The sidewalks were packed today as I was walking back to my office after class. My U is a busy place anyway, but today there were people selling paintings and clothing and books and jewelry and hellfire and damnation. Yes, the fundies were out with a big sign that read: 
and a woman screaming at the top of her lungs about sex, spreading your legs, losing your virginity, boys getting girls drunk and having sex with them and then the biggie anal sex: "If you are having anal sex people you are on the road to homosexuality."
It was at that point that I interrupted the rant to ask a question. "Why," I asked, "are you obsessed with sex and with homosexuality? And you just said something about the road to homosexuality. I'm not familiar with that road, can you point it out on a map?" The mass of humanity moving on the sidewalks stopped, and people turned to listen. I hadn't asked the question to get attention or in the hope of actually engaging in a conversation; I did so because I could not let her claim just hang in the air. However, since I had their attention, I figured what the hell. The woman with the sign, of course, was taken aback by my question, and once she gathered her self she claimed she had no obsession with sex. "Well," I said, turning to the notes I had taken during the short time I had been listening, "in less than a couple of minutes you talked about drunken sex, wild sex, sex and drugs, sex at parties, sex with multiple partners, sex with someone of the same sex, fornication, men plying women with liquor so they can have sex with them, masturbation, and anal sex. All you've talked about is sex, sex, sex. So I am asking why are you so focused on sex? Why aren't you talking about poverty, for instance, or helping one another through difficult times, or whatever? What's your problem with sex?"
As one might expect, she began quoting the Bible and telling me about the evils of premarital sex and then moved onto promiscuous sex, and sex on TV and in movies, and, of course, the dangers of homosexual sex.
Again I interrupted her: "I get it, you're talking about sex. Sex, sex, sex. But what I'm asking is. . . , well let me ask a somewhat different question: why does sex bother you enough to bring you out here to talk about it. I might agree that there is sex on television and in movies; I might even say we're inundated with sex in media. But I don't feel moved to stand out here and tell people what I think about it. But here you stand next to your sign talking about sex with a bunch of people you don't even know. From my perspective you're more focused on sex than is anyone else standing here." I then turned to the crowd and asked, "Am I right?" I was greeted by cheers and a few "amen sister"s! I then continued walking back to my office.
This isn't the first time I've come upon such a scene, and as long as I am associated with college and university campuses, it won't be the last. Usually one of three things happen: 1. everyone walks by and ignores the fundies; 2. some stop and take in the sideshow for a little while and then go on their way; 3. a crowd gathers and soon hellfire and damnation reign down on the crowd while they shoot barbs at the fundy. Nothing is ever accomplished, and I doubt anything ever will be.
I have, though, continued to think about how often in I've encountered people on college campuses standing in a major thoroughfare yelling about the evils of sex. I suppose for them, college campuses are the modern representatives of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And while it may be true that more often than not, my students are scantily clad and texting about their last or next hookup, getting them to talk about sex--its role in patriarchy, the relationships between sex and power, and the ways in which sexuality is marked in this country--is next to impossible. In class students might point to sex on television and in movies as some sign of how open "today's society" is about sex. But I would not be doing my job if I didn't challenge that notion, just as I challenged the woman today to stop the litany and explain why she was moved to come here and warn us about the evils of sex. I might agree, for instance, that there is "a lot" of sex on television and in movies; I might even agree with the notion that we're inundated with sex in media. But at the same time I'd argue we're a really prudish and sexually repressed society. Very few Americans talk about sex openly even with their own partners and sex education, well, it's almost non-existent. In fact, Americans are still influenced by those Puritan and Victorian values about how people should be ashamed of their own bodies, and there continues to be a great deal of stigma concerning sex, sexuality, and nudity. And all that's wrapped up in those “traditional Christian values” (as defined by fundamentalist Christianity). In fact, that's why that woman was out there with her sign telling us we're all sinners; the more fundamentally religious people are the more they are sexually repressed especially in relation to nudity and sexuality. And to quote Alanis Morissette, "isn't it ironic. . .dontcha think? A little too ironic. . .and yeah I really do think" that it's ironic that a woman would stand before someone in a pink bunny suit (see pic) and a bunch of college students and proclaim the evils of sex. That she would feel authorized to do so.
I'm reminded of the other day when I was working from home and the door bell rang. I went toward the door, and through the security screen I thought I saw my former house keeper. So, I went to the door and said "hello." It wasn't my house keeper; it was a jehovah's witness who began to "share some inspiring words from the Bible." I tried to be respectful as I told her I was interested, but she continued. And I thought, "what the hell? I am in my own home and yet she feels she can stand here and impose her beliefs on me. I hold a variety of strong beliefs, but I don't feel compelled to go door-to-door (or stand on a university campus) and impose them on others. So why the hell do other people think it's ok to foist their beliefs on me?"
