Love and Sex
More than the relationship between state control and societal changes, the power of love and sex has greatly transformed. It has always been my interest to observe society and the types of seeds planted on the commission of behavioral and social change. A look back at the history of sex and love shows a regression of strong bonds. Sexual relationships used to be predominantly family-centered, but near the end of the 1700's, sexual encounters with strangers were increasing on account of political, economic, religious, and social change. The Revolutionary War diluted the relationship between the state and weakened the honorable power of the churches; as state's control diminished, individual control was valued more; and lastly, pleasure derived from sex developed from the "pursuit of happiness".
Knowledge is power; however, sometimes knowledge does not lead to influential efficacy. Knowledge about sexual reproduction destabilized the idea that sexual intercourse was primarily for reproduction. A separation of pleasure and reproduction made it possible for individuals proliferating in choice of mates promoting a new notion of marriage that took affection into obligation. Ideas about sexuality steadily increased as control by the familial and state over young people diminished.
Near the end of the 18th century, during courtship, the physical connection and intimate relations rose to importance rather than the arrangements of property. Prior to engagement, affection was a factor derived from physical constituent of courting and physical appeal and attraction became one of the bases for choice in mates; after all, relationship gurus base strong bonds on chemistry and complementary factors. With physical chemistry comes a rise in premarital pregnancy-forcing jurisdiction over marriage, which became more difficult to predict whether or not premarital sex led to marriage. Due to illegitimate births, women's sexual integrity deteriorated. Moralists emphasized the resistance of sexual desire and female modesty practicing "passionlessness" to contradict the impression that women were temptresses based on Adam and Eve. This leads me to question the evaluation of the Christian legacy and The Bible full of controversy, but that is an entirely a new post that I am working on.
Songs were written about bundling expanded the importance on this subject making it more socially public, hence, sexism in advertising and the slogan: "sex sells." Pleasure from sex was becoming more important than reproduction after the Revolutionary War. The average number of children per family decreased as contraceptive methods increased; couples were using syringes, coitus interruptus, and extended breast-feeding to postpone conception. Having choices became important in America from family limitation to the justification of why marriages failed-therefore, altering the ideals of marriage. Marriage trends and marital distress/divorce makes my cup more empty than full; marriage does not look so bright in our future.
Changing the paradigm of marriages resulted in polygamy-diminishing as legislatures focused more on illegitimate sexual activity. From the end of the eighteenth-century to the beginning of the nineteenth-century, the suit of sexual crimes no longer followed the same paradigm, therefore, led to an increasing number of materialized sex. Regulation of members was left to families when involvement of the community was eliminated due to their eradication of church courts. Morality weakened as more prostitutes appeared in the eighteenth-century after Cotton Mather failed to rally enough support to suppress the behavior of the growing number of harlots. Female camp followers from the urban poor offered their domestic services as well as their bodies to the soldiers who congregated in large cities. Due to the commercialization of sex, new meanings of sexuality were materialized. On a side note, during my visit to Asia, prostitutes were almost expected to be present. Based on my observations, instead of covertly seeking for sex, some touring men stood at street corners waiting to be approached by prostitutes like a person getting bombarded on a street corner with children begging for business with their limited supply of Chiclets.
Times have changed from sex as reproduction to pleasure derived from sex. Family limitations weakened when communities abolished church and state controls, therefore, giving choices to individuals. Is time the precarious slippery slope leading to a transgression of sex and love? Is our society doomed because of the rise of sexual proliferation through individual choice and our pursuit of happiness? I am curious to see what sex and love means to future generations...
