“We want sexy back!” This is the cry of today's
generation, raised in a sex-drenched culture that threatens to empty
relationships between the sexes of all love, meaning and romance.
A network of university students from around the country, brought together by Marc Barnes,
knew that human sexuality was intended to
be something beautiful, and that it deserved greater respect and
appreciation in the world today. They decided that it was high time
that someone told the truth about sex, and exposed the root of today's
widespread sexual dissatisfaction.
So it was that in May of this year, these students launched
a website entitled: “1Flesh:
The Revolt Against Contraception in Marriage.” They described
their effort as “A grassroots movement in opposition to the use
of artificial contraception, dedicated to bringing great sex to the
entire universe.”
The sexual revolution of the last generation has left a legacy of
broken lives and broken hearts for all to see. Young people do not
want to make the same mistakes as their parents and older siblings.
They want to be seen as persons, not sex objects. They want romance,
not the humdrum boredom of loveless sex. They want monogamy, not the
multiple partners that leads to STDs. Today's generation is searching
to regain what their parents lost.
1Flesh believes that things went wrong when contraception entered
marriage. Not only is contraception not the answer, they believe that
it is a root cause of all our present ills. It lessens the bond of
sexual union, dulls its unifying nature, and causes many health
problems that could be avoided if couples used natural family
planning. This is where 1Flesh takes a stand against society's current
practices.
The goal of 1Flesh is “to spread words of rebellion; that sex
should be awesome and saved until marriage, that pregnancy can be
justly avoided without harmful chemicals, and that love is worth
fighting for.”
The website contains a vast array of images, videos, testimonies,
data, and statistics all arguing against the use of artificial birth
control and in favor of what it likes to call “100% organic
sex.” It also introduces readers to a natural and healthy means
of fertility regulation, namely, Natural Family Planning. It explains
the benefits of several different NFP methods, such as The
Creighton Model Fertiltycare System and The Billings
Ovulation Method, in detail.
And that’s not all. The website is chock full of information about the
emotional, physical, and environmental dangers of artificial birth
control, all told with flashy and attention-grabbing visuals that I
found both informative and entertaining.
In their own words, 1Flesh strives “to inform women of the risks
of birth control pills, to call out pharmaceutical companies for their
life-endangering, false and manipulating advertising of the drugs, and
to promote the concept that women can understand and work with their
own fertility instead of relying on pharmaceutical companies.”
I was impressed by the detailed explanations of how men and women are
harmed emotionally and physically by the use of contraceptives such as
the pill and condoms. I was particularly touched by testimonies from
former contraception users, many of whom now rely upon NFP, about how
they have found physical and emotional health again after experiencing
the negative impact of contraceptives in their lives.
The website has received a great deal of publicity since it went
online in May, and Marc Barnes has been interviewed by
the Huffington Post and other media outlets. As you might
expect, the site has also received more than its share of attacks.
But Marc and his collaborators are hanging in there, fighting the good
fight. They saw the need, heard the cries, saw the demand, and so took
action. We at PRI salute them!
