The Pursuit of Happiness and the New Morality: Cyber Sex, Pornography, and alternative sex practices beyond condoms -- a vision of the future and the future is now!

by Lionel A. Biron (1997)

A very large percent of internet activity involves men and women actively engaged in exploring and pursuing their sexual interests. In the age of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), people are increasingly looking to various CyberSex activities as a way of eliminating the risks of contracting these dreaded diseases. Such pursuits of happiness rather than be criticized as 'abnormal,' should be applauded for questioning of so-called 'normal' sexual behavior. Safety rather than unconventionality should dominate this discussion, and free choice should be the only rule of the game.

Why should only condoms and abstinence be offered as viable safeguards against sexually transmitted diseases when CyberSex, and pornography in its various forms (photos, video, CD-ROMs, DVDs, films) offer 100% safe sex, a fact which can not be claimed for condoms whose effectiveness against disease and pregnancy has been largely oversold by ill-conceived, expensive Safe-Sex public relations campaigns that directly benefit the condom industry.

Non-traditional safe sex practices that do NOT require the need for condoms should be encouraged. We are moving into a new millennium where our notions of sexual activity will hopefully broaden so that countless creative sexual expressions not requiring condoms are put on at least the same footing as the more conventional activities requiring them.

The need to reduce both the transmission of STDs and the world population growth rate are each, in their own way, forcing us to rethink sexual activity in the most fundamental ways.

Homosexuality is only a part of this big picture of which we are all a part. Once homosexuality is seen as a major contributor to world population control -- the 21st Century's highest priority -- present day social tensions surrounding homosexuality will simply vanish, and homosexual activities of all genders and persuasions will be accepted much as heterosexuality is today. When this happens, many people -- who previously would not have considered engaging in homosexual activities -- will begin to experiment and search for new ways of achieving sexual self-gratification beyond the limited ones generally promoted today.

From this new perspective, present-day pseudo-scientific rationalizations as to whether one's sexual identity is determined by nature or freely chosen will appear as archaic and foolish as the Medieval disputes regarding the number of angels that could sit on the head of pin. These tired discussions derive from an apparent need to absolve homosexual practionners of their sin or their deviant behavior. From the new perspective, this 'deviant behavior' will be accepted as a blessing in disguise requiring no such justification for either religious or social acceptance.

In short, the table is about to be turned around on the old morality which will increasingly be on the defensive to justify its promotion of present day so-called 'normal' sexual behavior. Already, for example, in countries such as Mexico where the authority of the Catholic Church remains largely unchallenged, loud voices on such issues as abortion and birth control are increasingly being heard.

This is a moral-social issue requiring abandoning some of the old values that once were justifiable when conditions were quite different from the ones facing us today. All morality has its justification in the survival of the species. Mass procreative ideology once rested on such a basis. [Medical technology has turned this around and less rather than more children is today's new necessity for survival.] However, when conventional morality seeks to perpetuate itself in total disregard of the survival principle, then a new morality -- one that again takes our survival into account -- must emerge to replace it.

People cannot be forced to abandon their old-time religions [It has never worked; religious persecution is counter-productive], but they can voluntarily convert as others show by their example that the new world facing us requires new values much as did the old world before.

Traditions of all sorts are held in high esteem. Consistency has its merits, but it also has its drawbacks. The comfort and security in the repetition of a familiar pattern sometimes shared with ancestors across time lines -- called rituals -- are mythic and, as such, are fundamental to the human psyche. However, when these rituals and their accompanying beliefs stand in the way of human survival, they can neither be ignored nor encouraged.

Would the covered wagon people in the 1850s of the Old West recognize our world today any more than we can imagine the world facing our children in 50 years. The purpose of any society is to balance conflicting interests without ever losing sight of its primary responsibility --  the survival of its members.

The problem is not whether change occurs -- for it always does --  but how to effect meaningful change. Again, I believe the best way is by example, a method used successfully in the past by all of the world's great religions. However, in today's democratic global environment as reflected by the World Wide Web, we do not need one single exemplum as in the past, but countless exempli  to pave the way, in countless ways, to a new tomorrow.

This future surrounds us but is still out of focus because of our past which clings and alienates us from the actual reality in which we live our lives every day. In other words, the world we are living in is not what the old-time mental constructs are telling us it is. It is essential we learn to live in greater harmony and friendlier feelings with our present day reality -- not as our grandparents lived it, but as we must live it if we are not to perish from this earth. It's called adaptation and any species who fails this test eventually and inevitably becomes extinct.

The data available suggests that CyberSex as practiced by an ever growing internet public, is doing just that: adapting to the new reality, allowing people in the comfort and privacy of their homes to explore their sexuality and discover new ways of relating with one another in order to obtain satisfactory sexual gratification associated with healthy, well-balanced individuals.

This is not to degrade the fact that in some isolated cases, celibacy may be the preferred choice. But to even suggest celibacy as a meaningful alternative for most people -- especially for the young and healthy -- reflects great social irresponsibility since it is likely to confuse and injure the person hearing the message. [Just Say No Campaigns are so fundamentally retro in conception that, not unsurprisingly, the general public simply laughs them off.]

And lest we forget, this issue of sexual gratification is linked in the USA to the constitutionally protected right of the Pursuit of Happiness!