We Old Prudes

My first imagining of sexual experience was a

complete failure. I grew up in a larger family of

Presbyterians. Larger means my parents, grand

parents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

For us, promiscuity was a sin. We thought

that this kind of sin might be fun, but any idea

of actually doing it was banished by a highly

cultivated conscience.

So, when i got married at age twenty-five,

after seven years in the navy, i was a virgin. Male

virgins in the navy were not numerous. Many

young men, when first detached from a larger

family and/or community, are easily persuaded

to promiscuous sex.

The fact that prostitutes, with less strict

consciences, were abundant seemed to lessen the

horror of participating in sin. After all, they were

not despoiling virgin girls.

I felt that sharing a first sexual experience,

with someone i wanted to spend my life, was not

something easily dismissed. But our women’s

liberation has completely changed the moral

aspects of our society. Women have, historically,

been restricted to less freedom to sin. To me,

spirituality means freedom to become better

than we are. Whether my fundamentalist

religious background restricted me to being less

than i need to be, depends on what we consider

better. I still walk out of movies or shows which

celebrate promiscuity. I do not read books or

stories which accept promiscuity as a normal

reaction to the society in which we now live.

I am a prude i suppose.

Walt Abbott–11-22-2009