Editorial on the Super Bowl Fiasco
by Richard Urban

The reaction of many youth to the exposure of Janet Jackson's breast, along with simulated sex and other lewd behavior during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show is, "So what."  These youth do have a valid point, considering that this is the usual fare seen every day on MTV.  What would you expect by hiring MTV as a producer?

The deeper issue is, why is it such a big deal.  Human sexuality can be compared to a diamond.  When you have a very valuable diamond, you will not just display it for anyone to touch or do anything with it that they want to.  Your sexuality, and specifically, the parts of your body that are unique to you as a man or a woman, including the breasts of a woman, are those "diamonds".  When we think of it that way, we can see how wrong the current trend of ever more debased public sexual expression is. 

For every result, there is a cause.  When sex becomes a crass, physical thing, and is not viewed as the beautiful diamond that it is, when realized within marriage, then very destructive effects come about.  We can look at the very large number of births to unmarried women (34% of all births in 2002) and the huge number of people who have sexually transmitted diseases, such as the estimated 45,000,000 Americans infected with Herpes.  Then there are the related problems that outside of marriage births bring, such as an increase in juvenile crime and families being more likely to live in poverty.

Many youth don't feel the Super Bowl fiasco is such a big deal because they have become used to the portrayal of sex as something merely for individual pleasure, rather than something to create a healthy posterity through marriage and enjoy greater personal sexual satisfaction within marriage.

Adults need to take responsibility for teaching youth that sex belongs in marriage, and to explain the benefits of abstaining until marriage.  Adults and youth should reject the crass commercialization of sexuality for a quick dollar and a cheap thrill and stand for what is right and good.  We must teach youth to "Guard their diamonds", and show by example the way out of this sea of sexual muck.  Sexual abstinence involves an attitude and a mindset that values the diamond like qualities of our sexuality. 

Crass, commercial sexuality must be shown for what it is, a sick deviation from the true diamond-like purpose of our sexual natures.  It is a big deal, because a peaceful and stable community depends on having peaceful, stable families.  When sex is cheapened and dirtied, our very future is at stake.

Richard Urban is Executive Director of ULTRA Teen Choice.