Sexually-driven Society, Are We?

We were out looking for some plants for our garden. The nursery office is made up of sleazy storefronts covered by torn industrial wood and dirt on the walls. A young man came out. He showed us various kind of traditional herbs that he planted. I could see pokok limau purut, limau kasturi and many other plants which I have forgotten their names.

Traditional herbs like aloe vera or lidah buaya and Eurycome longifolia or Tongkat Ali are well-known for their exceptional healing properties. One for softening the skin while the other is for sexual desire enhancer. We see a lot of product which lend popularity from Tongkat Ali which I doubt about their claims. From ready-mixed instant coffee to health supplementary pills, manufacturers know they can attract customers by adding some Tongkat Ali flavor to their products. To me, it gives impression like our society a sexually-driven society.

To prove this hypothesis, let us look at how great the myth that our society bears on beauty and aesthetic procedures.

TV3’s Al-Kulliyah last week aired a program on Susuk. Basically, susuk are needles made of diamond, gold or other metals, inserted in the soft tissues of the body to act as penjaga or talisman. Women use susuk for aesthetic reasons while men use to gain more powerful body and to protect themselves against injury.

A caller to another talk show on TV9, the night before stated that as a fisherman, he uses susuk to protect himself against cold weather which he has to challenge every wee hours in the morning.

A lady confessed in the TV3 show that she practiced susuk voluntarily and demonstrated the removal procedure of diamond debris from her face led by an Islamic traditional practitioner. Fascinating enough, zam zam water was used to draw the debris out of her face by soaking her face in the water while Quranic versus were being enchanted aloud.

I leave it to you to figure out whether magical spell or trick have been used. This practice is quite prevalent to the extent that this ustaz has opened up a clinic to cater for patients who decide to be treated using traditional means.

Finally, you got to make up your mind whether we are sexually driven society or not?