New Study? Casual Sex Is Good for Whom?

In what I’m guessing was a federally subsidized study, US researchers found that “casual sex was associated with higher self-esteem and life satisfaction – and lower depression and anxiety…” if you are a narcissistic, manipulative man, that is. Not much said about the effect on women, by the way, but no war on women here, move along!

The study was done on 370 students who were surveyed for nine months about their sexual feelings and overall well-being. They were asked about their views on casual sex, number of one night stands and libido level. Those that like casual sex now have a new name “sociosexual.” Apparently 42% of the group said they had better self-esteem and lower rates of depression than those who weren’t sociosexual.

The theory being floated now is that high sociosexuality may both buffer against any potentially harmful consequences of casual sex and allow access to its potential benefits.  Let’s see, being sexually active with more one night stands protects you from harmful consequences of being sexually active with one night stands? What? Those “harmful” consequences? STD’s, unintended pregnancy, feeling like crap about yourself for having said one night stand. Manipulators have no problem with those kinds of consequences, but people with a heart and conscience?

The study also defined key traits of those who are sociosexual: generally extroverted, sensation-seeking, physically strong, manipulative, coercive, impulsive males, who also invest less in romantic relationships and are more likely to have cheated on a romantic partner. I think most people call them “narcissistic, cheating jerks.” So what’s in it for women? Not much.

Let’s look at a better study, shall we? Ohio State University did a study of 10,000 people and found several things about casual sex. First, that casual sex can cause depression and lead to suicide. In fact, each additional casual sex relationship increased the odds of suicidal thoughts by 18%! Teens that had depressive symptoms were more likely to engage in casual sex. Then there is this gem: that poor mental health and casual sex are linked, whether you’re a man or a woman.

People of faith have been saying this for years – casual sex is bad for everyone. Sex was created by God to be between a man and woman in a committed marriage. There is a good reason for this. But even if you don’t believe the Bible, Torah and Koran, these studies seem to agree, and there are good, non-religious reasons for it. Two sociologists, Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker, wrote a book, Premarital Sex in America. Their research dealt with sexual behavior among young adults and found a significant correlation between sexual restraint and emotional well-being. Monogamy makes people happy, promiscuity doesn’t.

They found, in keeping with the moral and religious reasons, that the happiest people, more women than men, were those in a monogamous relationship. For the religious among us, that means traditional marriage. Those pesky social conservatives were right when they have said all along that encouraging our youth to wait and choose a spouse carefully and judge their sex lives against a strong moral standard makes them happier and healthier adults.

God set up monogamy and marriage the way He did for a reason.

Image: Courtesy of: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Tenorio