| | Linz and Matthew,
Thank you for your replies. The windy discussion in the General Forum about sexual responsibility regarding paternity prompted me to snap my archives disk into my computer and retrieve this old jewel for posting and discussion.
Regarding the false dichotomy, I agree in hindsight with your assessment. I have an article in work called "The Hedonists, the Puritan and Me" in which I will discuss my second co-op term with NASA and the three other young men with whom I shared a two bedroom condominium. I shared a room with a very straight laced Mormon who spent 30 minutes each morning engaged in intensive study of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The other two parties who shared the other room literally spent every single night at local bars drinking and womanizing. I spent the entire semester wondering where I fit on this scale and never really saw "third alternatives" until I discovered Ayn Rand two years later.
Linz, your comment regarding "rigging the conclusion" also stands correct. "Inductive reasoning? What is that?" would have been my response at the time. I will tell you that I frequently got headaches trying to reason my way through either the Christian dogma or the hedonistic dogma. I still cannot believe I completed a university Bachelor of Science degree with no formal training in reasoning as an art. I took a logic course from the philosophy department my freshman year in college as an elective and found it seriously wanting. I had expected the earthly equivalent of Mr. Spock as an instructor, but it turned out mainly to aim at teaching computer engineers how to construct truth tables. Argh!
To get myself up to speed on the latest developments regarding sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), I located this Planned Parenthood site which offers some eye-opening statistics:
http://www.ppnyc.org/facts/facts/stds.html
I also glanced through the latest issue of Seventeen magazine while in the checkout line of a local retailer. A cover story suggested an article inside explaining to girls how to avoid the STD that most sexually active women contract. The article stated that 80% of sexually active women eventually contract the human papilloma virus (HPV) and included a rather shocking photograph of a woman's genitals riddled with HPV warts -- ouch! Some of these STDs can also transmit by heavy kissing.
I think I will stay married and monogamous!
My article implicitly holds physical and financial health as the highest values while completely disregarding other values and needs such as pleasure, intimacy, variety and so forth. These profound psychological needs that give many people their motives for living in the first place need satisfaction in ways that minimize risk to their long term well being.
I hope this article will provoke thoughtful discussion regarding how one can maximize one's values over one's lifetime while minimizing their commensurate risks.
Given the rampant proliferation of STDs, their contraction appears to have become a "norm." I challenge the right mindedness of that expectation. We need an Objectivist treatise on this crucial aspect of human life that accounts for all the facts.
Finally, in defense of those who choose the lifelong monogamy path described against those who claim that people need prior training from experienced lovers, I will say that this educational video can prove useful to the former:
http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/sexual_positions_for_lovers.html
(Edited by Luther Setzer on 3/05, 11:57am)
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