I’m serious about this question: why are humans so damn horny? Alongside money, what else makes the world go ‘round? Unarguably it would be sex. Sex is everywhere. You cannot watch TV or flip through a magazine without seeing images of people missing important articles of clothing. Imagine the total dollar value of industries that thrive off of sexual arousal. I’m talking lingerie, porn, prostitution, strip clubs, escort services, sex toys, sexy commercials, and drugs for impotence. And let’s throw in things where sexual attraction is implied: jewelry, hair regrowth products, fancy cars, fashionable clothing, workout routines, weight-loss substances, and advice column magazines. We’re doubtless at billions upon billions of dollars. And what keeps all of this afloat? You guessed it: the human libido.
Now I understand that, as animals, humans must have a certain level of sexual desire and attraction to the opposite sex for reproduction and furthering the species’ existence. But I think it’s safe to say that humans are charged with a little more sexual desire than what is necessary for that. Like… a lot more! Why? It doesn’t make sense. The pain and suffering caused by humans’ hyperactive sex drive is immeasurable. It’s made bright and gifted men—men who have made the world a better place through their core convictions, drive for justice, and disciplined approach to leadership—act like 15-year-old boys and do the absolute stupidest things in the sexual department. The examples are infinite: Kings, Popes, and leaders of old, to modern examples like Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, and less public examples of women teachers with young boys. It’s part of the human experience.
From a religious angle this makes even less sense. The major world religions are terrified of sex. Some Islamic cultures can’t bear to see the female figure at all. Anything visible more than some eyeballs is sacrilegious. Sex before marriage is blasphemy. Catholic Priests must be celibate. Hell, making out with a little too much tongue is sinning. This is part of the pushback against what no one is above: humans are horny as hell. But from the religious perspective, why would our creator create us with an over-the-top, overblown sex drive that is far more than what is required for nature? Just to mess with us? That doesn’t seem right.
This all sounds kind of funny but it’s really not. Let’s look at the really ugly side of this, where the darkness of that primal, visceral sexual urge bursts through its containment and destroys lives, families, and institutions. It’s quite disgusting. How does this list make you feel: young boys getting raped by coaches in the shower; soldiers raping women on the battle field; a mom with a beautiful family getting caught cheating with her boss; college girls getting raped at frat parties; young women being forced into sexual slavery; child pornography; women with seven different kids by seven different men; Catholic priests raping altar boys; and people getting slipped date rape drugs so that they’re nothing more than lifeless bodies with genitals to exploit? This kind of stuff is the result of humans being infused with so much perverted sexual desire that it overcomes better judgment and rationality.
The self-righteous have the simple conviction that this whole thing is part of the human experience of good versus evil. People need to control their desires and be the masters of themselves. I agree with that, but that’s not the point I’m getting at. I’m talking about why this much sexual desire exists in the first place. It’s so past the level needed for reproduction it’s not even funny. And ironically, some of the staunchest, do-no-evil, self-righteous bible thumpers have been the ones revealed to be into the most perverted, sexually deviant things. Does Ted Haggard ring a bell? Being that I am not God, not the one pulling the levers or setting up these amusing experiments, I have no answers.