Learning about sex

[JJjamin71472583]

Yo. I’m a sixteen year old, and I saw a post entitled " What kind of relations are allowed within marriage? " in the ask an apologetic forum. It deals with sex. I started to read it because I was curious or interested, but then I stopped because I thought maybe I shouldn’t be reading it. Was it a sin for me to read that post out of curiosity? It sounds to me like that would be an okay way to learn about sex.

 

[LilyM]

Of course it’s not only ok, but very good and healthy, to learn about the Church’s attitude to sex and sexuality before you become too involved with females of the opposite gender yourself. At 16 you should be learning about this stuff.

I don’t think the posts on this forum are anything terribly explicit or raunchy - probably less so than most of the junk you watch on tv or hear in your music lyrics. I would just say to take a note of the effect the material has on you though - different people will have different things that are occasions of sin or temptations to sin for them, particularly in regards to sex. Keep your wits about you while reading.

Otherwise, good luck and God bless you for wanting to be well-informed.

 

[JJjamin71472583]

Well maybe I wasn’t reading it to learn about the Church’s teaching on such matters as much as to learn about sex in itself. Is that okay?

 

[Alison]

JJjamin if your intentions were not pure no it’s not okay. If one tries to get some impure pleasure by fantasizing impure thoughts no it’s not okay. The Church’s teachings are to be seen in purity; when it talks about sex it is primarily adressing those who are within marriage. Does that mean you can’t read it? Of course not. What’s wrong with reading it out of curiosity about sex? It would be healthy to learn what the church has to say even though you are not thinking that and even though you are just curious. However, if any one of us had some impure thoughts about it, then it’s best not to read something when we know it can lead us to think impurely when we know we are weak. It has all to do with your intentions. God bless.

 

[JJjamin71472583]

My intentions were to learn about sex. I didn’t want to seek pleasure from it or fantasise about it. I was curious, so is it okay? Thanks for your replys. Could I get an answer from someone who has studied Church teaching? That would be great.

 

[Benedictus]

JJjamin71472583:

Well maybe I wasn’t reading it to learn about the Church’s teaching on such matters as much as to learn about sex in itself. Is that okay?

A certain curiosity is normal and not necessarily bad. If you’re reading it on this forum, and especially in the Ask An Apologist section, then I’d say you’re okay. Discussions around here are pretty clean, and the moderators remove the ones that aren’t.

Wanting to learn about sex isn’t bad. Learning about sex isn’t bad per se. It’s something we all have to learn sooner or later. There are good ways and bad ways to learn about it. Watching hard-core pr0n to learn about it is bad. Reading Catholic material about sex is probably okay for a 16 year-old.