let it all collapse, the icon for the www.punkerslut.com website
Home Articles Critiques Books Video
About Graphics CopyLeft Links Music

Contraception

By Punkerslut

Image by Havok
Image: "Kalisti 63" by Havok

Start Date: Saturday, March 29, 2003
Finish Date: Sunday, March 30, 2003

     No lover ever feels alone, when they are in the arms of their beloved.

     No child ever feels neglect when they can rely on their friends for promises, no adolescent feels the blistering stings of indignity when they listen to their soul more than they listen to the crowd, and no person must suffer through the anguish of life so long as they believe in who they are.

     Contraception, or birth control, is something that has evolved over the ages in every culture. In every age, though, it has allowed people to accomplish the greatest pleasure without the greatest responsibility. The principle of contraception is this: that one may enjoy sex, without having to worry about some of the problems derived from sexual activity, such as sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. Yet today, like in any age of Western Civilization, there is always a front to contraception. On religious or moral grounds, or both, there are numerous claims that contraception and birth prevention are cruel or uncivilized. That, on some mythical or mystic principle, we ought to abstain from sex, unless we are willing to take the consequences of birth -- or, unless we are going to throw those consequences on to a child who the world did not want. I will say this: birth prevention, in any form or means, works to prevent children from entering this world that are not wanted. It prevents the spread of life-threatening and debilitating diseases. Passion and reverence, kindliness and lust, it allows two hearts to come closer, just for a few brief seconds in this eternity, so that they may physical enjoy love that took either days or decades to build up. Promiscuity is not a problem, unless it is done in an unsafe environment. Then the problem disease will be upon those who were unsafe. This is but their own dilemma. But to create a child, without having a world ready for this child, is force this dilemma on to someone unable to understand it and unwilling to acknowledge to it.

     Every creature on this planet is born with a brain and a mind in this brain. Like any brain, these minds will produce a various string of emotions: kindness and aggression, love and hate. Those emotions which instill an individual with depression or anger, they cannot be denied, no matter how devastating their effects are. The expression of love should never be denied. Holding another in the embrace of your warmth, in a shower of touches, lips touching every part -- as emotions are aroused and desires are formed, sex usually becomes an inevitably, and to deny it is to deny everything humane and kindly in our Universe. It is a desecration of love's sweet sentiments, embittered only by the limits of our natural world: we may touch, we may physically show another what love means, but we may only be one together in our hearts -- we can believe that nothing will separate us forever, only in our minds. Contraception, birth prevention, will allow men and women to engage it sex, be it promiscuous or long-term, and enjoy what physical love means. This knowledge, this understanding of love as it exists in palms covering thighs, breath over neck -- sweet touching in a storm of bliss -- this knowledge is something that should be denied to no creature. No person should die not knowing what affection means -- no person should live without some memories of passion embodied in experience. Contraception will give to us the right to do as we like with each other, without the fear of STDs or pregnancy. Love is a valuable thing, perhaps most valuable of all. To allow it to wilt in our heart, grow gangrenous and die, without experience, is maybe one of the greatest crimes.

     With every social, political, or economical question, there is usually some talk of rights. Of what right do people have to do something, or of what right do others have to deny them their hobbies and interests? The most cherished right on this planet is a person's right to their mind, to think what thoughts they may, judge theories weighing evidence in a way they wish, and form their own conclusions. To read any book that catches their heart's interest. After this comes a person's right to their own body, to do with it what they wish, and involve only those who are consenting and willing. If a person so decides to engage in sexual activity, in what right is it different than a person who decides to engage in watching a play, writing poetry, or humbly residing in nature's serene abode? There is no difference, as these actions do not cause suffering, nor do they destroy anything. They only serve to enrich the very natural belief that intellectual pursuits can lead to the soul's contentment -- that inner beauty exists only so much as we know it to exist. To say that a man may not engage in sexual activity -- to find a lover and bombard them with the affection built up over weeks of loneliness -- is the same to say that a person may not travel through forests and grasslands in their never-ending quest to appease their need for beauty, or that every stanza of a poem is a sin against nature. Let men and women have their rights, and do what they will with each other. They harm none in their own hobbies and pursuits. Whatever claims as to their actions being disgust or vile are not up to the observer, but to the actor. To this end, I believe that men and women ought to be allowed the right to worry-free sex, with the aid of contraception, protecting their bodies, and those that are to come in the following years.

