Cleanness

We need an ethics of uncleanness. The problem is the ancient error of confusing the literal and metaphorical senses of hygene ... striving for the former is almost always a good idea, striving for the latter (counterintuitively, but the lesson of history is unambiguous) always a bad one. Ethnic cleansing; racial purity; fundamentalism--all bad. 'Sexual purity' as a code for sexua abstention is a particularly dangerous and destructive notion. A leaven of (metaphorical) uncleanness is absolutely needful for a fully functioning sex-life. Woody Allen says it very well: 'is sex dirty? Only if done right.'