This week, I’m posting a three-part series on the Sex-Positive Movement, a trending and powerful influence on all of our kids. Today, Part 2, an overview of the core beliefs of the Sex-Positive Movement.
What the culture-at-large is now propagating are the core beliefs of what is known as the sex-positive movement, which has succeeded over the course of its’ relatively young and loosely-organized life to bring about a change in how individuals think about and practice sex and gender. In an article in Oprah magazine, the sex-positive movement is said to start “with tossing out the perceptions of what is and is not sexually normal, and begins with a non-judgmental receptivity of the sexual styles and interpretations (or lack thereof) that feel genuine to each individual.”[i] Sex is seen as a part of the human experience that should be void of any externally-imposed borders or boundaries. Each person is given free reign to exercise personal sovereignty based on their own feelings, inclinations, and desires. The sex-positive movement holds personal pleasure and the right to that pleasure in the highest value. Morals and ethics are absent with the exception of “mutual consent.” All choices are a matter of individual personal preference.
The non-profit organization Sex Positive World has posted a “Guiding Principles” document[ii] which states the sex-positive vision as creating “a world where all expressions of sexuality are respected and protected, and consensual sexuality and pleasure are seen as natural, healthy, and connecting.” In an effort to neither deny or repress sexual desire, the sex-positive movement allows and encourages anything and everything as long as it is consensual, including but not limited to open sex in and outside of marriage, erotic fantasies, pornography use, polyamory, non-binary-gender expression, BDSM[iii], swinging, and any other personal sexual/gender expression/preference that is free to change at anytime depending on one’s personal whims and wishes.
Psychologist David Yarian, a proponent of the sex-positive movement, says, “Fundamentally, I think sex positivity is about looking at sex through the lens of natural playfulness and curiosity that has no strict agenda, judgment, or pressure.”[iv] Another proponent, sex therapist Vanessa Marin, says, “Being sex-positive means you get to declare, ‘This is my body. This is my life. These are my desires.”
With sex-positivity being taught both implicitly and explicitly as foundational in today’s school-based comprehensive sex education, the beliefs our kids hold are being shaped in ways that will yield behavioral evidence, now and for the rest of their lives, that they personally choose sex-positive. And with pop culture reinforcing the sex-positive message, along with elevating the self to a position of final authority on all matters of life, the message is convincing and clear.
Sadly, the sex-positive movement sees traditional biblical sexuality as sex-negative. The movement holds that “sex-negativity has been a yoke upon civilization for nearly ten thousand years, hoisted upon us by dominator/patriarchal culture as a system of control and exploitation.”[v] But nothing could be further from the truth. The Christian knows that true human freedom and flourishing come when we live into and under the authority of God, choosing to see sex and gender as good gifts from a God who offers a resounding and celebratory “YES!” to sex and gender as He established them at creation. The reality is that God is completely “sex-positive”!
In Part 3. . . What is traditional biblical sexuality?
To download a FREE pdf copy of this entire three-part series, click here.
To access an ever-growing home for resources on kids and sexuality, check out CPYU’s Sexual Integrity Initiative.
[i] https://www.oprahmag.com/life/relationships-love/a30028506/sex-positive-meaning/
[ii] https://www.sexpositiveworld.com/our-guiding-principles
[iii] Bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadomasochism, etc.
[iv] https://www.oprahmag.com/life/relationships-love/a30028506/sex-positive-meaning/
[v] https://www.sexpositiveworld.com/our-guiding-principles