I respectfully disagree.
A. Sex is a perfectly healthy habit for adults to have. The whole sex-shaming, making it taboo, secretive, and blushing when talking about sex isn't productive to society. People that have sex more often are healthier and happier than people who don't. There's no shame in that.
I agree but it isn't healthy to have multiple partners. I don't think sex should be taboo but societies version of sex is way off base.
B. Cutting people off from a perfectly natural human instinct isn't productive and can lead to sexual dysfunction more than providing a healthy environment for somebody to learn in.
I agree again but denying that monogamous sex is more healthy than promiscuity is lying to yourself. Having one partner allows you to connect with another person like no other experience.
When you have multiple partners, it lessens your ability or desire to connect on that truly intense level.
e.g. Nobody has ever gotten pregnant, caught an STD, or went to jail for masturbating to pornography at an appropriate time in an appropriate place.
No but denying that lives and marriages haven't been ruined because of pornography is delusional. Newt thinks that only simple minded people can get caught up in porno addiction, but I promise you that some very intelligent people have been pulled in to dark places because of porn.
So if you're going to raise your children and tell them they can't touch their own bodies for any kind of sexual stimulation until they're married...
you are the naive one. I don't see that as healthy for an adolescent.
I am not an idiot and know that kids will explore their own bodies. However, when you introduce porn or another person into the mix it becomes less a person exploring themselves and more a perversion and higher chance of sexual dysfunction and/or promiscuity.
C. Sex with other people prior to marriage is going to happen.
Very few people... especially now... as people are shifting towards waiting until their 30's to get married, are going to be virgins are their wedding. You can hold the moral wand of encouragement and wave it around all you want, but it's unrealistic. Instead, it should certainly be encouraged to use protection at all times and if your daughter is sexually active, get her on birth control until she's old enough to take care of a child. Otherwise, you're just encouraging her to go behind your back without the tools she needs to avoid a bad outcome.
Why? Why is this unrealistic? I'll tell you... because sex is thrown in our faces everywhere we look. It is not impossible to do though. I know people that are in their 30's and have not found the right person yet and have abstained from sex. It is possible.
That being said, if my daughter approaches me at 13 and asks for birth control, I'm going to lock her in a basement for a while.
Agreed.
D. As for unrealistic expectations for sex formed through pornography... it's much more like the action movie than the New York apartment. Of course, it's fantastical and overblown, just like anything else you see on TV (even the "reality shows"). At the same time, it gives you a safe way to explore things you might be into and find a like-minded partner that's into the same things. I guess if you get into something super-weird that you can't even approach your partner with, and that's the only thing that does if for you, then that's an issue... but it's just like anything else in life...
Porn is similar to a drug. It causes the pleasure center of your brain to be activated because what you are seeing is exciting to your brain. However, after you watch for a while, your brain doesn't get as excited as it used to so you look for something a little more risque. So on and so forth. Then watching isn't sufficient. I realize it doesn't work like that for everyone and not everyone who watches porn eventually ends up turning tricks to pay for their porn site subscriptions, but it will suck you in and corrupt your ideas of what "normal" sex is likely to be like.
Everything's OK in moderation.
Not true.
I'm not gonna tell people how to raise their kids... that's your own business... and you guys can be prudes or hypocritical or whatever... your own business.
I am not a prude and people can certainly raise their kids how they will. I just see what is happening to our society and it frightens me for my grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I'd prefer my daughter to be able to have an honest conversation with me about anything she comes across in life so I can guide her in the right direction when the time comes. Most kids are going to do what they're going to do anyway... might as well be there for them instead of pretending its a perfect world and sex/drugs don't happen in it.
Agree here as well and we have had some of these talks with our oldest and will start soon with her sisters. They need to know what their parents value so they can decide if they want to value the same things. The order I place my values are my God, my wife, my children, my extended family, my friends, Vol Football, everything else.
Luckily I have a long way to go before I have to worry about these things.. and my opinion is fluid and could certainly change by the time that comes around.
.....
Typing this all out did make me want to go ahead and finish my basement though
Make the locks strong!