There is a fascinating paper entitled Body Pleasure and the Origin of Violence written by American neuropsychologist James W Prescott.In the paper, Prescott presents the results of his analysis of 400 pre-industrial societies and reveals some startling insights about the link between sexual repression and violence in society
One of the findings of Prescott's study is that cultures which are more prone to violence are those where sexual activity is repressed. He writes:
"Imprisoning people, our usual way of dealing with crime, will not solve the problem, because the causes of violence lie in our basic values and the way in which we bring up our children and youth... Recent research supports the point of view that the deprivation of physical pleasure is a major ingredient in the expression of physical violence."
This is an interesting insight for us to consider, especially in light of the Prime Minister's recent comments that the Government is not prepared to decriminalise homosexuality. Now, regardless of certain religious ideas about homosexuality, it is, according to numerous scientific findings, a natural form of the sexual urge and has been documented in hundreds of different species.
If we were to consider the insights garnered from Prescott's paper, we would do well to reconsider our attitude towards sex in general in our country, but also to the antiquated legal restrictions towards so called alternative sexualities. If repression of sexuality, as the findings of this paper suggest, is indeed one of the main causes of violent behaviour, then our repressive laws against homosexuality are certainly just adding fuel to the fire of violence in this country.
Paul Hadden
Diego Martin