Sexual or Sensual?

     I've been running a question over and over in my head for the past few days. It all started with the sexual content assignment. I watched Lost, Community and Chopped. Chopped and Lost were void of sexual content but Community was not. In this particular episode one of the characters didn't want to play pool in a gym uniform so he quit the class. Then after realizing that if he was secure with who he was that changing "his style" was okay, so he decided to play in the uniform. He played against the gym coach who taunted him consistently about how he loved clothes more than pool. This lead to both of them ripping off their clothes and playing nude for the victory. And now the question i've been pondering for over a week is: "is that sexual content?" "is that sensual content?" I first watched this episode with a couple of guys. The one laughed hysterically, the other didn't react to basically any part of the show. When I saw this section I wasn't offended nor did I think it was weird. The big question that this has brought to mind is, what is sexual content? I'm not exactly sure but I do believe that we are very confused about this in society today.
     I asked my wife about this and she said that for a woman watching the show this was sexual content. I thought about it some more and realized that if two women would have done the same thing I would have felt it much more strange and inappropriate than a couple of guys. Thus sexual content is different for genders and also can depend on the sexual orientation of the person. In our ever-changing world this type of differentiation is common in many aspects of life. For example, when I go to the gym I generally take a shower. It doesn't bother me to shower with men, I've done it since high school and it's not a big deal. However, I've noticed that some guys do not shower in the public showers but prefer the private stalls, I'd say this comes from an obvious discomfort with naked men or being naked with naked men. Which regardless of sexual orientation could make a person feel awkward, it was a very awkward thing when I began taking showers after sports practices in high school but after time became fairly commonplace. Personally I do not feel that showering is a sexual experience however I do feel that because nudity has become synonymous with sex, showering has consequently become a "sexual" experience for some people. Let me now clarify that I am not demeaning people who dislike showering with others I'm simply saying that our culture has sexualized something that in the past (i.e. Turkish or Roman baths)  was not sexual, and the current reactions are caused by contemporary trends in thinking.
     Another example of this is breast-feeding. While many college freshman scoff at Freud's psychosexual theory, specifically the oedipus complex, they seem also to believe it. Even in Utah where breast-feeding in public is legal many refer to it as strange and seem as though they would consign the mother to privacy as if the experience between mother and child was too intimate for a public setting. While I don't believe this is true, generally people show a fair amount of disdain for public breast-feeding. I'll be honest, I felt the same way in the past but since my wife began to breast-feed I have felt quite a bit different. It seems to me that this act is a quintessential part of mothering. The attitude that many in American culture have about breast-feeding is best highlighting when viewed in contrast with other cultures. Almost every foreign missionary has a story about a woman breast-feeding in a lesson and how it was "so weird". It obviously wasn't weird for the woman or for her husband sitting next to her. However, it was for the missionary, to the point that in some cases they have to leave because they couldn't focus. This is an obvious difference in culture and another thing which we've overly sexualized. Is breast-feeding sexual content, a lot of people react to it as if it is.
     Who has been doing their scripture reading lately? If you have you may or may not have noticed that we skipped some chapters in Genesis. The chapters that we skipped have to do with sex. Namely Lot's daughters involving themselves with their father to preserve their seed. Later Jacob's sons become heavily involved in a wide variety of sexual sins. Is that sexual content? Yes. But should we have clearplay for the Bible? Or are we supposed to be mature enough to handle these types of situations and realize why they were written. Genesis is a revelation given to Moses from God. God told Moses about these encounters. However, we skip over them because our society today can't handle it, it would be way too difficult to handle something like this in sunday school because sex has become so taboo.
     Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that sensual and sexual have become the same thing. People don't even talk to their children about sex because it's become such an awkward topic. I'm not really sure why but I think it's because we have over-sensualized sexuality. It's no longer just a biological function. It seems to me that what is termed as sexual and sensual is really a personal thing. Everyone reacts differently, this was illustrated nicely by Dr. Coyne's story of her mom giving the book to the neighbor. Or by reactions to the Twilight series. Personally, I think it's silly. I think we need to differentiate between sexual and sensual. Sexuality is an important part of life, our kids need to know about it, we need to know about it. However, when are children turn to media for answers what they get is typically sensual. They tend to get a bastardized version of sex when parents are unwilling to talk about such an important subject. Perhaps by sorting this out we can reduce some of the confusion and put a more definitive label on sexual and sensual.