> Sex is taboo? Where is that? Maybe in sharia oriented societies - but in the US with it's prudish attitude they don't differ that much in this regard.
Wasn't sex outside marriage a felony in Utah until recently? Pretty sure the sharia wasn't applied there…
My point is that the American puritan roots are still alive and kicking, both in conservative circles obviously but also liberal circles with people getting "distressed" at the sight of any kind of eroticism in art or entertainment.
Until struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003, Sodomy laws existed in some US states. These targeted not just same sex couples, but often all couples and prohibited acts such as oral or anal sex even for married couples.
In some areas of the US, we still teach kids (especially girls) that they are damaged if they have sex outside of marriage. That is instead of teaching about safe sex practices and things like that. We don't always take rape seriously - for either sex. Don't show a nipple on TV, especially not on "public" broadcast or during certain times of day. Certainly never, ever show a penis on these channels - that's especially vulgar.
These are all clues that sex is taboo. We can't even have honest conversations about it and it causes a bit of obsession with it devoid of healthy attitudes.
From where does it come from? I guess also from so called religious values or at least from what some of the Churches make out of it. I believe the polytheistic are much open minded regarding sexuality than the monotheistic ones - or maybe as Islam sprung from Christianity and Judaism and Christianity from Judaism it is only this specific strain that has a problem with sexuality.
The virginity thing comes from a time where women and girls were considered property, first of the family then of a husband, and potential husbands usually want(ed) a pristine product not a "used" one.
> believe the polytheistic are much open minded regarding sexuality than the monotheistic ones
Not really, it depends on whatever religion. Hinduism, 3rd largest of all religions and largest polytheistic religion, makes a big deal about premarital virginity of women, at least in all the major branches/sects of it.
In a few European countries for instance, including Germany.
Though, taking Germany as an example, you might run into legal troubles if you make a nuisance of yourselves knowingly or on purpose. [1]
Americans are considered pretty prude, uptight, and christian fundamentalist when it comes sexuality here, while US citizens can have quite the culture shock and think us crazy. The laws surrounding sexuality are really just the tip of the iceberg.
A softer facet is kissing in public, or PDA's how they're called by some. I find it ridiculous some people are offended by this, but maybe I am extremely shameless.
Drama only lasts a long time when there’s people on both sides arguing about it though.
This is what these “grand unified theories of American prudery” miss — the US isn’t a uniformly prude nation; it’s just a very large and diverse one. It contains people who are very prude as well as people who are the opposite — it contains people who write in to the FTC to complain about not-quite-nipples on TV, but it also contains the sort of people who thought that showing a 40 year old woman’s saggy boob during an afternoon football game was a good idea in the first place. It contains people who complain about porn, but it also contains most of the global porn industry.