     Like a screeching howl in a night camp, there will always be the argument that it is unnatural, that it wasn't meant to be, that it is simply not right. Every sincere lover has had to suffer through these claims, and every grave marked with the blood of lovers "not meant to be" is a testament to the beauty of truth and the reality of humanity. I will never travel through this world without these histories of people who lived and died by what they believed, only to be forgotten in today's mass scurry to find something to fill the pain of meaninglessness. I will never hear a story of lovers, without instantly having thoughts of kindliness, respect, intimacy -- there will never be memories of love without tears of longing -- never a kiss given for affection that was forgotten. In this understanding of our minds, almost a completely different world from the one we must live in, we hear this argument, that sex with contraception is unnatural, that it breaks the laws of nature. I care not. Unnatural or natural, if an act brings two empathic hearts together, then I will stand by it. If by saving another's life, or preventing another's suffering, if by doing a humane and kind act, if by doing this I end up breaking a law of nature, I will hold no regrets, and my idea that hope is very real will not falter. If it be natural for slavery to exist, in the human or animal world, in a pair of Nike shoes or in a McDonald's meal, if it is a natural act to kill and maim, I will forever remain in an unnatural ideology, as I will stand by compassion and justice for a thousand years before I abandon them to some claim to naturalism. So, cast your arguments, like throwing stones so they may sink into the ocean's deep abyss. The lovers of the world will take no heed to what is natural or not. They will do what their hearts tell them, what they should do, and the intelligent ones will use contraception, irregardless of what social laws tell them. And love will survive beyond these petty rules, so that while our world goes on in the rat race for wealth and property, the criminality of it all will slowly fade away, as does the world, while two lovers become their own world.

     There is, in this matter of social and ethical consideration, an argument from the religious. The Catholic doctrine, for example, dictates that the sex organs were made for reproduction and not for pleasure. In all honesty, there are few things more foul than this: to believe in such an ugly god, that he must condemn acts of pleasure, joy, happiness, and warmth, on account of the "purpose" of organs. I've already given my opinion on whether or not it is natural or unnatural for contraceptives to be used: I don't care -- if an act puts a smile on the face of one soul in this fading Universe, then I cannot condemn it. Any person who endeavors to create happiness for those around them is a person deserving of my admiration. The priests and clergy can speak for a thousand years on this matter, for all that I care. When the acts of love can be permitted without worry of pregnancy or disease -- when it is no crime to express with your body what your heart believes -- when it almost seems that the stars flicker even more brightly, when another's touch reaches deep down, and it doesn't take words to speak your soul -- when this occurs, every humane person will celebrate and lovers in every land will have a reason to rejoice. With the invention of contraception came the expression of emotions which have been as old as the beginning of sentient life. Like every great revolution in culture which has approved humane ideals, religion has stuck its ugly head out of the shadows, and proclaimed that contraception is an abomination. This is but the very definition of treason to justice!

     Contraception needs no defense from religion, but I will give one: religion has been the defender of every cruel and malicious crime enacted on the innocent beings of this planet. It knows no race, no gender, no species, no family. It only knows how to exploit. It can be difficult to see how contraception is immoral from a Secularist view: it only works to prevent the sad reality of neglected and battered children. What can be said of a religion when it affirms all that disgusts our heart? Little more can be said of it, other than it is revolting and merciless. I have argued for compassion and humanity in all regards of life, but when a religion opposes compassion and humanity, it is unworthy of devotion; in fact, it was quite unworthy of devotion from the moment it had no evidence to support itself with. There is no evidence to support the ideas of the supernatural, so I will not portion my soul off to the church just to suffice a dogma. The reason to believe in the gods does not exist -- nor does my belief in such a being exist. This, though, is not the point. The fact is that contraception, by all objective and worldly consideration, is a good thing. But once religion grasps its sickly, pale hands around it, it becomes something vile and cruel. Upon discovery, religion will vilify and incriminate a source of inspiration and dreams. Religion will take art and masterpiece, and turn it into a vulgarity. If anyone needs evidence of this, simply take into consideration the human body. I can speak until the last human being is standing on the matters of religion's iniquity, but the matter remains: religion is no authority on the matter of goodness, but rather, it is subject to the heart's humane sentiments. Every time religion holds contraception as something to despise, it is one less reason to believe in the gods, and one more reason to admire free love for its champion ability to survive. If there is one religion I abide by, it is the religion of love, to which contraception is the patron saint.

