what we were made for

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 07, 2005

J. Budziszewski levels his 12-gauge in the latest Touchstone and discharges both barrels at the midsection in his philosophically frank discussion of sex.

Let there be no mistake: When I say we aren't designed for [promiscuity], I'm also speaking of males. A woman may be more likely to cry the next morning; it's not so easy to sleep with a man who won't even call you back. But a man pays a price too. He probably thinks he can instrumentalize his relationships with women in general, yet remain capable of romantic intimacy when the right woman comes along. Sorry, fellow. That's not how it works.

Sex is like applying adhesive tape; promiscuity is like ripping the tape off again. If you rip it off, rip it off, rip it off, eventually the tape can't stick anymore. This probably contributes to an even wider social problem that might be called the Peter Pan syndrome. Men in their forties with children in their twenties talk like boys in their teens. “I still don't feel like a grown-up,” they say.

I have one or two quibbles with the piece, but it's brief, clear, and cogent. It makes a "clandestine" argument for the rightness of Catholic sexual morality -- with no mention of the Church, or religion, or God. Think about passing it on to an agnostic college student, or to a wavering Catholic too easily spooked by the Church to let the Church teach him in her own voice.