"Hmm...good for them"

-Mary Beth

         We are culture barely comfortable with public display of affection....not to mention public display of sex. Sex is something that is believed to be an activity confined strictly to the bedroom, and government regulation is largely responsible for such ideology. When individuals that are products of such a restrictive culture think of public sex, they imagine others carrying out the act in extremely populated places with no regard for onlookers. Yet, many do not realize that what is considered public sex, according to our government, actually broadens to include places such as "motel rooms, bathhouses, and cars," among other areas that are not so public at all (Public Sex, 1982). This leads one to consider whether state and and local laws are too controlling over what places constitute as "suitable" for pleasure and desire to occur. And furthermore, why they get to be the ones to make the decision over such a personal choice.
         Pat Califia, author of Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex, raises a noteworthy argument that being a sex radical does not mean that you want to run around naked and have sex in every possible public location. Constituting oneself as a sex radical merely means that one does not agree with "the way sex is talked about (or hidden) in daily life." She says that one can be a sex radical even if they "prefer to get off in the missionary position and still believe there are only two genders," which I found to be a thoughtful and semi-entertaining statement.
        Personally, I was one that did not identify as a sex radical until I read both Califia's article and Public Sex (1982). I was raised to think of sex in a conservative manner. I was told that sex is something that a married man and his wife engage in behind closed doors. I don't resent my parents for raising me this way. They saw this ideology as a form of protection against teen pregnancy and STD's. I'm not sure they ever truly believed that I would wait until marriage, but thought it would be a nice idea to put in my mind. Like most teens, I became curious and as I became older, I came to understand what sex truly was. In turn, I realized that the fear and negative stigmas behind it were all wrong. Does this qualify me as being a sex radical? I guess so.
         Imagine a world where sex is not invisible. Where the body is celebrated and nudity is seen as neither frightening or repulsive. Imagine how much less insecure we would all be with body image, and how much more in tune we would be with ourselves and one another physically, emotionally, perhaps even spiritually.
          I am not yet an advocator for public sex, I have not yet succeeded in becoming so liberal. Yet, I don't believe that it is something to be feared or hidden either. If that is how two people want to celebrate each other and their bodies, so be it. I will look away and say "hmm...good for them." Why be so bothered by a simple act of pleasure and desire when there are so many real and more serious issues that deserve attention in today's world.