> My own
> situation improved dramatically when I returned, in
> sexual matters, to that moment of complete absorption
> I experienced as a child when I first tasted a
> strawberry ice cream cone freshly made from a passing
> ice cream truck.
It seems to me that a big part of this whole complex of issues (including all of the homophobic stuff, of course) is a contrast between two assumptions about sex: (1) the mostly Western, Judeo-Christian, traditional view that sex is naturally constituted (created by God) only for the purpose of reproduction, so all non-reproductive sex is unnatural = wrong and (2) the view held by most of the rest of the human race, that sex is a much wider territory than reproduction, and that sexual practices which do not serve reproductive purposes are perfectly OK (unless of course they involve cruel or oppressive treatment of the partner) and in fact very enjoyable. Western culture is gradually and painfully edging towards joining the rest of the human race in accepting proposition (2), with the U.S., naturally, bringing up the rear.
(An important exception to the "rest of the human race" part is anti-homosexuality, as is clear from the current fracas in the world Anglican community.)
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org _____________________________ Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx