It seems that the situation has become the opposite to what it was in Freud’s
times. Then the sexuality was repressed, now sexuality has become an
obligation. In his times, there was still perhaps the ascetic ideal of
refraining from sexual activities and dedicating oneself to God (or perhaps
also philosophy, writing, etc.). Now, it seems that refraining from sexuality
is the greatest taboo: if you think of the reaction to asexuals or to the
people (especially women) who refuse to have children. On the one hand, there
is of course the sexuality promoted in the media, entertaintment, and
advertisments (although there has been some progress against sexist ads, it
still very much holds that with a half-naked female body you can sell
practically anything). But on the other hand, Christian religions that in
Europe used to be – to some extent – a counter-balance to all this „mundane“
life, has also joined forces with capitalism and have made a specific form of
sexuality, reproductive sex, one of their central issues. Reproduce and
produce. If there are more people, more things can be sold to them. As Žižek
showed, whereas in Freud’s times it was a problem how to enjoy, not the problem
is how to refrain from enjoyment, because enjoyment is a norm, and preached both
from TV and pulpit. The Church used to cherish some strong anti-capitalist ideas
and models: to renounce „this world“, give all your belongings away, go to the
monastery, dedicate yourself to a life of prayer and helping the poor. Someone who
did that today, would be considered crazy even by the parish. Of course you
should pay a tithe, but you should hold on to your property: for „family,
tradition, and property“, as is the name of a Brazilian arch-conservative
movement that has considerable influence over the world, including Estonia.
Their leader says that he opposes a „culture of death“, but as it often happens
in such cases, what they attribute to others, applies to themselves. Because based
on the current tendencies, it is certain that this ideal of production and
reproduction will have led us to a collapse by the end of this century, i.e. it
is a death-drive. Religion used to be a bulwark to a feudal structure (both as
a part of it and as a counter-balance to it); it took some time to adapt, and
now it is an important pillar for capitalist structure. The greatest heretics
for both the „mundane“ world and Church authorities are those who refrain from
production and reproduction, who minimize consumption and who refrain from having
children. Yet, if there is some hope for humankind, it must include elements
from such way of life.