     People will engage in sexual activity with each other. It is simply their nature. And under no regard, will they ever be different, unless their hormones undergo great alterations. No force will ever dissuade a person that they desire sexual activity. Since human beings live in our society, sex is only an inevitability. Providing contraception will allow for humans to engage in sexual activity in a safe environment, without worry to disease or pregnancy. Not only does it show respect for each other, but it also shows respect for the unborn. There are millions of children, if not billions, who exist in this world -- and no person ever spoke positively of their coming into being, their parents never dreamed of what their child would be. These children are the unwanted children, and some thinkers have gone even so far as to say that their lives hold no meaning, have no worth. I will argue the position of a Humanitarian, and I will say this: every conscious being holds worth, so far as it exists, so long as it is capable of crying and laughing. That a person may go through life and enjoy their travels, their journey to discover who they are, and that one day they may look back on where they came and how they became who they are, and in looking back, they find not pure bliss nor unavenged crimes, but rather, a rightness in their being -- a knowledge that they lived up to justice's expectations, to the romantic truth that emotion is supreme. If a person can do this, then they have value. I could care less what their parents had intended, or unintended. The fact is this: this person exists now, and I will give them my respect, and hold to them the same obligations I hold to any other person, that they are to give the rights they afford for themselves to all who may feel.

     A child who is born without the intentions of their parents is still a child, and I will never shun them for whom they are. Many of my personal, close friends were "mistakes," their own ancestry made up of rape victims and prostitutes. They are no less noble, no less kindly, and no less loyal. I cannot truthfully offer them a single complaint on their character. Similarly, there are many individuals who exist without the intention of their parents, and they continue to exist without any awareness of Capitalism's onslaught on to our rights and the government's never ending campaign to abolish Democracy. Whether or not someone was born with the intention of their parents, it is irrelevant in their character. But this I will say, no child should live in the knowledge that they are no more than a "mere mistake." If individuals are going to become parents, it ought to be under the conditions of purpose and not accident. A status quo of this world will read as follows: plague and famine ravage the continents, economic and political super powers continue their battle to gain wealth and power through the means of war and slavery, all the while the general populace is left feeling helpless and powerless, as these powers go on in their conscienceless search for gold and glory. To bring up a child in this world is but no simple task, and there will never be a time where the raising of another individual is effortless. But, to thoughtless bring a being into existence in this world, with the constant battle against the government and the struggle for the peoples' right to Democracy, to throw in a helpless babe into this is but truly a crime, and I will offer no grievance to these mothers and fathers who never once thought about the future of their child, as it shall be behind the bars of society's oppression, or behind the very real bars of prison.

     Contraception, or any means of birth prevention, cannot be objectively labeled as immoral. Use of contraception will simply prevent suffering in this world, by not bringing children into this world that we cannot support. The goal of contraceptives is not to eliminate the human species, but simply to allow for sex to occur between the willing, without worry to disease or STDs. If contraceptives are banned, then lovers will weep with each other, whereas they would have enjoyed their own bodies and the pleasures of one another. Though it may be written in every biology book that sex can be a source of great pleasure, we must not ignore what the psychology book speaks of it: that sex, physical affection, can be a great source of intimacy, of expression of emotion. When individuals are capable to speak with their soul, using their body as nothing more than an instrument to their mind, then we are truly living in a free world. And for a second, with our breath on the soft, tender skin of our beloved, all of the tyrannies and all of the suffering in the world seem to stop tugging at our spirit, and just for those few fleeting moments -- which we will remember till the end of our days -- we find peace and tranquility, as our heart is pushed closer to the warmth of another's.

Punkerslut,


Punkerslut
join the punkerslut.com
mailing list!

Punkerslut
copyleft notice and
responsibility disclaimer