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assignment 05

The radical theory of sex contains many different ideas and restrictions on the concept of sex.  These theories run deep within history and appear mostly in the United States and England.  The act of premarital/underage sex is something that is so forbidden that people are even advised not to touch themselves because of precautions for their health when they’re older.  Parents even tie their children up before they put them to bed in order to prevent them from touching themselves.  Any form of “sex per se” was a sensitive topic and many laws were made in order to perpetuate any form of sexual contact, whether it was physical or visual.  It even got to the point where some nude pictures were not allowed to be in textbooks because it violated their laws of nudity.  At that point it wasn’t sure what was appropriate or not.  The customs and norm of the sexuality culture in the past were deemed as normal and because of that, it shaped the laws, which is why why nobody really questioned it, however now sexuality is coming more and more out of their boundaries and not everyone is agreeing with the laws and customs in the past.

From reading this article we can clearly see the hierarchies embedded in our systems of sexuality.  Of course heterosexual couples were seen as the norm.  Police and media waged war on homosexuals throughout the 1950s. Many gay communities were raided.  This was all normal to people because gays weren’t accepted ever.  Even with all the commotion, the enforcements of the existing laws of prostitution has been restricted even more.  Some states have been passing new and tighter regulations on commercial sex.

A big issue today is the defunding of planned parenthood. This was probably enforced in order to prevent abortions, however planned parenthood doesn’t cover people for abortion.  It is to manage the birth control/contraceptives.  This type of regulation is similar to back in the days, however for different reasons. Back in the, people were trying to refrain young girls from having sex.  Now it is a sense of not supporting abortions.  Same situation, different reasons. 

These customs and norms are a perfect example that shows how people can be influenced by society and who they grow up with.  In my family, for example, it is not a question that people are supposed to wait until marriage to sex. It’s not a law in where my parents grew up, but generation after generation they were taught that and try to teach their kids the same.