Dirt or soil or earth is an interesting topic and an interesting substance. We eat it. Well, after it has been transformed by plant energy and sunlight and such into fruit and vegetables and grain.
When children play outside, given that they are low to the ground, they often get bits of the planet on themselves so we say the are "dirty". Farmers and workers outside also get dirty.
When I drop my cookie on the playground, I mustn't eat it afterwards since it is dirty. I have read that a handful of soil contains hundreds of micro-organisms and yes, some of them are probably not good for my digestion system and maybe my longevity.
So, we get the word "dirty" to mean "not good for us" even though the planet made of dirt is often good for us and is always our only home, so far.
Our bodies are built to extract nutrients and water from our food and drink. What is left over and excreted is not good for us either and by extension, is also "dirty", like my cookie, although usually we don't excrete soil or earth. Since the pleasures of the flesh involve parts of our bodies that are also part of, or very proximate to, the parts of our bodies that excrete, sexual activity can seem "dirty', too. In nearly all societies, the parts of the body that are involved are kept covered most of the time. When they aren't, our appearance can be shocking or arousing. Aroused, we may make babies, even when we aren't mature enough for parenthood, wealthy enough to raise babies, or energetic enough for the demands and surprises of babies and children.
Thus, we get the slogan:
Sex is dirty; save it for the one you love.
Olders sometime modify that rule of thumb to merely:
Sex is dirty; save it.
They may even make the further modification of the rule to
Sex is dirty; shelve it.
When I was young and firmly in the grip of hormones, I pitied those oldsters whom I could sense had moved past much interest in sexual activity. Now that I am an oldster, I find the place beyond strong sexual desire is very free and pleasant. I would have found it impossible to believe then but it is true.
All parts of us are made by divine and/or evolutionary forces and none of them are dirty or filthy, even when they scare us or repel (or draw) us.
--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
