Becoming Numb

Unfortunate individuals born with a certain rare neurological disorder, congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), undergo rather unique, burdensome symptoms. For example, one could place his hand on a stove-top, burn his hand, but not even notice or feel the fact that the stove burns his hand. In an article by TIME magazine, What Every Generation Gets Wrong About Sex, Rachel Hills quotes a 32-year-old from London in an attempt to claim that sex is about "open-mindedness" as saying "Nothing should be seen as alien, or looked down upon as wrong." This nonchalant approach to life and the "If that's what you believe, good for you" attitude has become the predominant inspiration of today's sex culture, numbing people to the pain experienced by the circumstances that they indulge which ultimately leave them feeling burned.

Hills illustrates today's view and use of sex: "Today sex is all over our TV screens, in our literature and infused in the rhythms of popular music. A rich sex life is both a necessity and a fashion accessory, promoted as the key to good health, psychological vitality and robust intimate relationships. But sex also continues to be seen as a sinful and corrupting force." How can sex be seen as something so life giving but at the same time death inflicting? The ability to see sex as something more than mere pleasure (instead something that is sacred and brings life into the world) erases the teeter-totter effect of sex also seen as a "sinful and corrupting force."  The numbness people try to inflict attempts to cover the "sinful and corrupting force" of sex primarily through contraceptives and abortion procedures. Yet this numbing effect only helps one ignore the pain that is still and will continue to inflict pain until healing takes place. Just as today's sex appeal is distortedly rooted in feelings of pleasure, one can not ignore occurring feelings of discontent or disagreement in these moral issues. As American author and essayist Flannery O'Connor once said, "Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you."