The relationship game among college-age adults today is a muddle of seemingly contradictory trends. Recent studies indicate that traditional dating on campuses has taken a back seat to no-strings relationships in which bonds between young men and women are increasingly brief and sexual. (A new website to arrange these encounters that began at the University of Chicago last month now is expanding to other campuses.)
But even as casual sex ”” often called “hookups” or “friends with benefits” ”” is a dominant part of campus life, a new report by the National Center for Health Statistics indicates the percentages of men and women 18-24 who say they are virgins also are increasing.
It all reflects an emerging paradigm that is altering the nature of sex and relationships among young adults: fewer men than women on campuses, a more openly sexual society that often takes cues from media, and a declining desire to make relationship commitments early in life.
The practice of cheap free sex, publicly sanctioned, is rooted in the 60’s. From this came the entire subculture of narcissism and self indulgence. These weaknesses in the human character we have always had with us, but they had never been integrated into standard behavior, as is now the case. The studies above show us what we already know, the the evils of the fin de siecle reach deep into the next century. Commitment is simply at odds with self indulgence and narcissism because it requires action on behalf of someone besides oneself.
We know this genie cannot be put back in the bottle. We know that women now dominate the post secondary school world and we know that men still refuse to enter into competition with them; that is, we know that our world is increasingly a woman’s world and man are seen as extraneous. We know that pandering to homosexuality will continue. For men, this is good if what one wants is a lot of free, easily obtained sex, bad if we want a stable society.
So we must ask, as we ask of Christianity: What world do you want? We will get what we ask for, will we not, with interest many times over. For the Middle East, the citizens are demanding freedom in the sense we understand. They are fighting for what we already have had for a long time. But what are we fighting for? What? Do we really know? Or is it that we don’t care any more, that there is nothing to fight for, so that self indulgence is a default setting which will allow us to avoid the hard questions, the hard actions?
I wonder what parable Christ would tell if he could see us now.
Larry
Sorry, “cheap free sex is a silly redundancy. By “”cheap” I meant amoral. Larry
Very clear for commited Christians what we want. We want a strong family unit. The socialists in charge want none of this. Family is only a word to them.
Next on the socialist agenda is the removal of the tax deduction for charitable giving. This will help weaken the church and Christianity which will further weaken the family.