Is there a comparison to be made between casual sex and junk food?

“I think in some ways they both create an insatiable desire for more. What we know from junk food is that it actually has elements in it to trick your brain into thinking that you need more food.”

Juli Slattery, President of Authentic Intimacy, shares how our casual sex culture is impacting authentic intimacy in the lives of the young and old alike. Junk food manufacturers include additives designed to induce a desire for more. The same can be said for counterfeit forms of sexuality such as pornography or casual sex.

“Instead of helping you to feel satisfied like you had a true connection with a person, we know it actually makes you crave it more, it makes you crave something different and it keeps you going back with this insatiable desire for more.”

We pursue casual sex or junk food with the intention of satisfying our desire, but all we accomplish is to further harm ourselves and increase the desire.

It’s widely accepted that junk food will ruin your appetite for real nourishment. If Juli lets her boys eat junk food before she feeds them a healthy meal, their taste buds are used to junk food and they have no interest in healthy food. The same concept applies to sexuality.

“The same happens in our culture when people are engaging in junk sex, they don’t even know how to respond or enjoy nourishing intimacy.”

Many people, even Christian couples are reporting an inability to respond sexually within marriage because of exposure to pornography or casual sexual relationships in the past.

“Their brains have been tricked out, it’s a tragedy and nobody seems to be talking about it.”

Casual sex has been normalized in our culture. This has led to wide-spread acceptance of this counterfeit expression of sexuality which is contrary to God’s intention for Holy sexuality.

“Everybody looks at porn, everybody sleeps around, because it’s so common, we don’t see it as one of the greatest threats to our society which it is.”

What can I do?

You might be thinking you’re too far gone or you’ve done too many sexually sinful things in your life to ever recover. However, that is the farthest thing from the truth.

Today, ask God to help heal your heart from past exposure to unhealthy sexuality. Trust that he will forgive you for the sexual sins of your past.

Ask him to help you see sexuality from His perspective and not from the twisted perspective of the world.

God has already conquered sin for us, ask Him to help you steer clear of counterfeit sexuality and strive for authentic intimacy.

Highlight: Do you have authentic intimacy?

Striving for authentic intimacy