We don’t often think of sex as a form of communication, even though it carries many of the elements and possibilities of conversation. We can use our bodies to convey something to another. We can lie with them or deceive. We can “say” something with sex that we don’t really mean, or we can use sex to say something that we later take back. We can be misunderstood in the way that we give ourselves physically to others, as if there are differences of language or words with multiple meanings. We can be more or less open with others. Continue reading “Sex as Communication”
Tag: sex
Consent Confusion
The following column was published in The Observer on Friday, November 14, 2014.
Consent is a strange place to start. It’s a confusing concept that’s somehow supposed to govern our relationships and provide the framework for sexual intimacy. The focus on consent as the primary framework for intimacy, however, often creates more ambiguities than protections. Continue reading “Consent Confusion”
The Public Act of Sex
No act has greater public consequences than the act of sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. Few greater fictions exist than the idea that such an act is a purely private act. Continue reading “The Public Act of Sex”
From the archives: A Valentine for Catholic Lovers
The following is an article from the February 8, 2001 edition of Notre Dame’s Scholastic Magazine.
A Valentine for Catholic Lovers, by David O’Connor
Where do we find ourselves? A crazy Austrian named Ludwig Wittgenstein, who was one of the great philosophers of the last century, said, “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” When it comes to love, I think he has a point. Our mother tongue stammers and scolds when she tries to speak of love. Every word chagrins us, and we blush from inarticulacy. Continue reading “From the archives: A Valentine for Catholic Lovers”
