The nation’s ambivalent attitude toward sex

The nation’s ambivalent attitude toward sex

Al Makin, Yogyakarta | Wed, 06/23/2010 9:57 AM | Opinion, The Jakarta Post

From the incident of the leaking sexual video tape of allegedly involving Luna Maya (LM) and Ariel Peterpan (AP), an Indonesian version of the Tiger Wood’s scandal, one may conclude that we Indonesians are ambivalent about sex. We have a contradictory attitude toward sex in our public and private life.

Privately, sexual matters are subjects of relaxed and casual conversation. People can joke about it generously.

People are eager to share the file of the LM and AP sex tape. Indeed, the video is spread among friends freely.

It is only a file with no more than 8,000 kilobytes, which can be sent via email or copied with flash disk stick. In a minute, a hundred of copies can be produced effortlessly.

People can talk about sex with neither burden nor barriers. Sexual matters are a beloved subject.

Before dealing with a real theme in a formal and informal meeting, sexual themes can serve as an icebreaker. When a serious topic is boring, jokes about sex are preferable.

Teachers in the classrooms insert sexual jokes when explaining difficult subjects to sleepy students.

Upon listening the jokes, they wake up. They enjoy the content and laugh. The teachers can then return to the real theme.

Whether you’re in restaurants or tents on the banks of streets, vendors and buyers chat about sex. They joke about sex. Taxi drivers gossip with his passenger about sex.

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