When you read the Bible, you see the Hebrews creating a generally stricter sexual morality than that which reigned at the time. Still, the Hebrews frequently sinned in the sexual arena and the Bible is unsparing in pointing out their shortcomings.
I grew up a Seventh-Day Adventist where all sex outside of marriage was regarded as a sin. To the extent the Church could, it encouraged turning down the flame of sexual tension. On a practical level, I noticed among conservative Christians that sexual sins were regarded as the worst sins.
When I converted to Judaism, I noticed that sexual sins weren’t necessarily regarded as any more serious than breaking the dietary and Sabbath laws. I noticed that most Modern Orthodox Jews I knew had sex before marriage, every Orthodox bachelor I knew well was a porn addict, and that most Orthodox Jews who took Orthodox Judaism seriously kept sex for marriage.
At the same time, I wrote on Hollywood and the porn industry, where I noticed Jews pushing sexual boundaries.
I’ve never married. I’ve dated a lot (both Jews and non-Jews). I’ve noticed that Jews tend to have fewer hang-ups and compunctions about sex, power, money, fame, honor, success, etc. Jews and Judaism seem to have greater peace with the natural passions. According to what I’ve read and what I’ve seen, non-Orthodox Jews tend to have twice as many lifetime sexual partners as non-Jews.
There’s a lot of talk about “Jewish guilt” but I’ve rarely seen a Jew troubled by guilt regarding his sexuality.
Non-Jews play as big a role in the global porn industry as Jews. Pretty much every normal guy wants to see women naked and boffed. If all Jews disappeared from the media, would there be less of this? I doubt it.
None of the Jews leading the transgressive charge are Orthodox Jews. Traditional Jews are not interested in turning up the West’s sexual heat. I’ve never heard Orthodox Jews opining that anti-Semitism is the result of sexual repression. I’ve rarely heard normal Orthodox Jews say that sexual repression is a bad thing. The Orthodox Jews I know don’t like the pornification of America. They want to raise their children in a healthy environment and they don’t like sexualized billboards, magazine covers, pop music and the like.
Another thought — Jews don’t monopolize the media. They exercise an influence approximately proportionate to their IQ.
It is my impression that the media feel as free to mock Jews and Judaism as they do to mock Christians and Christianity.
I find Weeds and Orange is the New Black (OITNB) compelling viewing. I’ve watched every episode. Yes, they’re sexually transgressive. They’re also good TV and for TV, they’re smart.
Another thought — it’s weird for me to attend Orthodox shul daily, to pray daily with a minyan, to study Torah daily, and then to notice Jews in the media pushing sexual transgression.
The Jews I know have, in some ways, stronger and more cohesive family and communal lives than the Seventh-Day Adventists I know. If you go to a typical Orthodox shul, it overflows with children. Their parents are devoted and want to keep the kids safe from the goyim and from the sexually transgressive wider society.
Now that I no longer watch porn, I like action movies. I still get an adrenaline high and the murder relaxes me.
As soon as a camera was invented, a man, Jewish or non-Jewish, has wanted to point it at a pretty woman and get her to undress. The visual medium inevitably leads to pornography. As the Torah commanded, do not follow your heart and your eyes after which you prostitute yourselves. (Num. 15:39)
Yom Tov: “To me it makes sense. When you try to escape the one true source of values that explicitly lists and forbids these specific sexual deviancies, sexual deviance is the ultimate statement of having been liberated from the confines of Jewish practices/law.”
Christopher Donnellan: “The Jews that established themselves in Hollywood, and built the modern film industry, such as Jack Warner and L.B. Mayer, were pretty conservative morally, and conformed to Anglo-American aesthetic and moral standards, but their wayward children and grand-children turned popular culture into an open sewer.”