It was at that point that I interrupted the rant to ask a question. "Why," I asked, "are you obsessed with sex and with homosexuality? And you just said something about the road to homosexuality. I'm not familiar with that road, can you point it out on a map?" The mass of humanity moving on the sidewalks stopped, and people turned to listen. I hadn't asked the question to get attention or in the hope of actually engaging in a conversation; I did so because I could not let her claim just hang in the air. However, since I had their attention, I figured what the hell. The woman with the sign, of course, was taken aback by my question, and once she gathered her self she claimed she had no obsession with sex. "Well," I said, turning to the notes I had taken during the short time I had been listening, "in less than a couple of minutes you talked about drunken sex, wild sex, sex and drugs, sex at parties, sex with multiple partners, sex with someone of the same sex, fornication, men plying women with liquor so they can have sex with them, masturbation, and anal sex. All you've talked about is sex, sex, sex. So I am asking why are you so focused on sex? Why aren't you talking about poverty, for instance, or helping one another through difficult times, or whatever? What's your problem with sex?"
As one might expect, she began quoting the Bible and telling me about the evils of premarital sex and then moved onto promiscuous sex, and sex on TV and in movies, and, of course, the dangers of homosexual sex.
Again I interrupted her: "I get it, you're talking about sex. Sex, sex, sex. But what I'm asking is. . . , well let me ask a somewhat different question: why does sex bother you enough to bring you out here to talk about it. I might agree that there is sex on television and in movies; I might even say we're inundated with sex in media. But I don't feel moved to stand out here and tell people what I think about it. But here you stand next to your sign talking about sex with a bunch of people you don't even know. From my perspective you're more focused on sex than is anyone else standing here." I then turned to the crowd and asked, "Am I right?" I was greeted by cheers and a few "amen sister"s! I then continued walking back to my office.
This isn't the first time I've come upon such a scene, and as long as I am associated with college and university campuses, it won't be the last. Usually one of three things happen: 1. everyone walks by and ignores the fundies; 2. some stop and take in the sideshow for a little while and then go on their way; 3. a crowd gathers and soon hellfire and damnation reign down on the crowd while they shoot barbs at the fundy. Nothing is ever accomplished, and I doubt anything ever will be.
I have, though, continued to think about how often in I've encountered people on college campuses standing in a major thoroughfare yelling about the evils of sex. I suppose for them, college campuses are the modern representatives of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And while it may be true that more often than not, my students are scantily clad and texting about their last or next hookup, getting them to talk about sex--its role in patriarchy, the relationships between sex and power, and the ways in which sexuality is marked in this country--is next to impossible. In class students might point to sex on television and in movies as some sign of how open "today's society" is about sex. But I would not be doing my job if I didn't challenge that notion, just as I challenged the woman today to stop the litany and explain why she was moved to come here and warn us about the evils of sex. I might agree, for instance, that there is "a lot" of sex on television and in movies; I might even agree with the notion that we're inundated with sex in media. But at the same time I'd argue we're a really prudish and sexually repressed society. Very few Americans talk about sex openly even with their own partners and sex education, well, it's almost non-existent. In fact, Americans are still influenced by those Puritan and Victorian values about how people should be ashamed of their own bodies, and there continues to be a great deal of stigma concerning sex, sexuality, and nudity. And all that's wrapped up in those “traditional Christian values” (as defined by fundamentalist Christianity). In fact, that's why that woman was out there with her sign telling us we're all sinners; the more fundamentally religious people are the more they are sexually repressed especially in relation to nudity and sexuality. And to quote Alanis Morissette, "isn't it ironic. . .dontcha think? A little too ironic. . .and yeah I really do think" that it's ironic that a woman would stand before someone in a pink bunny suit (see pic) and a bunch of college students and proclaim the evils of sex. That she would feel authorized to do so.
I'm reminded of the other day when I was working from home and the door bell rang. I went toward the door, and through the security screen I thought I saw my former house keeper. So, I went to the door and said "hello." It wasn't my house keeper; it was a jehovah's witness who began to "share some inspiring words from the Bible." I tried to be respectful as I told her I was interested, but she continued. And I thought, "what the hell? I am in my own home and yet she feels she can stand here and impose her beliefs on me. I hold a variety of strong beliefs, but I don't feel compelled to go door-to-door (or stand on a university campus) and impose them on others. So why the hell do other people think it's ok to foist their beliefs on me?"
Brava! Sister.
Maybe these nuts come on campus because all have a free speech zone. Maybe campus is the last place in America where speech as she defines it--monologic ranting--has a designated spot where it can take place.
Which makes their ranting even more irritating. I'm glad you slapped her down. Not for her, but for the audience who may have learned something.
Posted by: Aspasia | Mar 06, 2010 at 10:32 AM