Hyper-Sexualization: Why Our Culture Is Sex-Obsessed and Why We Need To Chill Out

Sex is a good thing.  I want to stress that before I even begin this article. I honestly believe that in the proper context and when used in moderation sex is both healthy and extremely enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with sex in and of itself.

If it weren’t for sex neither you nor I would be here at this moment, so don’t confuse this article as being anti-sex.

The problem is that I believe our culture is hypersexualized to the point where it’s having overtly negative effects on our society.  Sex sells and it is used to sell everything from hamburgers and automobiles, to weight loss pills and hollywood blockbuster movies.  It’s so prevalent that a lot of us have seemingly become numb to it and just let it flow freely into our minds. This is a bad thing for several reasons, but let’s start with the most obvious perpetrator.

Pornography is widely and massively consumed nearly everywhere that there is an internet connection. Everyone wants sexual arousal and pleasure, and with the creation of internet porn you can get that pleasure whenever you want, wherever you want, and at virtually no cost to you. With the creation of the smart phone pornography is even more mobile than ever before.

The thing about pornography is that human beings are not designed to be able to get gratification that frequently or regularly.  Just like how the recent abundant access to fatty and sugary foods (which used to be rare and hard to come by) has lead to an overconsumption and various health problem, so too has the very recent abundant access to pornography.

Here’s a lecture on exactly why this is a problem:

Pornography not only demands constant re-gratification, it also leads to fetishizing and more “extreme” versions of porn in order to continually get that fix. Similar to a gateway drug, the next hit needs to be a little better or more intense than the last one.  Upon regular exposure to pornography regular sex can become vanilla and so must be perverted or spiced up in some way in order to  get any pleasure from it. While clearly this is not true of everyone, in the more extreme cases a lot of sex offenders can trace their misconduct back to either some form of sexual abuse done to them or to excessive and early exposure to sexual material.

Walking away from pornography for a moment, let’s talk about the sexualization we see in advertisements, magazines, and in TV all the time. READ MORE