A recent study in the Journal of Sex Research links depression in women to casual sex. This flies in direct contrast to a campus culture that tries to celebrate "uncommitted sex." The problem is it flies in the face of our internal nature, and is the case in most emotional matters, comes down hardest on women.
Like most campuses, the University of Illinois hosts an annual celebration of uncommitted sex called "Sex Out Loud." It presents a generally one-sided account of sex which doesn't represent reality. Sex has consequences and those consequences are felt mostly by women.
One interesting feature of the study shows that it is more typical for uncommitted sexual encounters to take place between friends instead of strangers. What this indicates to me is that women and men have a hard time in this society relating to each other in non-sexual ways. "Friends with benefits" used to be a joke a decade ago when I was an undergrad, now it's a sad reality.
The study shows what many on the right (particularly religious) have always known, that sex has meaning beyond the physical. People long to be in an intimate relationship and meaningless sex does nothing but break down those relationships. Women begin to feel like little more than objects instead of people to who deserve to be cherished.
Likely this story will be ignored on campus and the general media but it's another statement that the sexual revolution got it wrong. Those who surfer most from that error is women.
John Bambenek is the Assistant Politics Editor for Blogcritics and is an academic professional for the University of Illinois. He is a freelance columnist who blogs at Part-Time Pundit and the executive director of The Tumaini Foundation which helps AIDS orphans in Tanzania with education.He is the current owner of BlogSoldiers, a blog-only traffic exchange.
