By Dr. Sawraj Singh
The British Medical Journal just published an article about people having less sex now than in recent years. Nearly a third of men and women did not have sex in the past month. In 2001 the figure was around a quarter. The decrease is in the people who have previously been active rather than more people deciding to keep their virginity. Therefore, it is not a question of morality but it is the pace of modern life which is doing this. People are too busy, tired or stressed.
It is obvious that increased stress is taking its toll. All previous studies have shown that fertility rate is declining in all capitalist countries. This is the main reason that western capitalist countries have to import people from the third world countries. Immigration solves their problem of shortage of man power. However, it creates very serious its own problems. The main problem related to immigration is clash of cultural values. Immigrants come from different cultural backgrounds than the western capitalist countries they migrate to.
We can see the biggest conflict in Western Europe where immigration has almost led to a clash of western civilization and Islamic civilization. However no western country is free from this cultural conflict. All the studies about low sperm count, decrease in fertility rate and loss of interest in sex point out to increased stress as the main reason for these phenomena. However, the reason for the increased stress is mainly shown the economic crisis of capitalism which is making people stressed about their economic survival. I feel that crisis of capitalism is not limited to economic field alone. Decline of culture and values is a very important aspect of this crisis.
It is interesting that western capitalist countries mainly talk about the cultural impact of aliens on their societies. They rarely talk about the cultural impact of immigration on the immigrants. This is a problem of equal if not more magnitude. Immigrants have to go through tremendous cultural shock in trying to adopt new culture and values. This sometimes takes tremendous toll on their mental health. I feel that any study on the state of mental health of the immigrants will show tremendous increase in anxiety disorders and in depression. Loss of interest in sex can be one symptom of depression.
If we look at the history of decline of the previous civilizations then this fact will come out that low fertility rate and loss of population was an important index of decline of a civilization. We should try to understand that phenomena like falling sperm count, low fertility rate and losing interest in sex all point in the same direction. The present crisis of capitalism is most likely a terminal crisis and the western civilization which is now based upon capitalism rather than Christianity which was its original foundation, is also in a state of terminal decline.
This civilization has done tremendous damage to our environment. Millions of species have disappeared from the face of earth. However, the biggest damage it has done may be to the human psyche. Stress is the hallmark of this civilization. Previous studies about falling sperm count and low fertility rate and now about loss of interest in sex all point to increased stress as the main culprit.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
