An article appeared in the Spring, 1995, issue of Green Egg entitled "Pagans and the `Other Sexism'." The author said that this "other sexism" is "bias (that) is aimed not at women or men or any particular group, but at something which is a part of every human being and every god and goddess -- this bigotry is aimed at sex, itself." The article challenged us to look at ourselves, and see how many of our society's sick attitudes towards sex we Pagans have swallowed, all the while believing we are free of them.
Our society is sick with sex: it doesn't know whether to proclaim it or hide it in shame; and even attempts at celebrating it fall prey to the pervading illness. Look in the video stores, for example. Of the movies that pitch sex as one of their selling points (?), how many mix a heaping measure of murder, rape, or other violence into the pot? Eighty percent? Ninety? And which is more likely to get a movie an NC-17 rating: bullets fired in hate, shredding a human body, or a penis "fired" in love, pleasuring one? Easy answer.
But we Pagans say things are different with us. We echo, "Sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in my presence," and "All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals." We glory in our sexuality. We dance skyclad to the drums around the revel fires, then slip away to make even more beautiful rhythms in our tents and vans.
Yet even most Pagans have bought into of our society's attitudes towards sex: that it must be done in privacy, for example. At Beltane celebrations of old, the hills were alive with the sound of music -- the music of joyous coupling. (There just may be something to that: in one modern experiment, a group of researchers wired a plant to a polygraph to measure its response while they concentrated on sexual imagery. The response? The plant showed the polygraph pattern of excitement.)
Sex was an integral part of the rituals by which the Goddess was worshipped by our Pagan ancestors: the Great Rite, for example, was not just reserved for "established couples." It was a part of the ritual, and its energy was shared and celebrated by all those present. (And we're not talking about thousands -- or even hundreds -- of years ago here.) Sticking an athame into a chalice may be a necessary euphemism in a handfasting with mundane friends and relatives attending, but it's a pale imitation of the act it symbolizes.
Sex was a normal part of life to our ancestors, too, and it was neither hoarded nor hidden. Even in modern times, so-called "primitive" peoples still have this understanding. Wilfred Pelletier, a Native American of the Odawa tribe, says, "On the reservation people were honest about their feelings and their needs, and as all the resources of the community were available to those who need them; sex was not excluded. Sex was a recognized need, so nobody went without it. It was as simple as that."
Sex is also a powerful force for magick -- one of the most powerful, in fact; but its use is taught, if at all, as an odd sidelight on the way things used to be done. We all learn how to raise energy by dancing, singing, meditation, and so on. But how many teachers, outside the OTO, talk about the enormous energy that is raised by the drive toward orgasm? And, of course, of all the forms of magick, sex is the only one that "must" be done alone or with an established partner.
The Gaia Tradidion believes it is time for us to move beyond the sick Christian attitude towards sex that pervades our society. It is time for us to declare, openly, that sex is a sacred part of life, to be celebrated, not hidden away.
We believe it's time for us to return sex to its original sacrality: to bring it out of the closet where most people keep it, and recapture its joy and its power. Pagans are pledged to live lives that reflect our dedication to Goddess as well as to God, that are pro-woman as well as pro-man, and that model peace as well as mouthing it. Research has shown that societies -- human and "lower" primate -- that live with open, free, and joyous sex are far more peaceful, happier, and less stressful. Sexually free and happy people are less violent, and more accepting of others.
The Minoan civilization of ancient Crete, for a concrete example, had both sexual equality (the women jumped bulls right alongside the men) and sexual openness (women's dresses proudly exposed their breasts, and men's codpieces left little to imagine). But no weapons of war have been found anywhere in the sites we have uncovered; and for the longest time archaeologists just couldn't figure out how a society could have possibly built cities with so little regard to defensibility.
Humainty's closest relatives among the other primates are a species of chimpanzee called the Bonobos. These animals live in societies that have solved the problem of conflict -- both within their tribes and between different tribes. Whenever a conflict arises, they resolve it immediately, with sex. Lots and lots of sex. For more information on these delightful relatives of ours, see these articles:
The evidence is there that sexual openness is one of the most important factors in building the peaceful, gender-honoring society that we as Pagans are striving for. It is there, but it has been carefully hidden by those to whom control is more important than peace. Wilhelm Reich, for example, died in federal prison in 1957 for crimes such as daring to say explicitly that most of today's neuroses are the result of Judeo-Christian sex repression. If we understand the evidence, and accept it, then we really have no choice but to move towards greater sexual openness. The Goddess calls us to it.
Care must be taken, of course. Disease is out there, but it doesn't rule our lives -- we follow the Church of All Worlds in using the Condom Commitment. Also, predators are out there. Any community that decides to practice sexual openness must guard itself from those who would join simply for a source of new prey. Finally, jealousy has to be faced and then replaced. The problems can be overcome, however, and the rewards are more than worth the work.