Again from the Baro, this wonderful letter to the editor:SEXtravaganza
I am not intolerant. What people do in the privacy of their homes is not my business. However, what people push in my face and spend my money on is my business.
Student Health Services has chosen to sponsor a "SEXtravaganza" event, with 10 different events, only one of which deals with abstinence. Furthermore, they have advertised extensively on campus and even on Facebook.
Has what little money I have been used to support a "Masturbation Workshop" and "Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity of Gingerbread Persons & Baking Workshop?"
...
Jared Hageman
student, pre-communication
OK. He's upset, and believe it or not, I understand that. But there are some real winners buried in this letter (click the link to read the whole thing). Let's look at a few of them:
"I cannot even read the Barometer anymore without being confronted with pictures of people learning how to use condoms or finding expert opinions on how to perform better in bed."
Translation: I really don't like to be exposed to anything that a) might make me uncomfortable or b) might be useful.
Welcome to the world, Jared. It's big and scary and full of things you may not like. Amazingly, this is true for all of us. I, for example, do not like the fact that Bush sits in the Oval Office. Does this mean if I complain he'll go away? Sadly, no. On the plus side, however - and this is key - we do not have to internalize and believe everything we are exposed to. We (and that includes Jared) have amazing ability to consider an idea and then not support it.
There's at least one more thing worth noting in the letter:
"I simply want to be able to get an education without "getting an education." These are the moral values I have chosen..."
Way to imply that a) you have a right to remain ignorant and b) ignorance is actually education! Good job!
Jared, I'm sorry you are being made uncomfortable by all this talk of masturbation and condoms. If you had only given the entirety of the OSU community a list of things that you don't want to be exposed to upon your arrival, I'm sure we could have hidden all the naughty bits for the next four years.
After all, nothing's more important than your comfort. Of course your Special Snowflake status is more important than everyone else on campus.
No one besides straight white dudes ooze this much privilege.
Friday, February 8, 2008
[OSU] In Which a Poor Student Is Forced to Defend Ignorance as Education
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3 comments:
That is too funny. My brain is, however, stuck wondering about the "Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity of Gingerbread Persons & Baking Workshop," if that title is in fact accurate. So baking gingerbread persons of various gender identities is the teaching mode? It actually could be interesting on many levels:>))).
I can attest that the title is indeed accurate. I've never attended that particular event, but I'm going to guess that you are correct about the teaching model, as it were.
The whole gingerbread thing is more of a gimmick to get people there and talking about it. Some folks did do the whole designing gingerbread persons based on gender or sexual identity, but for the most part, it was a social and dialogic event. I only attended part of it, so I missed the educational talk, but there was a time allotted for specifically talking about various locations on gender, sex, and sexuality "spectrums."
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