{"id":3242,"date":"2012-11-27T15:05:28","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T19:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=3242"},"modified":"2012-11-27T15:06:06","modified_gmt":"2012-11-27T19:06:06","slug":"sex-god-and-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2012\/11\/27\/sex-god-and-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Sex, God and Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Is sex more satisfying for conservative women? \u00a0Or are liberal women just making an idol out of sex?<\/p>\n

The always-stimulating (no pun intended) Mark Regnerus<\/a>, a Patheos blogger and\u00a0one of the most significant sociologists of religion practicing the craft today (and Mark is a gadfly in the most salutary sense, but far more controversial than he should be), points to a very interesting correlation between political liberalism amongst women and the desire for more sex.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The New Family Structures Study asked respondents, \u201cAre you satisfied with the amount of sex you\u2019re having?\u201d \u00a0As Regnerus reports, women of all political persuasions report roughly the same frequency of sex \u2014 so, before you leap to conclusions, conservative women are not \u201cfrigid\u201d or sexually unsatisfied. \u00a0Indeed, they might be more. \u00a018-39 year-old women who lean to the left politically are far more inclined to say that they would prefer to have more sex than they are having. \u00a016 percent of \u201cvery conservative\u201d women in that age range say they would prefer to have more sex, compared to 29 percent of conservative women, 31 percent of moderates, and 47 percent and 50 percent respectively of \u201cliberal\u201d and \u201cvery liberal\u201d women. \u00a0That\u2019s a very significant trend line. \u00a0Liberal women are 50% more likely than moderate women to report a desire for more frequent sex, and \u201cvery liberal\u201d women are over 300% more likely than \u201cvery conservative\u201d women.<\/p>\n

And the result only grows more interesting the further you delve into it. \u00a0As Regnerus writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In regression models, the measure of political liberalism remains significantly associated with the odds of wanting more sex even\u00a0after<\/em>\u00a0controlling for the frequency of actual intercourse over the past two weeks, their age, marital status, education level, whether they\u2019ve masturbated recently, their anxiety level, sexual orientation, race\/ethnicity, depressive symptoms, and porn use. Many of these are significant predictors of wanting more sex. And\u00a0still<\/em>\u00a0the political thing matters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This begs for interpretation. \u00a0Regnerus offers one possibility. \u00a0Liberal young women are much less inclined to be religious than conservative young women. \u00a0Perhaps sex functions as a substitute for the transcendent. \u00a0Many psychologists have posited a deep human need for experiences of transcendence, of mystical oneness, of spiritually impassioned self-abandonment. \u00a0So in the absence of another transcendent experience, in the absence of another sacred goal and unifying purpose to life, perhaps liberal young women turn to sex as the only place where they find what they\u2019re looking for. \u00a0Since conservative women are more likely to be religious, they are more likely to have other ways of connecting and transcending. \u00a0But for many liberal women, sex is quite literally the only religious experience they can allow themselves to enjoy.<\/p>\n

Some might find this answer offensive. \u00a0But there\u2019s a strong piece of evidence in its favor: when you control for attendance of religious services, \u201cpolitical liberalism finally went silent as a predictor.\u201d \u00a0That is, politically liberal women who attend religious services frequently are not significantly more likely than politically conservative women who attended religious services frequently to report a desire for more sex, and liberal women who never attend religious services are not significantly more likely to report a desire for more sex than conservative women who never attend religious services.<\/p>\n

So the upshot, if I understand Regnerus correctly (and I will ask), is that women who attend church services less frequently, even though they\u2019re not having significantly less sex, are more likely to report a desire for more sex than women who attend church services more frequently. \u00a0The question is: Why is this so? \u00a0And why is this so for women when it is not so for men? \u00a0Are women less inclined to want more sex because they attend church more frequently? \u00a0Or are they less inclined to attend church more frequently because they want more sex? \u00a0Or both?<\/p>\n

One wise conclusion, from Dr Regnerus, is this: \u201cmeasures of political conservatism or liberalism are clearly reflecting more than just Republican or Democratic Party affiliation or voting habits. \u00a0No, they\u2019re about people\u2019s embedded-ness in distinctive worldviews and sets of meanings.\u201d \u00a0This seemed more clear in 2012 than ever before.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is sex more satisfying for conservative women? \u00a0Or are liberal women just making an idol out of sex? The always-stimulating (no pun intended) Mark Regnerus, a Patheos blogger and\u00a0one of the most significant sociologists of religion practicing the craft today (and Mark is a gadfly in the most salutary sense, but far more controversial than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":3244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[326,363],"tags":[581,1361,1362,366],"class_list":["post-3242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-sex","tag-god","tag-politics","tag-sex","tag-sexuality"],"yoast_head":"\nSex, God and Politics - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is sex more satisfying for conservative women? \u00a0Or are liberal women just making an idol out of sex? 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The son and grandson of ministers, as a young boy he spent far too many hours each night staring at the ceiling and pondering the afterlife. \u00a0 In all his work he seeks a better understanding of why people do, and do not, come to faith, and researches and teaches in religion and science, faith and reason, theology and philosophy, the origins of atheism, Christology, and the religious transformations of suffering\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/author\/tdalrymple\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sex, God and Politics - Philosophical Fragments","description":"Is sex more satisfying for conservative women? \u00a0Or are liberal women just making an idol out of sex? 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