Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site randvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!randvax!edhall From: edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: Re: Sex and violence Message-ID: <2042@randvax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 8-Oct-84 14:48:12 EDT Article-I.D.: randvax.2042 Posted: Mon Oct 8 14:48:12 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 10-Oct-84 06:15:58 EDT References: <544@ames.UUCP> Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica Lines: 24 I don't think many people would argue against a connection between sex and aggression. In fact, aggression (and I'm using the term in a neutral sense) is a vital part of sex, in my opinion. Even in the most idealistic sense, striving for union is an aggressive act. Violence, on the other hand, is an aberration in sex. It is aggression, to be sure, but more signifigantly it is destruction and enslavement. Aggression, like power (aggression essentially being an expression of power) is neutral; it can be either constructive or destructive. It can be either a firm and loving embrace, or an act of forceful domination. The aggresive aspect of sex can be scary; I know that as my awareness of violence toward women increased I also became afraid of what lurked behind my own sexual nature, and questioned my own sexual aggressive- ness. Alas, I think the men who question themselves in this regard are probably the ones least deserving of it. (Such self-conciousness is certainly not very conducive to good sexual relations.) But there is a violent edge to the way sex is viewed in our culture, and I think that a phase of such introspection can be a good thing. -Ed Hall decvax!randvax!edhall