Sex--The Unknown Quantity: The Spiritual Function of SexMcIvor-Tyndall, Alexander J. (Alexander James)
Religion
Sex--The Unknown Quantity: The Spiritual Function of Sex
McIvor-Tyndall, Alexander J. (Alexander James)
Sex
They may surrender their physical body to another, for money, and
according to their idea they may yet remain true to the husband or
lover, because the matter is a business transaction. The other man has
only what he has purchased, namely, the physical body. But should the
woman permit another man to arouse in her a sexual response; should
another invade her mind, absorb her thoughts, or engage her heart, the
husband is outraged and the woman realizes her unfaithfulness.
All of which goes to show that up to the present time sexual morality
has in itself no absolute uniform standard by which it can be measured
and satisfactorily and convincingly presented to all persons, as have
other phases of morality, such as honesty, justice, mercy, generosity,
friendship, fidelity to country, and self-sacrifice to the good of
humanity.
And although all these moral qualities have their bearing upon sexual
morality, they do not establish a uniform ideal of sexual morality.
Honesty is honesty whether in Paris, London, Calcutta, or Pekin, but
as has been previously observed, sexual morality is determined by
local conditions.
Can there, then, be established a universal standard of sexual
morality? There can, but its universal acceptance is a remote
probability, albeit it will arrive some day.
First of all, the sex relation must be absolutely free from sale;
coercion; or barter; whether within the respectable "sale" of
matrimony or of recognized prostitution. It must be free from any
erroneous idea of marital duty; it must be exalted, reverenced,
deified, in all its aspects, from the impregnation of a plant, to the
sexual embrace of human lovers.
An Utopian dream it appears, if we note but one side of the picture.
If we consider the lightness with which so many men look upon the
physical form of women; and if we realize the attitude of so many
women toward men, in their conflict with life, using the age-old dowry
from mother Eve, of sex, as a weapon of defense and of offense; if we
listen to the ribald songs that offend our ears and nauseate our
souls, not only in music-halls and on the streets, but in supposedly
cultured homes; and above all if we contemplate the uncleanness of
mind displayed by those who are really in earnest in their endeavor to
uplift the moral tone of the world.
These latter are, by far, the worst enemies to the Regeneration of
Sex. A wise man once said, "Save me from my friends; I can protect
myself against my enemies"--and so it is in this instance.
Most "Civic-Leaguers" and members of "Vice-Commissions" (why that
name, anyway?) are infected with the bacteria of sex-degradation.
They really require a lengthy process of mental disinfection, before
attempting to handle so delicate a problem as this one of sexual
uplift.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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