Sex on the radio

A writer at HuffPost attempts to convince that she is not trying to be salacious, just trying to convince everyone else to be.

In May of this year, we did an hour-long show about the porn industry. We featured a North Carolina artist working on a virtual exhibit that aims to normalize people’s varied sexual fantasies; a queer adult filmmaker who lets participants guide much of the erotic content they film; and the co-founder of a new audio erotica app.

Before the show even hit the airwaves, we began to hear from listeners concerned that the topic was “inappropriate for the middle of the day.” While we still got some notes of concern and disapproval after the show aired, there were also responses like this one from a therapist: “I’m sure that today’s show resonated with many people, and that many of those folks might still be embarrassed to write or call in with their support. But on behalf of myself and so many of the clients I work with to disentangle their sexuality from their experiences of shame, THANK YOU.”

I have no desire to throw the listeners who do not like my content under the bus, nor do I aspire to change anyone’s mind about pornography or sexuality. But what I wish they could hear is this: The reason I want to have conversations about these topics in the middle of the day on live public radio is not to be salacious. It is because I firmly believe that the longer that we keep conversations about sex, relationships and health in the realm of “not for public discourse,” the longer we’ll stay locked into singular narratives that keep us from really knowing ourselves and each other more deeply. If we can recognize that humans are sexual creatures who are wired to have desire and seek pleasure, we can have meaningful dialogue that could serve to integrate aspects of our identity without contributing to the harm of other people.

While she may not be trying to be salacious specifically, she is absolutely trying to normalize a worldview full of salacious, sexually deviant ideas.  Society used to keep this content under wraps, anything explicit was private for a reason.  The writer's intent is to change your society and to change your behavioral patterns.  If she is successful in doing that, she will have brought us yet another step closer to losing ourselves to a bastardized culture that embraces the wicked and perverse.

Instead of shilling for tolerance incessantly, it's time that Christians start preaching repentance again.