Life As performance Art 158

We have lost our moral rudder. We no longer have ethical moorings. Perhaps we never did. When I hear and read and even remember the very selective manner in which the teachings of the Gospels have been treated and conveyed, I find myself feeling very squeamish and embarrassed about being a Christian. Not because I am ashamed of Christ, but because I am so deeply ashamed at the way we have disgraced him. There still was a vague Christian ethos that used to govern and influence our way of thinking, but people got really obsessed over sexual conduct and female modesty, while still gleefully going to war to slaughter the enemy, as well as performing acts of near genocide (it wasn't complete genocide, the memory of and ongoing experience of trauma does cause some of our First Nations people to exaggerate a bit, but their treatment was still egregious and in so many ways resembles genocide, that maybe we'd might as well just call it genocide and stop quibbling). I do not like the way people have become so sexualized that even prostitution is being whitewashed as a legitimate and ethical choice of vocation. This is just so ridiculous. It has to do with zero sum thinking that leaves absolutely no room for nuance. There is this dumb ass assumption that you have to somehow approve of prostitution as a valid career choice in order to not judge, and to respect the hooker who is plying her craft. Well, I worked in Christian street ministry, for years, with hookers (sex worker is a politically correct post modernist euphemism, and I simply refuse to use it) This is exploitation. It crosses so many lines and boundaries. Anyone selling sex is degrading themselves because in order to do it they have to somehow dissociate themselves, treating such an intimate practice and function as a mere trade for getting some money. The man who pays for sex is actually saying that this woman, or man, providing the service, is no more than that, a service provider, like a Starbucks barista, but more expensive. There is so much emotion, so many psychological and spiritual dynamics that are connected to the sex act, that any situation involving sex where there isn't love, intimacy, trust and deep caring and mutual care and mutual commitment is nothing more and nothing less than a degradation of something that should be considered sacred, especially given that it is sex that produces offspring, it creates life, and even if it is same sex intercourse it still bears that essence of life. Turning it into a commercial transaction simply degrades and debases the sacred and the poor idiots who participate. I do not, and never have approved of prostitution. I will not dignify it be calling it sex work. It is prostitution. I do not condemn women or men who sell or rent out their bodies in order to pay the bills. But a legitimate profession! Give me a break! I have no problem with women and men who have to sell or rent out their bodies in order to pay the rent and keep food on the table. But I also sincerely hope that they will come into situations where they can actually find and develop their true potential and leave behind this degrading practice. When there are no other options, it has to be respected that they are going to get by however they can. But when you also consider how many prostitutes have also been sexually abused or exploited as children, then this becomes even more problematic. How many little girls, and little boys, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, are going to answer Sex worker? Maybe, doctor, or firefighter, or nurse, or astronaut or artist or pick any one. But if I were to hear my kid say, Daddy, I wanna be a ho when I grow up, then I would have a very long and serious talk with my kid. There is absolutely nothing legitimate about sex work, or prostitution. It is an emergency measure for survival that too many people get unfortunately stranded in, and it always involves some form of exploitation. I only wish that the academics that try to control the way we think would get their heads out of their politically correct ass and actually learn how to think. And don't give me that female empowerment horse shit!