Used with permission by Center for Healthy Sex:
Sexual abandon--the idea of surrendering to carnal desire popularized by movies, books, music videos, and myth--is a romantic notion. When people feel sterile and aimless in their lives, sexual abandon seems to promise entry into a divine state.
But our culture's thirst for sexual abandon usually means anonymous promiscuity, risk-taking, going past one's own limits. That sort of sexual abandon does not result from a sober decision reached by consulting with experts and ironing out details: "planned sexual abandon" is a contradiction in terms! Pursuing sexual abandon as an ultimate goal requires relinquishing mental control over our lives while rushing headfirst into sensual gratification.
Any cautious contemplation of sexual abandon in our culture might be dismissed as sex-negative and puritanical. Certainly, past generations would have interpreted much of what we take for granted today--sleeveless shirts, group dancing, explicit sex talk--as shameless abandon.
[...] It's valuable to look at exactly what's being abandoned during a sexual binge. If it's a committed relationship, or protecting our sexual health, or responsibilities like work and family, then the flipside of sexual abandon may be that it's really a form of avoidance or self-abandonment. Understood that way, sexual abandon, ironically, perpetuates the greatest of inhibitions because it's being used to block real experience and to numb our highest functions.
Sexual abandon can paralyze our spiritual being and even our sexual potential.