ARE SEXUAL ISSUES MESSING US UP?

                Sexuality and religion are, perhaps, the two most   powerful   forces on the planet.  Recent news events have prompted me to try to determine which, if either, of these two massive forces is the more dominant.  I’m afraid that before we can even begin this mammoth undertaking, we’ll need considerable defining of terms as well as context.  For our purposes, we are dealing with the negative effects of sexual and religious dysfunction in the broadest sense of both of these terms.  In this blog I’ll be advocating that sexual dysfunction is the more powerful negative force.  By “sexual,” I mean anything psychological, spiritual, cultural or symbolic that in any way pertains to or represents sexuality.  In a subsequent blog I’ll be pushing for religion.  You be the judge.

                While I have studied the role sexuality has played in human events in the past, I was re-drawn into the subject by the rants of the latest lunatic mass murderer, Elliot Rodger.  Through the haze of his twisted logic and hatred, the one idea that came across most clearly was that his intense hatred was born out of his sexual frustration from being rejected by women.   On a much, much lower level, I’ve often wondered how many interviewees either received job offers or were rejected based largely upon how “lucky” the interviewer was the night before. 

                Then there is the case of Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas.  The testimony of Anita Hill (yes, I emphatically believe her) revealed, in my opinion, not so much a man who liked to harass women, as much as a social klutz who had not the lightest clue as to how to talk to them and subsequently wound up making utterly inappropriate comments to them.  Given his social ineptitude (along with the fact that he’s no Denzel Washington) can there be any doubt that he was repeatedly rejected by black women?  Could the rejection by black women have caused Thomas to seek revenge by rejecting black people and voting against their interests in every single issue concerning black folks that has been put before him? 

                Could sexual issues play a role in wars and, dare I say it, slavery?  We know that beyond the financial rewards, the other great benefit of slavery for white men was the freedom to rape black women en masse without fear of reprisal.  As has been noted by the great black writer/advocate/intellectual and co-author of the Black National Anthem, James Weldon Johnson, the sexual appetites of the rapists had to be justified by projecting the Black man as a “dark, sexual beast.” 

                In his essay, “Male Sexuality and the Fragile Planet: A Theological Reflection,” Yale educated Dr. James B Nelson asserts that social violence, white racism and environmental abuse are all “sexually transmitted diseases.”  He follows that assertion by saying that he is being quite literal in making it.  He goes on to say that the “alienations and distortions” in our sexual existence have deep connections to these issues.  Obviously I can’t break all that down in this blog, but it is a beginning for thoughtful dialogue.

                Finally, what does it say about us when we abuse or “rape” our Mother Earth?

                So now it’s up to you, Oh thoughtful Reader. This aspect of our being has been so demonized that it’s difficult to look at it in a sober mature fashion.  But, hopefully, I’ve demonstrated in some small way, the impact sexual issues may have.  What do you say?

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