Introduction: Sex as a Foundation of Culture
Humanity did not invent sex, but transformed it from a biological mechanism of reproduction into a powerful cultural institution. While biology seeks only the mixing of genes, culture imbues this process with meaning, creating rituals, laws, and value systems. In this article, you will learn how taboos constitute our humanity, how religions discipline desire, and the challenges posed by the era of algorithms and artificial intelligence. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for protecting intimacy in a world dominated by technology.
Religion and Monogamy: The Sacralization and Discipline of Desire
Leszek Kołakowski regarded the sexual taboo as the foundation of humanity. The prohibition of public sex allows for the distinction between the body and the spiritual "self"—without this constraint, humanity would not have emerged from its animal state. Various religious traditions regulate sex in their own ways: Judaism affirms it as a mitzvah (duty), Islam frames the legal order through the category of zina, Buddhism ethicizes the principle of non-harm, and Confucianism subordinates it to family hierarchy. Christianity, in turn, moralizes love, setting a high bar for purity.
Monogamy proved to be a significant engine for the success of Western civilization. As a social norm, it stabilized inheritance structures, organized labor, and created a secure framework for raising children. While these institutions can be oppressive, they have historically served as useful tools for building social order and transferring cultural assets.
The Sexual Revolution and Technology: New Scripts of Desire
The sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s dismantled the traditional order, bringing freedom and the removal of stigmas, but also specific costs: the decomposition of bonds and the dominance of the porn industry. Modern sociology explains our behavior through sexual scripts—cultural and intrapsychic matrices that we learn like a language. Today, these scripts are written by algorithms. Dating apps introduce a commodity logic, and pornography becomes the infrastructure of attention capitalism, training brains to equate intimacy with the escalation of stimuli.
The development of AI and bioengineering (e.g., artificial wombs) presents us with a vision of "sex without humans." Once procreation is finally separated from the body, intimacy may face nihilism. The challenge becomes maintaining the motivation for a genuine encounter with another human being in a world offering a sterile, digital simulacrum of closeness.
The State and Education: Protection Against Digital Violence
In the face of information chaos, the state must assume the role of a guarantor of safety. Modern sex education, based on WHO and UNESCO standards, is not an ideology but the teaching of the language of consent, violence prevention, and digital safety. Ideological neutrality in family policy helps avoid futile tribal wars, which today result in delegating upbringing to TikTok algorithms.
A key legislative task is the fight against digital sexual violence, such as revenge porn or sextortion. Poland requires systemic changes modeled after the German NetzDG act, which mandates that platforms remove harmful content. In this context, the thought of Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński remains relevant: the fight against hypocrisy and prudery is essential for the law to truly protect the vulnerable, rather than merely serving as a manifestation of moral superiority.
Summary: The Future of Human Intimacy
Sexuality has evolved from instinct, through religious taboos, to a market product. Today, we face a choice: will we allow technology and the market to ultimately instrumentalize our bodies, or will we manage to reclaim control over our own intimacy? The key is emotional literacy and the building of institutions capable of bearing the burdens of modernity. Will we protect love from being reduced to an algorithm, and closeness from becoming merely a digital illusion? The answer to this question will determine whether the future belongs to humans or to machines.
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