My Sex Education Teacher

A month before I came to USA, I was watching a stand up of Louis C.K. Generally, I watch English entertainment shows on my laptop but nobody was at my home so I was watching it on Television. After, sometime my mother arrived from market. When she arrived from market Louis C.K was talking about rape and abortion. My mother muted the Television and yelled at me for watching that. She gave me lecture about how watching that will corrupt me and is offensive. This is the case with taboo language. People assume that they are harmful viruses and will only spread disease in the society. But avoiding taboo language is not solution to the problem. Therefore taboo language should be used because words themselves are not offensive, avoiding topic like sex, abortion etc is creating various problems and words evolve with time. We must understand that word itself is not offensive. There are words that were offensive in the past are not offensive now. For example, A couple of centuries ago “idiot”, “imbecile,” and morin were scientific terms used to describe people with below average intelligence.

Then in the 1970s, those words were replace by “mentally retarded,” mainly because by that time “idiot,” and “moron” had become generalized insults lobbed at anyone the speaker wanted to mock. But, as may you have noticed, “retarded” isn’t an acceptable term anymore either. Although it was originally a kinder way of describing someone with learning difficulties, the exact same process led to “idiot,” and “moron” becoming insults also caused “retarded to become an insult. Now we use terms like “mentally challenged,” or “special needs” to describe the same people. We can see people’s perception towards words change after certain period. Obviously, people will argue that the there is no guarantee that using words will make in less offensive in future. There will be decency in society if we avoid using words like sex, excretion, bloodily fluid. However, they are integral part of our daily life and society. So, one way or another we have to say it. Words constantly evolve with time. In documenting such changes the historian Geoffrey Hughes has noted, “The days when the dandelion could be called pissabed, a heron could be called a shitecrow and the windhover could be called the windfucker have passed away with the exuberant phallic advertisement of the codpiece.

“So, the way people change their meaning in mind is only after using it. Similarly, what is taboo words are not only dependent on words but also dependent on culture. For example, I am a Hindu. My society is very conservative. We regard our parents and teachers as god. So, the word sex itself is taboo in my society. I have never seen an uncomfortable teacher in my life than my sex education teacher. As a matter of fact, the class was awkward and uncomfortable. There used to be a pin drop silence. So, questions were asked. Girls used to keep their head low and boys used to poke each other and laugh. Since, my society is construct in a way that we prefer not to talk with our elder ones, it causes several problems. For example, teenagers feel uncomfortable discussing issues about sex. We are brought up in a way where we are supposed to have sex after marriage. So, when teenagers have sex and may have problems after that. For example, some may get pregnant or some may face problems in their reproductive organs. So, they prefer to talk with their immature friends, who most of the time give bad advice.

As a result, sexual and reproductive health status of adolescent is a common concern in my country. So, if someone asks me what do you prefer? Avoid being uncomfortable or health issues of teenagers. I will obviously choose the latter one. The second reason is that researchers have found out that swearing helps to reduce pain. For example, a experiment was done by Richard Stephens, a psychologist. He did his experiment 67 undergraduate students at keel university in Staffordshire. The student had to put their hand in ice as much as they can. In conclusion, student who were swearing could keep their hands 50% longer than without swearing.with Swearing is often cathartic — it often frees us of the feelings of anger or frustration we hold and allows expression for them. It can also be a useful substitute to physical violence (who would rather be punched out than to withstand being sworn at?).

I think we often misunderstand swearing with aggression. But according to psychologist Timothy Jay, a psychologist at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts “Profanity allows us to vent or express, anger, joy surprise, happiness. There are at least 5 different ways in which we swear: descriptively (Let’s fuck), idiomatically(It’s fucked up), abusively (Fuck you, motherfucker), emphatically (This is fucking amazing), and cathartically( Fuck!!!) “According to research there is a structure called amygdala, an almond shaped group of neurons that can trigger a fight or flight response in which our heart rates climb, and we become less sensitive to pain. Indeed, the student’s heart rates rose when they swore, a fact the researchers say suggests that the amygdala was activated. I don’t understand what people have problem with the word fuck. Nobody thinks about the literal meaning of fuck when they are using it. I think fuck is one of the most famous word in any English-speaking country. It can be used as noun, verb, adjective and insult. It has an universal appeal to it. It helps us to express our emotion properly. Lets stop and think how people are utilizing it in everything. It is used in films, standups, daily life and it is a topic of discussion in academic writing as well.

Even politicians have started to use it in their speeches. According to research, it creates bond between them. That is why we use it most commonly among friends because we are close to each other’s. Now some people may object that we should not use it in front of children. There are two things in this case. First is we don’t know in the next 16 years whether fuck is going to be offensive or not. Just like the word handicap. So we may also think about that.As, I mention earlier words and their meaning constantly evolve with time. The word fuck has already lost its literal essence.

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