ALL RIGHT, I am warning you. Some of you super-liberals might want to sit down before you read this. I am about to say something that is - much to my dismay - denied with disturbing and, to be honest, somewhat baffling obstinacy these days: Everything is not OK. That's right, you heard me. I know moral-relativism is en-vogue right now, but things are getting more than a little out of control. I think it's about time for that conservative backlash - that, sorry kids, w_as inevitably coming sooner or later - to kick in. Maybe we haven't hit rock bottom yet, but Judith Levine's new book "Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex," sure shows signals that impact is near.
According to CNN.com, in her book, Levine argues that American youth "are entitled to safe, satisfying sex lives," claiming that parents are too "squeamish" or - this is a good one - "ignorant" to imagine that their kids seek sex for the same reasons they do. Hey, speaking of ignorance, how about that statement? Sex, while in specific circumstances - i.e. within the bonds of marriage - can be a wonderful thing, to deny that it can and does often have literally explosive consequences is nothing short of blind. A great number of "adults" are not mature and wise enough to understand the gravity of sex and its consequences. The data supporting keeping sex exclusively within marriage is great. A recent University of Maryland study found that "women who were sexually active prior to marriage faced a considerably higher risk of divorce than those who were virgin brides." In addition to this, a University of Chicago study found that sexual satisfaction is highest within marriage (http://www.palmettofamily.org/Reports/Sexuality/PDFRpt/BestPlaceForSex.PDF). Furthermore, the sexual revolution and "women's sexual liberation" has left many girls crying in a bathroom stall or their bedrooms so that they can keep up the public image of being invulnerable to emotions. In a 1997 sex on campus survey, 32 percent of women reported that they had had sex with someone "they didn't even like," while 79 percent simultaneously admitted that they would favor a move back to the more traditional forms of dating. These data suggest that many women feel unhappy with the current state of sexual interaction these days, but seem to go along with it nonetheless and to their own detriment. It is clear from the effects of our newfound sexual attitudes that our reasoning has gone more than a little off the right track. By suggesting that not only premarital sex but adolescent sex be accepted, Levine is merely adding momentum to our moral decline.
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Levine's statement that children would no doubt seek sex for the same reasons that many adults do is a merited one. They would seek it in the name of immediate gratification that forgets the emotional repercussions of such an act until they come crashing down on them after the fact. They would seek it to make themselves feel loved when they are, in fact, insecure and lonely. What Levine ignores is the fact that sex in our time has become a quick fix to make people feel loved for a short period. What so many of us like to deny is that, in the long run, this type of behavior serves only to make the problems it seeks to solve worse. Much of the time these days, engaging in sex outside of marriage amounts to playing with fire. And now we want to hand our children the matches?
The dangerous difference between consensual sex between two college students and, say, two 12 year-olds or a 12 year-old and a 45 year-old, is that, while the college students may deny the repercussions of their actions, children honestly don't understand them. Children at this age still are developing and cannot fathom even the sex drive, let alone the implications of the act itself. As a fairly intelligent and emotionally balanced 20 year-old, I cannot say with any kind of confidence that I am now equipped to handle the emotional ramifications of sex outside of marriage, but what I can say with assurance is that a sixth grade version of myself definitely was not prepared for it. Middle schoolers can't even sustain "relationships" that last longer than two weeks. Forgive me if I am being "too conservative," but adding sex into that equation just doesn't seem like the right move.
Many people today like to think that they are in full control of their lives and emotions. With all the independence technology has afforded us, no one wants to admit that we still might be governed somewhat by things we cannot control. And so we attempt to become immune to these things like emotions. We try to trivialize sex and make it exclusively about our own personal pleasure. We write books about how even kids don't have to be so vulnerable that they can't also take part in these activities even before they get out of puberty. This is a scary trend, and one that only can result ultimately in unhappiness for everyone engaging in this type of behavior. What we are moving toward is not independence: It is alienation from one another and even from ourselves as we attempt to denounce our emotions in the name of a false self-sufficiency.
To allow children to be added to the list of sexually active individuals in society is nothing short of sadistic. It would perhaps be more comforting to think that Levine has a contract with psychologists to try to increase their customer pool or that she is engaging in a ruthless ploy to make money at the expense of American youth. We have seen pitiless opportunism before. What we have not seen however, is evidence that our society is so far gone that educated individuals are writing books about how acceptance of sexual intercourse between an adult and a consenting child between the ages of 12 and 16 is an ideal to strive for. If this woman really believes what she is saying, then we all are in trouble, because we are living in the same environment that molded Levine's beliefs and published her book. Honestly, what next? I shudder to think.
(Laura Parcells is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at lparcells@cavalierdaily.com.)
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