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Sexual awareness can sometimes be understood as expressive individualism, but it is important to understand there are different definitions such as sexual awareness being the fundamental goodness of the created world, of the human body and of sexuality.

Although sex can be talked about in a reasonable way, on some levels it remains chaotic. Its expression can be unpredictable because it is grounded to a real degree in hormone- powered desire. Further, while sexual desire can be discovered and awakened, it can also be created.

For many people it is connected with fantasies, which are often driven by pornography. Expressing oneself sexually depends on unpredicted chance encounters. Sex is inspired by song lyrics and club environment.

The prevailing approach to sexuality in places like Fanshawe falls under the modern commitment to what ethicists and philosophers call “expressive individualism”.

Expressive individualism is an approach to living, that each of us should discover who we are as individuals and then express our individuality to the max.

It is easy to see the connection between expressive individualism and the modern view that each of us should discover what our true sexual identity and preferences are and that we should be free to live according to that identity and to exercise our preferences.

If one desires a certain kind of sex, expressive individualism doesn’t place restrictions on that person any more than it places restrictions on a 45-year-old with a taste for black Harleys or a five-year-old with a taste for black liquorice.

All this is linked to the assumption that with proper education, sexuality can be managed in such a way as to allow for maximum freedom with minimal negative consequences. We can educate ourselves into civil, yet exciting, sexual behaviour, according to this view.

However, human beings are surprisingly resilient when it comes to holding onto negative behaviours.

While many of us view pornography, most of us don’t feel good about it. There is the nagging guilt caused by the knowledge that viewing it lends support to the victimizing of young people, especially women, and that it sets up a context for the development of child porn and the sexual exploitation of marginalized women. The men involved are also not free from exploitation.

And in spite of sex and health education, unexpected pregnancies are common, causing many to observe that we see “kids having kids”. Some opt for abortion, which requires care and resources to deal with the pain and trauma associated with it.

What passes for “sexual awareness” can perhaps better be understood as one kind of sexual awareness, the kind of sexual awareness that has grown from a commitment to expressive individualism.

It is not the kind of sexual awareness that one would find in a Buddhist society. There, desire, including sexual desire, is not seen as the key to new and wonderful self-expression.

Rather it is seen as the root of change and acquisitiveness, which in turn ultimately lead to exploitation, violence and war. Neither is it the kind of sexual awareness, I am pretty sure, that one finds in Islam or in Mormonism.

For now I want to suggest that Christianity opens the way for another kind of sexual awareness, not one that is grounded in an ultimate commitment to expressive individualism.

Christianity offers a sexual awareness that sees the fundamental goodness of the created world, including the goodness of human body and of sexuality.

Sexuality exists in a deeper context that of the world God has created.

Thus, in Catholicism sex is never unhinged from proc reation, family, parenting, the church community and the broader human community.

This view is, give or take, the same in Protestantism. In both, the expression of sexuality is obliged to respect the need to have healthy families, churches and societies which can sustain themselves generation after generation.

I think that Christian churches, seeing that sexuality is part of a profound vision for life in God’s creation, have often been impatient and at times judgemental with sexualities that depart from the usual path.

I don’t want to excuse anti-homosexuality, or discrimination against unmarried parents, or the judgement that can be found in a number of churches.

But I do want to point out that a Christian awareness of sexuality is going to look different from its counterpart founded on expressive individualism. And at the same time it offers a view of sexuality and its place that is worthy of serious attention.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.