Sexuality, as an abstract concept or personal identity, is itself a perversion of a simple bodily process. Feeling the need to define oneself according to one's sexual needs or actions is a symptom of the loss of our humanity. It is, perhaps, symptomatic of population pressures, dehumanization of the industrial/electronic age, the new corporate fascism, the new resurgence of orthodox deity worship, and/or any number of other modern stresses combined.
People who are born at the ends of the sexual-preference bell curves are forced by the prejudices and hatreds of those in the middle to assert their difference politically as a form of self defense. In a post-Kinsey age, this speaks to the depth of the U.S. society's sexual dysfunction.
The need to have sexual stimulation and release is simply a human and an animal need. It is anatomic, biochemical, hormonal. If modern humans managed their bowels in the same way they manage their sexual organs, a vast portion of the human population would die of terminal constipation.
In short, sex of all kinds, like food, has been packaged and manipulated for profit and social control by capitalists and politicians. So, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have a sexually healthy life by rejecting myths and fears, fostered by media advertisers working for the powers who wish to control and/or sell sex.
In my own practice, I have grown to appreciate my sexual needs in concert with my other bodily needs. A central part of this process is the acceptance of responsibility for my own sexual needs and satisfaction of those needs. After all, do I require another person to attend to my adult needs to eat, to sleep, to digest, to eliminate? No. And, do I feel guilt when I eat to satisfy hunger, sleep to avoid fatigue, relax after a meal to digest, or lock the bathroom door behind me? No.
When we see ourselves as powerless to satisfy our basic physical needs by moderation, regulation and conscious practice, we lose our humanity and our freedom. When we deny ourselves healthy practices to satisfy the will of others, we shrink as human beings and sacrifice our own personal evolution. As with all areas of life, the person who is healthy in his/her own sexual practices has so much more to give to others when given the opportunity to share.
