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RE: Sexual morality, violence, and Power [Chapter 2.8]
I think to associate religiosity with sexual repression is something of jumping the gun. I don't doubt it is present to a large extent (though plenty of religious people have fulfilling sex lives with long-term partners) I just think that our secular alternative takes repression and twists it into a commodity, rather than actually freeing anyone. In the west young people are having less and less sex, they are not taught about sexual pleasure and sexual stigmas remain, no religious terminology required. Men are afraid, women are unfulfilled, and no amount of secularisation will alter that.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments, @goldheart
I take your point. I think the difficulty in having conversations on this topic is that already some binaries are being assumed. It's also hard for me to step outside of these paradigms and imagine a space beyond them. But I would like to explore this set-up:
Religiousity: Secularism
I wonder if these two concepts are not opposites but the same thing? For example, yes it could be argued that secularism is the opposite of religion. But I would argue that 'religion' (and by that I mean organized religion like the Catholic Church) and secularism are different wings of the same organization.
To put it briefly: The Catholic Church (as just one example) creates prohibition around natural sexual freedom. This then creates the very circumstances under which sex can be sold back to people under an apparently 'secular' system of commodification.
In other words: You have to take something from the 'commons' in order to sell it back to people. Many 'organized religions' steal a person's sexuality (via child-rape, genital mutilation, and a barrage of negative-messaging), which is precisely the prerequisite for creating a commodity of it.
It is impossible to commoditize what people already have for free. Therefore, it must first be stolen from them.
From my perspective, the 'church' often steals what the 'not church' ('secular', commercial interests) sells back to the people. The profits then often find their way back to the 'church' — it's hard not to notice their wealth hoarding. It's an ingenious racket.
I agree with your assessment of male-female sexual relations. What do you feel is the route to a solution?