Photo credit: nwistheone/flickr.comSo, I just cannot take it any longer. I feel I need to address the hypocrites and idiots who have found it necessary to comment on the University of Cincinnati's week of "Sexploration."
The event has garnered considerable media attention, especially from the Cincinnati Enquirer, and I'll admit I found it odd that the paper previewed the event on Sunday, Feb. 1. Here's a link to Cliff Peale's article: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090201/NEWS01/902010361.
"Really," I thought at the time. "Is there so little going on in Cincinnati that the Enquirer is now covering benign campus events?"
After all, as a student at a major university, I didn't bat an eye when I first heard about "Sexploration," and I'm fairly certain no I know did either.
But the letters to the Enquirer's editorial page started showing up in print, Archbishop Pilarczyk got involved (http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/archbishop_upset_with_sexploration-1.1355050)
and so did Peter Bronson
"How are events such as "Pizza and Porn" and "Got the Hook Up?" any better than inviting a tobacco company to peddle cigarettes and celebrate the glories of a good smoke?" This is just one of the pearls of wisdom Bronson offers in his "Sexploration" blog post.
For the record, I can't think of I time I ever thought Bronson was right.
Sigh.
So let me first address the idiots (that's you and your ilk, Bronson). If any of these people had gone to, researched, or even called someone involved with the "Pizza and Porn" event, they'd realize the event was not dinner and a movie, but rather a public forum, a discourse, an exploration of people's thoughts and perspectives on pornography.
In other words, "Pizza and Porn" was intended to bring people of differing opinions together to encourage critical thinking concerning a difficult and controversial subject.
Gee, I could have sworn that this is what college is for: to teach people to think both critically and for themselves.
As for the hypocrites, well, I'll start with Pilarczyk. Dude, you are just in no way, shape or form in a position to comment on, well just about anything to do with sex.
"I find the 'Sexploration' program ... to be profoundly disturbing," Pilarczyk said in a statement released by the Archdiocese. "The gross disregard of the moral sensibilities of many in the university community is troubling in the extreme."
What's troubling to me is that a representative of a religion that is wholly and completely out of touch with life in the 21st century (Hello, no birth control? Seriously?) is commenting on the sexual mores of today's college students.
What's troubling to me is that a man who has vowed to live his life as a celibate is commenting on the safety of the sex others engage in.
What's troubling to me is that a man of such high position, so ready to publicly denounce the university and it's Wellness Center, could be completely misinformed as to whether or not taxpayer funds paid for the week's events (they didn't).
What's troubling to me is that after all the charges, convictions, admissions, accusations and payoffs surrounding pedophile clergy (including this: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090117/NEWS01/901170367/-1/today),
Pilarczyk would so willingly and without thinking out the consequences put himself out there in this way, opening himself up to a potential onslaught of criticism and recrimination, ready to make a fool of himself over what is essentially the decision of two consenting adults to participate in safe sex.
Well played, Archbishop. Well played.
Finally, to many, but not all of (some of the comments are very rational and intelligent), the women who post on momslikeme.com: Are you such old farts that you don't remember your college experience? Are you liars or just phonies? Just wondering, because some of you spout such venom towards Pure Romance. Are you denying you had sex in college? Because I'm not falling for that. Just saying.
Whew, I fell better now.
Agree with me? Think I'm a lunatic? Comment away.
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The logic regarding the Bishop is somewhat flawed. People in public service, and clergymen and women count as such, are witness to a lot of good and bad decisions.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're a lunatic.
For the record, I did have sex in college. Woof!
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ReplyDeleteI didn't participate, but as a person of faith, I think things like Sexploration - which empower individuals made in the image of God to be able to make good, informed decisions about their health and behavior - could theoretically be considered a liberating act of service. Perhaps it could even be a form of worship.
ReplyDeleteIs it really so hard to believe that regular people and their well-being might actually matter to God? Couldn't loving people and caring for their intellectual and physical health might be a way of expressing love for God? Just a thought...
I mean, there are certainly worse things people could do. Imagine if an organization charged with the responsibility of caring for young people became a haven for pedophilia and sexual abuse and engaged in cover-ups to hide it when authority figures where exposed rather than trying to hold them accountable for their heinous misdeeds. Just imagine...
I suppose that would be a little worse than frank discussions about sex, wouldn't it. But I'm sure no one has ever heard of a religious organization that would do such a thing, right?
I'm not exactly a pro-porn sort of person, but young people (especially young women, to be frank) are safer and better off when they view sex as a personal choice rather than a social standard. It's important to understand that sexually abusive people often use social hierarchy as a weapon against the abused.
It seems to me that people actually find it easier to say "no" to destructive sexual behavior when they see themselves as the deciding factor, rather than some rule decided by authority figures. When society dictates your sexual choices, all someone has to do to sexually manipulate you is convince you that some form of social pressure is on their side.
But if they have to more personally convince you, as a reasoning, moral individual, abusers loose a significant advantage. Comprehensive sex ed empowers independent sexual thinking and independent sexual choices - which can even include abstinence.
Can you dig it?
I think I can sum this up in one brief comment - "Welcome to Cincinnati!"
ReplyDeleteGiven the furor that erupts over any event that has anything to do with sexuality, I hardly find the excitement surprising. Depressing maybe, but expected.
I am a Christian woman, and I don't think that pre- or extra-marital sex is a good thing, but I think it's stupid and shortsighted to ignore the fact that not everyone agrees with me. If people are going to be having sex, then I certainly want them to learn about how to do so safely and sanely. And Geoffrey made a good point about reminding people that sex is a choice and not something that others can dictate - either for or against.
There are plenty of other things going on to be upset about that we can all fuss about just as unproductively - the weather and the economy come to mind.
Of course, I'm just an old fart, so what do I know? ;)
I just have to comment on the writing -- so powerful & passionate. It was just bursting off the page.
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