Middle Ground

I make sexually inappropriate jokes. I make them often and I'm unlikely to stop any time soon simply because I find them very funny. I crack "that's what she said" jokes the most, and they always put a smile on my face.

Now, these jokes provoke two different reactions. First is laughter. Someone hear's the joke and has a lol because they also find it funny. I suppose that's the reaction I'm going for, and it's the reaction I usually have to these jokes.

The second reaction is that of disgust. People here these jokes and are immediately offended. This is not the desired reaction, but it is one that I encounter from time to time. Now, clearly these people are offended in some way or another, but why?

One is only offended when his or her values are violated in some way, and while this is never my objection it is unlikely to stop me from doing what I was doing because I don't know if your values are relevant or founded on what I believe to be truth.

I don't want to go into the debate as to how we define truth, or how we create values and principles [even though those are wonderful debates] because in this case I am more interested in the reaction people have to sexual jokes.

There are two extremes when it comes to people's perception of sex. On the one side we have people who don't value sex at all, and will have it at any time with anyone for any reason. On the other side we have people who believe that sex is a sacred act that may only be performed with a single, specific person in their lives and should never be spoken about ever.

Now, having a lot of sex all the time is appealing, but doesn't fit into my idea of how things should be done, but at the same time the idea of never speaking about sex doesn't seem right either. So where is the middle ground? Should there even be a middle ground?

I think that I fall somewhere in the middle, leaning more toward the 'sex with one person' ideal, but I am [as I'm sure you've picked up] open to talking about anything, including sex, and as a result I don't respond to sex in a very violent way. I don't feel offended when people talk about sex, and I don't feel offended when people make sexual jokes. I won't have sex until I get married though.

I don't know if my ideal is too liberal, or not conservative enough, but it's honest and that's what makes the difference for me.