A thought occurred to me after publishing my last post; that the common thread of sexual "misconduct," and subsequent shame, denial, or cover-up, existed in each example given.

It is almost as if these leaders "failed" us within a system they each inherited, but did not necessarily agree to. I believe there are serious consequences of not being totally honest about sexuality. We have very rigid, puritanical sexual standards in our society, which almost no one that I am aware of, actually lives up to. These standards are monogamy (mating with one partner for life) and heterosexuality (attraction to and engaging with only partners of the "opposite" sex).

Religious leaders seem to be under even stricter standards sometimes, i.e. celibacy, or copulating only for reproduction.
This clearly challenges the natural state of existance, and often is later expressed in distorted or twisted sexual episodes.

Dare I say that my aim in researching marriage is driven by the hypotheses that we are neither monogamous nor heterosexual in nature, and that marriage contracts provided by the state ought to be reformed to reflect a less puritanical worldview, that is a worldview which complements man’s natural tendencies while still providing a system/structure which contributes to stability in society.

We need to remove more of the shame, stigma, violence, and deceit from our interactions with each other, and move toward more honest, intimate, healthy relationships.