BABYLON REFORM

By Andrew Williams

"America's a place you love and you hate at the same time, because everything is here, everything possible, every possible evil and every possible good. "-Richard Belzer

Basic communication theory holds that when you verbally or visually transmit a message from one person to another, it changes. By the time it's gone through, say, 20 permutations, the original message (signal) has been significantly altered by interruptions (noise). When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ, "What is truth?" he foreshadowed what would happen to God's message to humankind. Fundamentalists of all stripes believe everything in the Bible/Koran/et.al. is God's word even though it was written and re-written countless times and in countless ways by imperfect human beings over the course of centuries.

Given all that, I can understand some of the Fundamentalist point of view and even sympathize with it. When it comes to the most human of all matters-sex and sexuality-the Fundamentalists are just as confused as many of us are. The difference is that many of them see sexually transmitted diseases as examples of God's wrath in Old Testament terms-e.g., AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuals-while the rest of us are still wrestling with who we are as sexual beings.

Ever since Dr Kinsey published his report, which seemed to prove that every heterosexual is a little bit homosexual and vice versa, humankind has been struggling to come to grips with that knowledge. Although the Doctor's methods have come into question, and his data seem to be heavily anecdotal, I still think the basic premise is sound. I strongly believe that every one of us-whether we like it or not-has a slight but significant inclination towards our own sex (if we're hetero) and homosexuals have an equal inclination towards the opposite sex.

I also understand the Fundamentalist desire to cover women from head to toe to prevent men from being tempted. Temptation, after all, is equal parts desire and frustration, and I think most of us would agree that we need less frustration in our lives.

Let's deal with particulars: When I see an attractive woman whom I know is unavailable, because she's got a boy/girl/friend/husband, that desire/frustration complex stretches me to the limit. Believe me, walking around "horny and frustrated" gets really old really fast. Add on to that the feeling one gets after approaching an apparently available man or woman and finding out that's not the case. It's the same thing when a guy (or gal) who's alone sees couples making out in public. Sometimes, you get a glow off of it and it pleasures you to see people enjoying such loving kindness. Other times, however, it's a slap in the face-a reminder of something you want but don't have.

So it's tempting (there's that word again!) to conjecture that if American women were covered by chador it would be the psychic equivalent of a cold shower. But while I sympathize with the fundamentalist need to cover the body, I must insist that it's not a solution, any more than putting a Band-Aid on a cut is what causes the skin to heal. It would deprive men of the truth, beauty and power of women. It would deprive women of their rights as free beings-rights they fought for with pen and voice for hundreds of years, from Mary Wollstonecraft to Gloria Steinem.

Personally, I wouldn't mind trying a swing in the opposite direction. Going naked during temperate months would be healthier in many ways. One obvious way is that it would give additional incentive to overweight folks to get in shape. Of course, it could have just the opposite effect. The main benefit is that nudity would become matter-of-fact, with a concomitant effect on sexuality. Sure, all of us guys would be walking around like Priapus for a few days/weeks/months, and there would be a significant rise in the number of sexual assaults, but eventually the cachet would wear off. It's like the old strategy that candy and ice cream stores employ with new hires: let them surfeit themselves on our wares until they're sick of 'em, and we won't have to worry about them sampling the goodies on the job ever again.

That is not to say sexuality will disappear from public life entirely. It would simply fill its proper niche in our lives, without the overweening need for magazines and videotapes depicting nude human beings engaged in sexual acts. It would encourage a healthy sexuality. Sexual neuroses would be reduced and rendered tractable. It would also promote greater respect between men and women. And, of course, it would have an impact on the fashion world, but not as great as one would think. Men and women will never lose the urge to dress up, but it will become voluntary rather than mandatory.

All of these ideas are old coin as far as fiction and psychology are concerned. But now would be as good a time as any to begin implementing them. While we can't give in to the Puritan within, we cannot frustrate him to the point of violence, which is our current-if unintended--course. We must find a path that will lead us to, if not a spiritual awakening, at least a sexual awakening. And that, in turn, will liberate energies long bound up in sublimation and vicarious experience.