You have probably noticed the modern proliferation of human sexual "identities" and how each newly asserted identity is claimed as deserving great respect and accommodation.  This is nothing more than an effort to 1) rationalize and normalize deviant sexual acts and 2) gain political power.

The concept of sexual identity is relatively new.  Neither literature nor history from more than 150 years ago characterizes individuals as "gay" or "homosexual."  Instead,  it was only a person's behavior or acts that were described.  The idea of a person being somehow fundamentally different, and deserving of special treatment, on the basis of which sex attracted him did not exist until recently.

When did things change?  There is some consensus that the modern concept of identity was first illustrated in the late 19th century by Hungarian writer Karl Maria Kertbeny.  As late as the 1950s, Alfred Kinsey was working to fully synthesize the concept of identity.  Now nearly the whole of Western popular culture is obsessed with identity, and how said identity informs human behavior.

The conceptual development of sexual identity is an effort by individuals who willfully engage in deviant ("straying or deviating from the norm") sexual activities and who seek to escape social stigma and legal sanction by classifying themselves as somehow different, or even above, other individuals who do not engage in deviant sexual activity.  Those who engage in such deviancy have no intention to stop.  Instead, they seek to change the rules or position themselves above the rules.  They seek, above all else, to rationalize and normalize their deviancies.

This effort to re-classify individuals with some imagined, synthetic sexual identity has, so far, had the desired effect.  Modern Western culture has evolved to the point that time-honored, civilizational understandings of acceptable and healthy forms of sexual activity have been expanded to the point of nonexistence.  A person who today engages in sexual acts previously known as deviant is no longer considered sexually deviant in the West — rather, he is merely an "LGBTQIA-identified person." 

As recently as fifty years ago it was still considered deviant and immoral to engage in sexual activity outside marriage.  Marriage was legally, and culturally defined as a lifelong relationship between one man and one woman.  Today, however, marriage has been redefined to the point of nonexistence, with easy cancelation (no-fault divorce) and a facsimile between same-sex partners rampant.  Additionally,  it is now becoming common that children under age 12 in public schools are advised on how to access pornographic media, seek sexual engagement, and ignore their own biological reality in pursuit of some elusive alternate identity.

These forms of deviancy are being promoted in the Western world as an element of something called "personal autonomy."  As modern Western society adopts personal autonomy as a core element of its culture, it embraces a fully anarchic and unsustainable perspective of sexual non-restriction.  Such sexual non-restriction has always proved toxic to human well-being.  A lack of restrictions on sex acts is the primary ingredient of cultural collapse and subsequent depravity.

This concept of personal autonomy however is laced with a poisonous moral hazard.  For example, it is the core concept supporting legalized abortion.  Those who support the concept of personal autonomy believe that even a pregnant woman's perceived near-term needs supersede the right to life of the human being developing within her.

The effort to eliminate restrictive sexual ethics also has strong political elements.  Those who habitually engage in deviant sexual activity are actively organizing into politically potent activist and voting blocs.  As is the nature of all political organization, the effort's chief objective is the accumulation of political power — the power to enforce, or prevent, the engagement of governmental power.  It is impossible to separate the effort to normalize deviant sexual behavior from modern power politics.

I believe that human civilization can advance only if the modern concept of identity is rejected.  What we think about ourselves, or what we call ourselves, is meaningless.  The only thing that truly matters is our behavior, our acts.  Calling a person "gay" cannot excuse his deviant sexual activity.  In essence, such a ruse is the same thing as a man trying to claim the identity of "thief" to avoid being held criminally responsible for his acts of thievery.  In a just society, there cannot be special categories of human beings based on their self-proclaimed imaginary identity.  A just society must hold all members to the same standards, regardless of personal preferences, status, or delusions. 

I encourage you to reject, in principle, the entire synthetic concept of human identity.  Focus instead on what is real and measurable: human behavior and human acts.

Image via Pixabay.