The Southern Baptist Convention has finally released a report detailing the decades-long child sexual abuse by its clergy.
Of course, this hands-on abuse is horrific. But for more children have been damaged by the church’s explicit teaching that masturbation and children’s sexuality is sinful. This form of child abuse goes on every day in every orthodox religious institution–in plain sight.
Why don’t medical & psychological professionals speak out about this? Why don’t the rest of us?
American young adults and teens have sex less than their age-peers did. Teens even masturbate less than they used to.
How much is because more young adults live with their parents? And how much is because of the impact of the internet, smartphones, or porn on these digital natives?
Many of my patients feel powerless around sexuality.
In fact, psychological risk-taking is one of the greatest gifts sex has to offer.
Most of the judgements that we fear from others (“she’ll think I’m a pervert”) we actually fear from ourselves. Most of our fear about “failing” sexually is a response to arbitrary standards that we could actually break with impunity. And limiting sex to what’s “dignified” or “manly” or “feminist” or “anti-racist”…
Healthcare professionals can do a great job of answering our questions about sex–if we ask them.
Here are some examples of what we should ask our doctor, nurse, or physical therapist–and what we should tell them about our sexuality if they don’t ask.
Republican senators grilling Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson claim she’s either a child pornographer, a child molester, or an enthusiastic supporter of both.
Amoral senators like Cruz, Cotton, Lee, and the gutless Lindsay Graham threw feces at the judge for days, hoping to win points with their QAnon followers, most of whom believe that our government is controlled by “Satan-worshipping pedophiles” and “elite child sex-trafficking rings.”
QAnon and these senators are obsessed with childhood sexuality and molestation to a degree that cries out for mental health intervention.
Some people would rather be right than enjoy sex.
They demand that sex be a certain way, no matter how narrow or unrealistic—or pointless—that is.
Many people could improve their sex lives without their partner having to change at all. What else could you ask for?