For the last two millennia the Western World was bound to values and understandings that build upon the ideas of the Old and New Testament, in addition with the philosophical thought of ancient Greek and the eras of Alexander and Caesar. The Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th century still sets the foundation of modern life, however, these ideas inspired people to search for more, to develop and thrust forward the limits of understanding. The world wide expansion over the last 50 years and the rising level of sophistication has shaped society into a new age of unlimited information. We send people to the moon, spacecrafts deep into our solar system, and on our own planet we are able to “program nature” by changing DNA codes. Although these are very refined processes, the nature of them is simple - we want to change and overcome what we are.
We want to transcend nature. This starts by being able to dye your hair and using make up and goes as far as radical plastic surgery. If you do not like whom you are - change. This is the attitude of the post Enlightenment age - the age of possibility. An American saying is that it does not matter who you are, it matters who people think you are. This is the very nature of this age of possibility, the anonymous world of the internet and a lifestyle that is just concerned with the surface of people. The values that guided our lives for the last 2000 years are more than in question, they are about to be overthrown by the possibilities the future has to offer. This essay is mostly concerned with the development and perception of sexual morality in the Western World, rather than developing countries, the Middle and the Far East.
The Spirit of the Sixties created a wave of love and peace, the introduction of the contraceptive pill and the availability of all kinds of drugs made this new “wave of love” possible. Though flower power did not really work, people kept the lifestyle. This is where the spirit of the sixties got lost and the things hippies promoted as in real love, peace and a nuclear free world were betrayed by capitalism which fed off hedonism.
This is also the point in history where a new split between sexual morality and the ethics of sex emerged. The view of sexual morality changed when the picture of a sexually satisfied and impassioned woman motivated women to emancipate. The possibility to have sex without the risk of getting pregnant but still experiencing full pleasure was what gave women the consciousness to take on a different part in society.
If one compares sex with a drug, because they are quite similar, an action like smoking some marihuana leads to the release of stimulating hormones in the brain and it makes more fun if you do it with more than one person. The same with bungee jumping or sky diving- these extreme sports result in release of Dopamine and Adrenaline that gives people a rush. This rush can lead to addiction - that's why a certain kinds of people are called “Adrenaline Junkies” - they do it over and over again, risking their lives just to get the “kick”. It is the same with sex: apart from the danger of disease, sex is a rush without consequence.
The result is a new lifestyle, mainly in the Western World, that is based on sex and sex appeal. This lifestyle that focuses on “recreational sex” uses terms like “casual sex” or “one night stand” that have only come into vocabulary very recently - they would have been unheard of two or three decades ago. Sex has always been a business, but by 2007 sex and sex appeal are factors that influence and stimulate the taste and understanding of a wide range of people. It is easy to simply concentrate the blame on the media for that but in fact, the standard of what people consider pretty and sexy is set on the big screens. This also causes fashion industry to get famous people designing clothes that are available to everyone, and nightclubs create an open space for those who want to show off. It always is about ideals, but we do not create these ideals in our own thought anymore, we tend to imitate them.
This age of information and globalization brings people together, the variety of people you can be in touch with and visit everywhere on the planet is huge. These possibilities inspire people also in a sexual way. It is not immoral to have sex with more than one partner at a time, or to have different partners in general. This also has an impact on the moral values that guided us for so long. Marriage is not a deal for life anymore. Let us assume that the church intended marriage for the safety and security of women - to stabilise society, as well as to create some sense of commitment. Women today take on a role that gives them independence, they work, they are able to feed themselves and their children, the immediate need for a man in a family is, from a purely economic point of view, in most cases not necessary anymore. The industry reacts promptly; there are advertisements for divorces, internet platforms to find a new, more suitable partner in the real world. Recreational sex has never been easier to get than today.
'Affluenza' is at the root of modern sexuality. Fetishism of the product is the chief symptom. This is not a new phenomenon but the effect is accelerating along with information. Along with information goes liberation and therefore the liberation of sexuality enables anyone to live out their sexuality freely. So sexual drives, like fetishism and homosexuality that were suppressed and even prohibited until the late 1960's are becoming more accepted in Western Societies.
Today there is no such thing as morality when it comes to sex; there are only ethical values that emerge in a constantly changing society. People will have to understand their values for themselves, because there is no universal understanding of sexual morality. Therefore governments have to enable everyone to live out their sexuality freely without harming others. This includes sexual education, justice and the perseverance of human rights to merge new ethical understandings of sexual morality with the reality society created.
Sexual Morality is an imposed guideline whereas the ethics of sex means finding a balanced way to live one's own sexuality. Maybe marriage and life long relationships are social constructs. Eventually the function of life is reproduction and not recreational sex but since we are able to have both, a more open sex life does not really harm anyone; instead it stops the suppression of feelings. There are sexual practices that are “morally wrong”, such as paedophilia and zoophilia. However, they are human desires as well, even if they do not fit into the picture of a healthy, reasonable human, they can not be ignored. Just as the world population and the economy grows, crime and “morally wrong” thoughts and actions will too. There is no solution, not even reason, because science does not know why and how these rather odd things occur. The morality and meaning of sex in an age of globalisation is an ongoing development and an increasing exchange of thought is our only way to develop new insights.
