Culture
The definition of sexual or intimate relationships throughout thelast 60 years has not changed, but the self imposed, and culturalboundaries have undergone a revolution. Behavior which was once culturallyostracized is now considered a healthy part of expressing one's own sexualidentity. Cultural boundaries regarding homosexual relationship, as wellas self - fulfilling sexual behavior are no longer pushed out of the modernmind, or hidden in the closet. Our post modern world has movedsignificantly away from defining personal completion as what a person givesto another in a relationship toward defining self completion andsatisfaction as what a person receives from another. This shift takes thepower regarding our own fulfillment out of another's hands, and keeps theultimate responsibility for our own happiness in our own control. Many voices have contributed to the shift in sexual attitudes, andamong the first were Bertrand Russell. His agnostic input challengedtraditional mores of his time to consider that sexual expression was asnormal, and as necessary as eating. He chided those who held traditionaljudeo-christian views on sex, and labeled them as hypocrites, who desired
Successful relationships can be formed through many different ways butrequire a few common ingredients. During the 60's and 70's love was redefined as sexualpleasure. The problem was that men and women no lost sight ofthe real definition of love. Love was to be found in the commitment thepartners could make to each others to continue to build a self disclosing,and inter-dependant relationship. Weshould be free to experience it without boundaries. When the sexual relationship is used in a relationship for thepurposes of "receiving love," the partners walk away from the experiencehaving received physical, and emotional pleasure, but what remains afterthe pleasure is gone' Some in society would argue that the purpose is thepleasure. That we should become narcissistic creatures, looking out forourselves and or own happiness. Impersonallove is a contradiction in terms. However, like Fromm,George Leonard in a collection of essays called "Sexual values - opposingviewpoints" says this. Yet the goal of pulling down the socialbarriers which stood in the way of freer experience of erotic love wassupposed to bring in a freer, more accepting utopian society. " (Fromm, 1956)Fromm goes on to discuss what people do in order to become, in their owneyes, lovable.
Common topics in this essay:
Jordan Russell,
Suzanne Jordan,
June Jordan,
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Slave Traffic,
Love Love,
Clyde Hendrick,
Neil Towne,
Bertrand Russell,
George Leonard,
erotic love,
sexual relationship,
sexual act,
self disclosure,
love love,
experience erotic love,
sexual behavior,
sexual expression,
1956 fromm,
erotic love continues,
love continues,
fromm 1956 fromm,
fromm goes,
emotional intellectual intimacy,
respect self disclosure,
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Acceptance Essays
