The Orbis

Issue date: 2/27/02 Section: Undefined Section

I do not understand the hesitancy of people to talk about sex. How many of you remember, for example, Orbis's infamous cocksucker column last semester?

After it was published, a gentleman told me that Orbis "shouldn't be printing" that kind of thing. Poor taste, he said.

It seems that speaking openly and frankly about sex is in poor taste.

I could go on for pages about how sex is part of our nature and to deny our sexuality is to deny who we are--to deny what God gave us, if you will.

Instead of being philosophical, though, I think I will dwell on this notion of poor taste.

Can someone please explain why using the word cocksucker in a publication while speaking frankly about sex is in poor taste, but speaking frankly about war is not?

Can anyone explain why the 1999 movie American Pie, a movie which looks at the ridiculousness of our mating rituals, was rated R, while 1998's Rush Hour, which has little purpose other than to show Jackie Chan kicking ass, was rated PG-13?

Is there something about watching people die that is cosmically better than watching people deal with sex?

If you watch people having sex, you are a depraved pervert. If you watch people beating the crap out of each other, you are an action movie fan. Violence is a diversion, but sex is in poor taste.

I wonder what would happen if we looked at violence the same way we look at sex.

We would have special "violence book stores" to cater to those perverts who want to watch a little swordplay.

You would get the same dirty feeling from playing "Doom" or "Half-Life" that you get now from looking at Internet pornography.

You might say that violence is a part of our society and that we need to talk about it.

But so is sex, last time I checked.

Not everybody kills other people, but everybody, except for members of the Catholic clergy--and that's not even a guarantee-- has sex during their lives.

So what would happen if we looked at sex openly? What kind of screwed up, sex-crazed, perverted society would that give us?

It would give us, in a word, Amsterdam.

Look at the American society. It is to violence what Amsterdam is to sex. Amsterdam has illicit sex on the streets. We have fathers killing referees at hockey games.

The reason for our violent tendencies is obvious. It all stems from sexual frustration.

Why are we, as a society, sexually frustrated? It is because we refuse to talk about sex. It is considered poor taste.

Let us banish this notion of taste and be more open about an activity that is the most fundamental of our existence.

While you ponder that, I am going to go eat dinner at Rand. Now, that is what I consider poor taste.

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