I have assiduously avoided dialogue on Moscow’s Doug Wilson and Christ Church because religious arguments are far more likely to produce anger than peace.
However, jousting between Wilson and those who disagree with him on the Daily News opinion page has drawn me into the fray.
I do not speak for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, of which I have been a participating member for 66 years. The views that I express here are my own, based on my personal interpretation of religion, science, and culture.
Recently, Daily News columnist Nick Gier — whom I respect and trust — reported (in “Racism, rape and the local church pastor”) that Wilson wrote in his book, “Fidelity: What it Means to be a One-Woman Man” that in sexual intercourse “A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.”
We dasn’t probe deeper or Idaho teenagers won’t be allowed to read this column. But for readers who already know about the birds and the bees, I dare on.
Wilson’s view on sexuality is woefully outdated, illinformed and misinformed.
Whether one believes that God created male and female (Genesis 1:27) or whether the sexes were created by Mother Nature — so-to-speak on the science side — with few exceptions males and females are born with the appropriate and necessary genitalia and sex hormones to “get it on.”
It matters not how humanoids were created, males and females both have bodies capable of receiving great and healthy pleasure in sexual relations.
Christianity speaks loudly for the premise that God created human bodies with the capacity to enjoy sexual activities, ipso facto, for their enjoyment as well as for impregnation.
Females have the physical capacity to enjoy sex as much as males.
Having raised six children in Pullman, I well remember their reports of sexually aggressive females in high school. I hear on the grapevine that the cultural aspects of dating have now reached a point where many males and females alike expect sex on a first date. At least at the college level.
Some social data suggests there also is a counter-movement towards delaying first sexual intercourse.
Morality is another subject, perhaps for another day and another column.
Pastor Wilson could benefit from some scientific sex education. Here’s a start.
Sexual activity has many health benefits for both males and females.
Enjoying sex once or twice a week increases the immune system, lowers blood pressure, and protects middle-age men and women from heart attacks.
An eight-year National Cancer Institute research project involving 29,342 males found that frequent sex decreases cancer risks, especially in middle-aged males.
The National Library of Medicine reports research that reveals similar benefits for both older males and females.
Women receive some special benefits. Among them are fewer menstrual cramps, stronger pelvic muscles and now, get this; the Association of Migraine Disorders reports one survey in which 60% of males and females who have migraines found sex improved their headaches.
So much for the common excuse, “Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.”
I’m not going there, but neurologists do say that sexual activities release neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, which reduce pain.
The very thought that sexual pleasure is a male thing that females merely accept is repugnant and should have no place in modern civilizations, especially among Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which teach that our bodies were created by God.
Day has lived in Pullman since 1972. He served on the Washington State University faculty for 32 years as a science communicator. He enjoys email at terence@moscow.com, pro or con.
