Silence about sex

A friend sent me this link to an essay about the lack of information about the sex situation in Iraq: The Sex Lives and Sexual Frustrations of US troops in Iraq: An Ocean of Ignorance Well over a hundred thousand American men and women, most younger than 30, spend a year or more at a […]

A friend sent me this link to an essay about the lack of information about the sex situation in Iraq:

The Sex Lives and Sexual Frustrations of US troops in Iraq: An Ocean of Ignorance

Well over a hundred thousand American men and women, most younger than 30, spend a year or more at a time in a foreign country where they are almost totally isolated from the indigenous population. Are all these troops really chaste for those long periods, as called for by military regulations?

What is going on sexually among US troops in Iraq is one of the great untold and unknown stories of the Iraqi occupation.

It's amazing to me that more information – not to mention speculation, rumors, hoaxes so believable we believe them even after the perps confess – is not available about sexuality and soldiers in Iraq.

I doubt the sex situation is much different than any other war or occupation, but now we have the internet (and perhaps more female soldiers). We have webcams and online porn and teledildonics (the NSFW=>Sinulator founders have told me many of their customers are military couples) and video on cell phones. Sexual content and intimate communication is more accessible, more quickly exchanged, and more discreet than the paper of the past.

And sex is no longer a taboo subject in America. It's not like the media is respecting cultural standards for polite conversation.

Obviously, it's not always easy for a soldier to get internet access. Plus there's that little hiccup of rules, regulations, censorship, timing.

For some, shame probably plays a big part in not wanting to talk about it, especially if a man is worried about even the slightest hint of homosexuality. For others, sexual complications are so obviously a part of military life, they don't bear mentioning.

Or maybe folks want to keep a modicum of privacy for themselves, to hold their sexuality close and personal, to have something all their own to help them get through.

Anyway, the article is an interesting read – especially when you see the follow-up post in the author's blog.