Sex and Survival: Understanding Modern Sexuality

We live in a world where sexuality is everywhere—plastered across every screen and advertisement. Despite being one of the most fundamental human drives, most of us navigate our sexual lives with little clarity about what we're actually doing or why. What role should sexuality play in a life? Are we in control of our sexual desires, or are they controlling us? And what does it mean that we've become a culture seemingly addicted to sexual stimulation?

Our relationship with sexuality shapes how we connect with others, how we see ourselves, and even how we structure society. Between traditional pedagogy and modern freedom, have we lost the way towards flourishment? We're told sex is just biology, just pleasure, just personal choice—but are the stakes higher than that? The rise of porn addiction, the complexity of hookup culture, and the sexualization of nearly everything suggest we're dealing with forces that go way deeper than preferences. This circle explores what's really at stake when we talk about sex and survival. We'll dig into whether sexuality serves purposes beyond reproduction and pleasure, how modern culture has shifted our relationship to sexual desire, and whether we can reclaim agency over one of the most powerful forces in human experience.

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Core Questions

1. What is the relationship between sexual desire and human survival—both individual and collective?

2. How do traditional frameworks (religious, cultural) around sexuality serve social functions beyond moral control?

3. Has the separation of sex from reproduction and commitment fundamentally changed its meaning?

4. What are the effects of living in a hyper-sexualized culture where sexual imagery permeates daily life?

5. How has widespread pornography consumption shaped expectations, relationships, and our understanding of intimacy?

6. What does hookup culture promise versus what it actually deliver—and what might we be sacrificing in the process?

7. Are we controlling our sexuality, or is it controlling us? How do we cultivate agency over sexual desire?

8. What does our cultural "addiction" to sexual stimulation reveal about where we're headed as a society?

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Structure

• First 15 minutes: Coffee + casual social time

• 75–90 minutes: Socratic-style group conversation (no lectures, just inquiry)

• Final 10–15 minutes (optional): Open hangout, personal conversations, community connection

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Optional Reading

• Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson

Examines the neurological and relational impacts of pornography consumption.

• The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller

Examines sexuality through the lens of evolutionary psychology and cultural development.

• After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre (chapters on modern moral discourse)

Critiques how modernity has fragmented traditional ethical frameworks around sexuality and relationships.

• Genesis 1:27-28, 1 Corinthians 7

Biblical perspectives on sexuality, marriage, and their purposes in human flourishing.

> "Sex is the mysticism of materialism and the only possible religion in a materialistic society."
> — Malcolm Muggeridge

> "Sex is a momentary itch, love never lets you go."
> — Kingsley Amis