I have an interesting group of friends from grad school that I like to get together with on a regular basis. We are all teachers, and we put our heads together and brainstorm about teaching. We also go off on random topics… and this came up recently. I thought I would share some of my revelations…

We were talking about one woman’s son’s English assignment and about how she was very displeased with his teacher for allowing him to use moderate profanity in an assignment. It was a combination of letters and symbols, but my friend was appalled. She felt it totally inappropriate, and I agreed. Our conversation turned to limited vocabularies, and limited ability to think… and ultimately to the frequency with which people in our culture think about and talk about sex.

I made a comment about how I always feel awkward when intimate scenes are shown on tv-shows and movies. I am a little embarrassed, and feel the need to leave the room (especially if there is someone other than my husband watching). One of my friends felt it was also inappropriate, and another said it didn’t bother her as much…

After dinner, I got to thinking. I’m glad I react this way. Not that I believe sex is an embarrassing thing… but it has its place between a married couple, and it’s not something that should be on display. It’s intimate! The very definition of the word intimate means that it is something personal and private.

I am proud that my moral compass is on and alert. I’m glad that I feel awkward, and want to leave the room because I feel like I still hold intimacy in its rightful place. When we start to lose this sense that sex is something special to be celebrated between a married man and woman, we move away from what God has ordained. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to treat sex like it is some paltry act.

I probably wont be turning off my tv completely, but I am going to continue to use my judgment about what I do watch. And I won’t be afraid to turn something off that I deem inappropriate. There seems far greater risk in leaving the tv on than I care to imagine.