What sets us humans apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is not simply opposing thumbs but our ability to reason.  With that comes the ability to dream from which we get the desire to learn about ourselves as well as the world around us.  While the rest of nature is surviving and adapting by instinct alone, humanity survives because we have an adaptive brain that functions on multiple levels of thought and consciousness; constantly working on cause and effect relationships within the world around us.  Sexuality, whether you like it or not, is a major part in our psyche.  To ignore it only serves to stifle the brain, making us something less than we really are.

What sets us apart as human beings is our level of culture, traditions, and social attitudes that have been acquired over the millenia.  We are all products of our environments... each and every one of us.  Sure, much of our make up is genetic but I tend to think that just as equally we are also influenced by life once we have left the womb.  Nature simply provides us with the various abilities to survive in this world, but it's our personal experiences (and our interpretation of those experiences) as we continue to  live life, that makes us who we are and how we define ourselves and evolve sexually.

And that leads us to what sets us apart as Americans from the rest of the world sexually.  Actress Marlene Dietrich was quoted to have said, "Sex.  In America an obsession; in other parts of the world, fact."  We have a very difficult time accepting our own sexuality, both individually and as a nation.  Sure, much of this stems from the religious roots of the first explorers and the melting pot diversity of our population.  But progress is slow in acknowledging just how major an influence sex is in this country and to us as individuals in it.  It's a sad state of affairs when we can't include that one element that makes the existence of humanity possible, sex, as having a daily role in our culture beyond just the bedroom.