Man is reasonable, and by that very fact, like unto God; he was created free, to be master of his acts. ~ St Ireneus

My son gave me Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations on CD nicely read by David Steen. Reading is an unnatural act which transforms the sight of the text into an inner hearing, so listening brings out the text in a different way. Aurelius exhorts us to live a life of Reason, by which he means to follow the natural order, or Logos. Yet, we stray from that once in a while.

I am usually embarrassed in social situations from not recognizing certain icons of pop culture or TV shows. So I watched a show called Girls Sunday night, although I am nearly a year behind its debut. It is a creation of a woman who both wrote the script and stars in it, so I suppose I have to praise her creativity and energy. Its premise seems to have been taken from Sex in the City, but updated for Generation X, so it lacks the glitz and glamour of the latter. First of all, I don’t recommend that any man refer to adult women with the “G” word, but it seems OK if they do it. I guess it is meant to be a metaphor for the emotional immaturity of the show’s characters.

Having watched two episodes, it reminded me of Seinfeld in that it is a show about nothing, except that it is not funny … unless you think watching a cripple fall down the stairs is funny. The players are hardly masters of their acts, but are blown about in the wind of their own disorder. For the women in Sex and the City, sexual activity was the path to ecstasy. For the Girls, it only leads to angst. One is afraid of contracting an STD. Another is pregnant and both wants and avoids an abortion. A third is concerned that she is barren because she never got pregnant. They are all concerned that someone else’s experience is more exciting.

Emperor Aurelius would scoff at all this. For him, sex is merely the rubbing together of membranes and the secretion of mucous. Put that way, it is hardly comprehensible how sex dominates social structures and individual energies. From a physical point of view, he is correct. But sex is not merely physical: it depends on extended periods of thought, fantasies, and preparation. I will propose an experiment, and I mean this literally to anyone who is sexually active. During foreplay try to remain fully conscious at all times, in the sense that you are the detached observer of what is transpiring. Observing the thoughts and imagery that way will tend to dissipate them before they are fully formed. Observe the body, i.e., focus attention on the physical sensations. If done properly, you may reach the same conclusion as the Emperor.

Although the women of Sex and the City were promiscuous, they always held out hope for the perfect man. In that show, there are still remnants of persons with backgrounds and allegiances. One character was infatuated with a man she called Big. However, he was a Presbyterian of an upper middle class background, for whom a Jewish prole would not be appropriate, so he married a WASP. This was counterbalanced by the upper class Episcopalian woman who fell in love with a rather homely Jewish man. Yet this relationship was so important, it superseded her allegiance to that other Jew, Jesus Christ.

In contrast, the Girls seem to be deracinated generic human beings. Although objectively white, that seems to play no part in their identity. A fortiori, New York is where Lethe flows, so the Girls can forget their pasts. Families are significant only insofar as they continue to provide financial support. There is no expectation of a relationship from sex. One has a boyfriend who uses her for sex and then disappears for weeks at a time. Another finds herself pregnant and alone, yet is still addicted to anonymous sex. A third is dissatisfied—emotionally and sexually—with her doting beta boyfriend. Another can only dream of a boyfriend, expecting the secret of romance to be found in self-help books.

Women today, technologically unleashed from the natural binds of the human body, have apparently become obsessed with sex, which should not surprise anyone familiar with the story of Tiresias. For example, I received this notice from my alumni association. At first, I thought it was a satire piece from the Onion, but that is not the case. It was meant as a showcase to convince us alumni to donate money to support such efforts.

When Bryn C. was scanning a map of the world, imagining the places she could study abroad, the possibilities seemed endless. Eventually, she chose Amsterdam, where she’s excited to spend a semester studying sexuality and gender issues as they relate to social justice.

Justice is when each thing is in its proper order, so social justice is when a society is properly ordered, which Bryn can read about here. A just sexuality will follow the natural order as Aurelius described. Gender issues are resolved in the proper order between men and women. I hope this helps Bryn and it will save her a trip.