A first class culture is one that is centered around God, according to the Bhagavad Gita. In such a culture, spiritual values such as austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness are practiced. As a result every living being is pleased. The concepts of exploitation, crime and poverty does not exist in such pristine culture. This was the case, once upon a time, in India (not anymore though!).
Today, there is rampant materialism across the globe where such spiritual values of austerity and truthfulness is a taboo. One can test the barometer of materialism by studying the sexual activity of young people within a culture. The reason I use sexual behavior as a test of materialism is because sex is considered the highest form of pleasure within the mundane world and sex among young adults is the most exhilarating as it is a new and often sought after experience by young adults. Therefore, today, promiscuity is openly glorified in all forms of entertainment and media and is a multi-billion dollar industry. By studying the sexual behavior of young adults, we can ascertain if a culture is primarily material or spiritual.
The United States is a leader in material culture. Here, everything material is glorified. Even religion and God is worshiped on the material plane. So it is not a surprise that sex and cross-gender mingling is very open, common and casual. In fact, not having a boyfriend or girlfriend means there is something wrong with the individual. Below are some stats on sexual behavior among young adults in the US. Again, this only reiterates my original point that a culture is considered deeply material when sex is openly glorified and practiced from very young age.
The data is taken from a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. It is arguably the best source of information on sexual activity, and contraceptive use. The investigators evaluated data from 3,242 females and 3,104 males born during the years 1984 to 1993, who responded to the survey in the years 2006 to 2010.
Girls
19% girls have had sex by age 15
32% by age 16
By age 20, an estimated 74% reported to having sexual intercourse
Boys
2% boys have had sex by age 12
5% by age 13
10% by age 14
22% by age 15
35% by age 16
74% by age 20
Contraceptive use
By age 15, 80% reported using contraception the same month they first had sex, as did 85% of 17- to 18-year-olds.
Overall, it is estimated that the median age for first-time sex in the U.S. over the past 50 years is 17 years. In other words, more than half of Americans have sex when they reach 17 years old. However, according to the Census, the median age of first time marriage ranges from 26 years to 28 years. Also, the average age couples become first time parents is around 27 years. So obviously premarital sex is promoted by main stream culture and part of healthy relationships. Obviously no surprises here, in my opinion, US is extremely material and the whole world is following its promiscuous ways. You can read the entire article here.
The spiritual standard of living according to Bhagavad Gita is that a boy and girl can have sex only under the umbrella of marriage and that too only for procreation. Any sex before marriage is considered against the codes of dharma and hampers one's spiritual evolution. So from a data perspective, it should ideally read, 0% had sex before marriage. Unfortunately, today, such opinions on sexual behavior is highly inappropriate, unpopular and inane. Therefore our culture is very much enveloped in materialism where spiritual values of austerity, cleanliness, mercy and truthfulness are rarely practiced. How then can all living beings live happily in peace without fighting...in my opinion, highly unlikely!
Hare Krishna
1 comment:
As a doctor-I agree-I recently met with a young school girl in her teens contract sexually transmitted illness. Yet I saw another woman-who had her first encounter in her teens and ended up aborting the child. This is very common in most teenagers..its a taboo now a days if you are not sexually active at a young age..Sex impulse is so strong among most..that one becomes a slave to lust in one form or the other..thats the very joy of being in this kali yuga..
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