I think we're entering week three of "Contraception: America in Crisis" on the cable networks. I've seen media figures, men and women, and Republicans weeping over the nightmare of contraception for days and days now.
I should be weeping with them -- because this is really bizarre stuff. But I guess I'm just too shocked at the hysteria.
So, I'd like to remind folks on TV of something that it seems to have forgotten:
Love, desire and sex are good. They are healthy. These things are often a component of a happy life -- though I'd add that there are many happy lives where these things don't play a big role as well.
It's okay for women to have sex because it makes them feel good.
Period.
And it's okay for women to use contraception to keep them from becoming pregnant when having sex to feel good. Women don't need any other excuse -- although there are other medical reasons for taking the hormones, for example, that are in birth control pills beyond preventing pregnancy.
This is life, people.
Humans have sex with each other.
This is by design.
At the most basic level, sex serves biological procreation. But we're not amoebas or zucchini plants or earthworms. We're humans and we live in a world of complicated interactions between culture and biology.
For humans, sex isn't just for procreation. It helps us create and maintain our primary interpersonal bond. Desire, the activator for sex, is a key part of the way we organize ourselves socially. How we perceive our desires is a big part of how we perceive our identity.
Come on, people ... Fall in love a little bit.
Feel that twinge in your chest when you see the one you love.
Feel your pulse race when you think about intimacy.
Make a little love tonight ...
These things are good, important and healthy.
Republicans and media people who try to make this weird and shameful are just trying to keep you down.