid STD's and they are given birth control to avoid unwanted pregnancies. I listened to a BBC broadcast where a woman in Bangladesh was interviewed. Unlike Europe, the "sex workers" there are mostly poor women who struggle to feed themselves, much less the inevitable babies born due to lack of birth control. (This woman, out of desperation and starvation, began allowing men to use her body to satisfy their physical lust at the tender age of 11, and it HURT!) I thought about the issue of abortion, a political issue that is not really just political. Who is to make the life and death decision? When is the mass of cells in a woman's body to be considered a separate being? Avoiding conception and destroying a conceived potential being are NOT the same thing. I thought about the women I know personally who contracted an STD (sexually transmitted disease) from their own husbands who were obviously cheating on them and they didn't know about it until the doctor diagnosed them. I thought about the current social outcry about powerful men in the entertainment industry abusing women and remembered the public bragging of sports stars who have fathered countless children, none of whom they actual act as "father" to, only being sperm donors. I remember the "open-minded" concepts being socially promoted in the 60's and 70's, "free love" or "peace, love, dope". The idea was to distance the old "Victorian" notions of "frigid sex" not openly enjoyed by women and only considered necessary for procreation. Then there was the "wife-swapping" to liven up even sex within marriage. Sex has become a form of recreation, fun, personal/selfish pleasure. It is openly encouraged to satisfy onesself with anyone, any time no matter what gender or even without acknowledgement of a gender. There are no longer any limits and anyone who suggests limits is strongly criticized as being prejudiced and intolerant.
I believe in God. I believe in living prophets who can give us guidance in a world so out of control. Way back in 1995, the First Presidency of the LDS Church (living prophets, seers, and revelators) sent out "The Family- A Proclamation to the World" which clarifies this whole issue. I want to quote just a few words from this document:
All human beings-male and female- are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose......We declare that God's commandment to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that god has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife. We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan. Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children.
I don't expect everyone to agree with me on this. But it sure seems to me that the ONLY solution to this issue is God's solution- sexual relations only and respectfully within marriage. Women should not be advertising their bodies for lustful consumption nor should they encourage their daughters to do so. This sounds harsh but it's what it is! Look beautiful, not trashy! Men should not be considering uncontrolled lust to be "natural" in any form. Love your wives, including physical relations. Produce and care for the resulting children, if any. It really would be so much nicer for the world.
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