Sexual Repression is the Problem, Not the Solution

“To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.” – The Matrix

If you want to understand why there is so much negative/harmful sexual expression in society you need to understand sexuality as being a fundamental and natural expression of our creative life-force (energy), and that mode of creative expression has been culturally repressed, suppressed, and shamed to everyone’s detriment for hundreds of years.  This sexual energy within people is like a gently simmering pot of water – if you put a heavy lid on it, pressure will steadily build up to the point that the pressure can no longer be contained and there is a sudden, uncontrolled outburst of steam.  This can take the form of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation of women, excessive use of pornography, child sexual abuse, some instances of rape, etc.  Only when a person’s needs for sexual expression are not allowed a healthy social outlet do they take on a “dark” (self-serving), frustrated, or desperate expression.  That which you suppress becomes your “shadow” and it is the shadow-self that causes harm to self and others.

Masturbation is not a long-term solution (especially for men, who are much more root/sacral chakra centered in their self-expression than women, who are more heart-centered) because sexuality is ultimately a universal impulse of creation expressed through spiritual union (holistic reunion).  Masturbation may release some of that pent up sacral energy for a time, but that is a very limited form of sexual expression that does not provide the emotional, psychological, and spiritual bonding rewards that are deeply subconscious yet powerful needs we all have as individually-incomplete energy beings.

Although people are responsible for their actions to the extent they actually have self-awareness and self-control to make a choice outside of habit or impulse, society is overwhelmingly to blame for the huge suppression of sexual expression that has placed people in a sexual “pressure cooker”, through unnatural conservative values, legal prohibitions, and a lack of empowering education regarding the spiritual meaning and non-mechanical aspects and dynamics of sexuality.  Society is also worthy of blame to the extent it has failed to empower people with the knowledge, wisdom, and techniques required for genuine self-awareness and self-discipline.  Furthermore, corporations of various kinds have largely hijacked our views about sexuality, corrupting them and constantly triggering lust to favor their profit motives.

While we are seeing love-based “sex positive” values begin to get a foothold in our collective culture, this is not enough.  Cultural and legal hindrances to sexual expression must be withdrawn, corporations must be held to task for corrupting sexual values, people need to be better educated about the greater nature and meaning surrounding sexual behavior, and safe social outlets for such expression should be encouraged.  Such actions “just make sense” when you simply acknowledge and appreciate human nature for what it is and understand social dynamics from a systems theory perspective.  In this area, as in most others in which we have collective problems, what is needed most is a controlled decompression of tensions, so that peace, harmony, and love can be restored to prominence.