I decide, Mac. I decide. I could use your help. Good post.
There is nothing okay about taking a child from their development toa full grown, full minded person for a union, at that sexual activity. We can stick to our age groups.
Why is sex becoming ingrained to our society?
Well, Kx, you do decide...and likewise, I decide. We, as a whole society decide. Christians call it sin, the rest of us call it morals, rules that are for the good of society...and we've been making these types of decisions since the
2nd day we started living in groups together. (boy, howdy...you should have seen day one...it was a complete clusterfuck!
) Situations in society change. What might be good for society at one time and one place, may not be good at other times and places. The "biggies" don't change too much. It's always been a good idea not to murder anyone...or steal someone else's shit, but the minor rules can change alot.
Let's look at the examples I gave earlier. In 1800, it was moral to marry a 13 year old. Why? Simple math. With a low life expectancy of around 35 years, coupled with a high infant mortality rate of around 25%...it made sense to start your family as soon as there was grass on the playing field. This maximized the amount of time you had to rear kids to maturity, before you yourself died. Which was good for society. In today's world, life expectancy has more than doubled..to around 75 years, and infant mortality rates are very low. It's no longer a race against the clock to raise a family...so it's no longer necessary to marry that young. It does take quite a bit more education to flourish in today's society...kids need to spend more time in school to learn the skills they need to prosper. That's why today it makes sense, and is better for society for people to start their families at age 18 or later. It has become immoral to marry that young, as you rob that kid of chance to learn what they need to do well in today's society.
Additionally, in 1800, it was considered immoral for a woman to walk down the street without proper covering. It was thought that a woman with her titties all hanging out going "boom chicka boom chicka boom boom boom" would drive men to have sex with them before marriage, leading to single parenthood. Rearing children to maturity was hard enough for a couple at that time, trying to do it as a single parent was next to impossible. In a couple, if one parent dies (which was highly likely occurrence), there's the opportunity for them to remarry, and continue on. If the single parent dies, there's no one left, and the kids go to an orphanage, and become the responsibility of the community as a whole...which isn't good for society. That's why they made so many rules that they thought would prevent illegitimate children. The OP's question about masturbation falls into this category...as it was thought spanking the monkey would lead to premarital sex. In today's society, while single parenthood can be difficult, it's much easier for a single parent to rear a successful child to maturity...so we have laxed all of those older rules.
Times change and so do morals. (or sins)