First of all, let me say that I am going to discuss sex without delving into all those moral and religious arguments. I mean, why should I care about the views of the Catholic Church (or that of any religious group, for that matter) on boinking? The Constitution, as we all know, makes it clear that we are free to worship in any way we please, and that the only restriction that the State will impose on religious practice is to prevent anyone from imposing their religious tenets on anyone else without their consent.

(To be blunt: proselytize all you want, bishops, but give to Caesar what is Caesar’s due. Isn’t that what Jesus the Christ taught?)

So here we are going to talk about sex — sinful sex (as far as the Roman Catholic Church and quite a number of other denominations are concerned); more precisely, we are going to talk about sinfully good sex and why we should support it.

First, let’s agree on something: those who believe that SEX IS YUMMEH, gimme a “hell, yeah!”

Dissenting voices? Is anyone going to say that they honestly hate boinking?

None? Oooh.

Since there isn’t anyone who honestly wouldn’t want to have hot, slick, tear-up-the-sheets, forget-one’s-name, “oh my God oh my God oh yes yess yesss” boinkfests with their partner of choice, let’s talk about sex.

Good sex, of course.

Good Sex Means Joining the Fight the AIDS Epidemic
There is yet no cure to the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). More insidiously, there is as yet no foolproof way to detect immediately whether one is infected or not.

Therefore, since despite all the exhortation of the celibates for people not to get it on with their partners of choice (which somehow ironically seems to be a case of “if we don’t get some, you don’t get some” hahaha), we’ve got to teach folks how to avoid getting HIV.

The bottomline is this: a prayer is 0% effective in preventing the transmission of the AIDS virus. Clinical trials have demonstrated that any number of prayers offered before, after, or during sex by either one or both partners will not prevent the transmission of the virus between an HIV-infected person and his partner.

In contrast, a condom is at least 95% effective. Clinical trials have demonstrated that a quality condom in good condition, worn correctly before vaginal or anal penetration, is almost 100% effective in preventing the transmission of AIDS.

Personally, I’m not sure how the math is interpreted by the Church, but to my engineering mode of thinking tells me that 95% effectivity is better than 0% effectivity.

There is, of course, a 100% effective method of not getting AIDS by sexual transmission: by not having penetrative sex. I’m sure that this method works for the celibates of the Church, but I doubt if it will work for the lay (pun intended), what with all the boinking going on that has resulted in our population growth.

Have sinfully good sex. Wear the rubber suit before diving.

Good Sex Means Managing our Households
If you have a pizza and there are four of you, you will get bigger-sized slices than if there are forty of you.

To take that analogy to a household, a household income of P250,000 will have more to go around with two kids, while the same household income will have less to spend per child if household had twelve kids, all other circumstances being equal.

To borrow an oft-used phrase here in this site — it’s simple, really.

Thus, how are we going to manage our population and ensure that a bigger fraction of our finite resources can be made available — the slice of the pizza, if you will?

The far end of the spectrum of choices would be the draconian methods employed previously by the People’s Republic of China: late-term abortions. I don’t want that; I expect that others don’t either.

Moving back towards the mainstream view would be the option to legalize abortion. Personally, I think that women have the right to choose, but let’s table that debate for later while we present other options. Plus, since the Constitution provides that life begins at conception, we can’t very well include this option among our laws.

Now, since abortion is not an option allowed by our Constitution, our options are limited to preventing conception from happening instead of destroying a zygote resulting from the union of an egg cell and a sperm cell. Thus, we are left with the constitutionally-acceptable methods of preventing conception even as we enjoy sex with our partners choice: the anatomical methods (vasectomies and tubal ligations), the mechanical methods (condoms and diaphragms; there is some debate on whether or not IUDs can be classified here, and so we won’t include them in our discussion), and the chemical methods (spermicidal jellies, injectables, and similar), and combinations of these methods.

Let me share an anecdote about a form of misinformation that I’ve encountered before, which happened at a medical supplies store in the CALABARZON:

Priest: Abortion is bad! All contraceptives cause abortion! This store should stop selling condoms!

Geek: Padre, a condom is a contraceptive, that causes abortion?

Priest: Yes! All contraceptives cause abortion!

Geek: Excuse me, padre, but what is abortion?

Priest: It is the killing of a fetus!

Geek: What is a fetus?

Priest: It is the union of an egg and a sperm cell! It is the beginning of life!

Geek: Don’t condoms prevent the union of sperm and egg cells?

Priest: Uh. Yessss…

Geek: So there is no fetus formed when one uses a condom?

Priest: No, no, there is no fetus formed…

Geek: So how can you abort a fetus that does not exist?

Priest: …

Geek: …

Priest: …

Geek: …

Priest: Abortion is bad! All contraceptives cause abortion! This store should stop selling condoms!

Now, forget the lack of logic. There do exist contraceptives that are not abortifacient — condoms, diaphragms, injectables, spermicidal lubricants, and gazillions of other variants — and the Constitution will not look askance at these.

(There is, of course, the abstinence method of preventing pregnancy, but since abstinence is not having sex, it is the height of illogic to consider it a contraceptive method. Seriously, not having sex as a means of preventing conception, an act that involves sex?)

Have sinfully good sex… just make sure you don’t add to the reduction of our pizza-slice sizes. We all get hungry, after all.

Good Sex Is A Protected Constitutional Right
Now, lest I be accused of making moral and religious arguments, let me point out that this next discussion is about our right to good sex.

Nowhere in the Constitution will anyone find any reference to whether or not a couple must be married to have sex. Heck, nowhere in the Constitution will anyone find anything saying that two people of the same gender cannot have sex, nor is there anything in the Constitution that says sex is limited to two people, period (if you want to get into a a twelve-some, that’s your business).

Instead, any such limitation can be found in religious teachings and whatnot. Their force in the legal realm may be persuasive, but they are in no way controlling. For instance, the decisions of the Roman Catholic Church’s marriage tribunals can only influence the courts with regard to annullments; these religious bodies cannot compel the courts to take cognizance of their decisions.

The Constitution likewise tells us that the Church cannot impose on us if we choose to believe otherwise. No matter what canon law says about sex, if I choose to go on a boinking rampage, the Constitution will in fact tell canon lawyers (if there are such) to go screw themselves and leave me and my consensual partner or partners alone. Article III, Section 5 says very clearly “The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed,” and by implication, the refusal to follow the tenets of a religion — by engaging in premarital sex, or by the wearing of a condom, for instance — is a right protected by the Constitution.

Thus, what is good sex for a good citizen of the Republic? Good sex is consensual (otherwise it’s rape); good sex involves avoiding AIDS (something there is as yet no cure for), and; good sex is also about being a good citizen and making sure that we help conserve our finite resources.

With Article III, Section 5, it is clear that good sex is a constitutional right. Who cares if good sex is sinful? Not the Constitution.

The Right to Good Sex Means We Should Exercise Good Citizenship
We all want good sex, don’t we? We all want to enjoy the right to boink, unencumbered by restrictions that are not lawful, do we not?

To be able to enjoy good sex, we must have two things:

- correct and complete information on what are our options to protect ourselves from AIDS and avoid unplanned pregnancies

- access to clinically-proven and effective methods of these options

These two items are included in An Act Creating a Reproductive Health and Population Management Council for the Implementation of an Integrated Policy on Reproductive Health Relative to Sustainable Human Development and Population Management, and for Other Purposes, and if we want to enjoy good sex, this is something we must support.

Read. Learn. Be a good citizen. Support the proposed Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008.

Fight for our right to good sex.

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