To the editor:

I continue to be astonished by the trash that appears in the “Annie’s Mailbox” syndicated column, both in the letters submitted and in the responses. The column is a blemish on the otherwise family-friendly and respectful Lawrence Journal-World.

I usually pass over the column knowing it disgusts me, but the headline on (the May 12) column caught my eye. A wife was writing in on her disappointment that her premarital sex life was more active than her marital one. This situation beautifully illustrates the detrimental effects of cohabitation and premarital sex on the sacred bond of marriage.

This problem cannot be resolved by the husband getting his testosterone levels checked, as the authors suggest; but by the wife and husband examining the true meaning of conjugal love. By regularly engaging in sex outside of the commitment of marriage, they took advantage of each other and distorted the beauty of the mutual self-gift of the marital act.

Sex belongs in marriage because it is a bodily expression of the complete commitment of the marriage vows. When it is understood and practiced as such, the couple’s relationship, on more levels than just the physical, will truly flourish.

Jessica Miravalle,

Lawrence