An interesting run-in

Last night the Hot Date* and I were wasting time around Borders before The Men Who Stare At Goats began (which was excellent and skeptic-y, by the way). I pointed out all the different biology books that I’ve been meaning to read (“…Why are there so many biology books about sex?” “…Do you need a reason?”), we flipped through the Book of Genesis illustrated by R. Crumb, and then of course we ended up in the sex section giggling like preteens. That’s where I found a much better version of the Bible, complete with old and new testaments!

After we were standing there for a while, a female student came up to me. “Jennifer?” she asks. “Yes?” “Jennifer McCreight?” “Er, yes?” I didn’t recognize her, but a lot of times random people I don’t know very well from the club say hi to me, so I thought maybe that was the case. She smiled and introduced herself very politely, then added “I’m from the Stewart Cooperative.”

I’ll be honest that my first thought was “Oh shit.” If you don’t remember why, the Stewart Cooperative was the group that put on the infamous Porn and Popcorn event that I tore to shreds on my blog a while back. In person I’m pretty non-confrontational, so I was kind of afraid that I was about to get drawn into a debate (though Hot Date probably would have found it amusing).

But then she surprised me. She apologized for the event and agreed that the message of Porn and Popcorn was bad. She thanked me for writing the review, and said that after reading it she realized how stupid some of the things were that were said. Apparently it was passed around the women of the cooperative, and many agreed with my opinions (though I still have my enemies, which is totally understandable). I commented that part of it was out of their hands – they don’t know exactly what a speaker is going to say when they get up there. She said that the event was suggested and coordinated mainly by alumni, and that many of the current Stewart women didn’t entirely realize what it was about, and that in the future they don’t want such things to happen. She also mentioned she still reads my blog – so hello, and thank you for being so nice!

I’m always incredibly pleased when a run-in like this happens. I have to say, I have significantly more positive run-ins than negative ones, even with people who I think are about to go off on me. It makes me feel that even when I think I’m just ranting, it can actually do some good.

Oh, and as a side note, of course she found me when I was tittering at some sex book. Way to confirm stereotypes about myself, haha.

*Yes, I find it incredibly fun to keep him secret from all of you guys Wilson-style. I’m weird.

Duke sex toy party study upsets Catholics on campus

I might have to start looking at Duke for grad school, after reading this article:

DURHAM, N.C. — A campus religious leader is unhappy about a study at Duke University that invites female students to attend parties where they can buy sex toys.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Friday that the director of the Duke Catholic Center has lodged a complaint with researchers. The Rev. Joe Vetter says the study doesn’t promote relationships.

Doesn’t promote relationships? What? Hey, maybe he uses his sex toys all alone, but I personally think sharing is caring. Anyway, what horrible things could this study be doing?! After purchase do they masturbate all over the desks of the classroom? Does it turn into a big lesbian orgy?!

The study asks female students over age 18 to attend the events that are similar to Tupperware parties but with erotic toys, lingerie and games. The women complete surveys about their sexual attitudes before and after the parties and get product discounts.

A spokesman for Duke said the sex-toy party project went through the peer review process.

Oh. Well. That’s considerably less exciting (though still awesome). Every year here at Purdue the Psychology department’s Human Sexuality class has a sex toy day, where people come in and talk about sex toys and give away free stuff. It was pretty awesome (though I didn’t get anything, sadness). I don’t remember the Catholic church exploding about that here, though that would have made it even more fun.

Oh, and one more gem:

Vetter says he plans to discuss the topic at Sunday mass.

Most interesting Sunday mass ever!

On a more serious note, are Catholics seriously against sex toys? Why the hell is it that religious people make sex so freaking impossible? Oh, abortion is evil, but you can’t use birth control to prevent abortion. Oh, sex before marriage is bad, but you can’t use a vibrator or masturbate to relieve those sexual pressures. Lovely.

Secularism is the best birth control – and apparently dooming Europe

Hey, do you love it when people mistake correlation for causation? How about when people imply atheists aren’t good people? Or when they think their silly religious beliefs are more important than massive problems in society? Well, then you’ll love what Lord Sacks said:

Lord Sacks blamed Europe’s falling birth rate on a culture of “consumerism and instant gratification”.

He said the continent was “dying” and accused its citizens of not being prepared for parenthood’s “sacrifices”…

The 61-year-old, who took his seat in the Lords last week, said: “Wherever you turn today – Jewish, Christian or Muslim – the more religious the community, the larger on average are their families.

“The major assault on religion today comes from the neo-Darwinians.” …

Lord Sacks said Europe was the most secular region in the world and the only continent seeing populations fall.

He said parenthood involved “massive sacrifices” of money, attention, time and emotional energy.

Linden over at Folklore of Pitong already did a good job exposing the bad science of this idea. In short, birth rates could be down since infant mortality has severely decreased with modern medicine. No need to replace your babies.

It pains the scientist in me when people confuse correlation with causation. Yes, secularism has risen and birth rates have dropped. Frozen food consumption has also risen, but I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that they cause infertility (maybe with the exception of Hot Pockets, I don’t trust those). However, things that contribute to secularism (rational thinking, scientific knowledge, improved education, better living conditions, etc) may all lead to someone deciding to have less kids.

But so what?

Why is having less kids a horrible thing? Because we’re not giving birth to all “generations not born” as Lord Sacks says? [cue musical overlay of Every Sperm is Sacred] That’s a pretty ridiculous way of thinking, if you ask me. Should we be churning out every baby possible like the Quiverfull movement? I kind of prefer being more than a walking baby making machine, than you very much. What about all those precious egg cells wasted before a woman gets married (which I’m sure is the only appropriate time to reproduce in Lord Sacks’s mind)? Might as well start marrying off girls after their first period – can’t go wasting all of those potential children.

Does Lord Sacks even care that the world is horrendously overpopulated? If anything, reduced birth rates are a wonderful thing. This may irk some people, but I personally feel it’s somewhat socially irresponsible to purposefully have more than two children (“oops”s are understandable). To do more than replace yourself contributes to the problem of overpopulation and is a burden to not only society, but to your children who will have to live in said society. For Lord Sacks to be completely oblivious to this is unacceptable.

Of course, I’m an evil, birth-control-using atheist, so I guess I’m simply biased.

Oh, and atheists don’t make sacrifices, don’t want to invest emotional energy, yadda yadda. It’s sad when hearing such ridiculous and slanderous things said about me doesn’t even warrant a response anymore. I’m getting so used to it, that I don’t even want to waste my time pointing out that it’s utter bullshit. Secular people have children, and like all people, love them very much. Quantity isn’t better than quality when it comes to raising kids, Lord Sacks.

Why do we kiss? To build immunity!

Asking why humans kiss may seem like a silly question to an average person – because it feels good, duh. But an evolutionary biologist wonders why it feels good. Why is kissing a nearly universal human behavior? Dr. Colin Hendrie from University of Leeds has a hypothesis:

They say the gesture allows a bug named Cytomegalovirus, which is dangerous in pregnancy, to be passed from man to woman to give her time to build up protection against it.

The bug is found in saliva and normally causes no problems. But it can be extremely dangerous if caught while pregnant and can kill unborn babies or cause birth defects.

Writing in the journal Medical Hypotheses, researcher Dr Colin Hendrie from the University of Leeds, said: “Female inoculation with a specific male’s cytomegalovirus is most efficiently achieved through mouth-to-mouth contact and saliva exchange, particularly where the flow of saliva is from the male to the typically shorter female.”

Alright, this kind of sounds like a bit of armchair speculation (aka BS) to me, but at least it’s properly labeled a hypothesis. Especially the shorter female part – what? I’m pretty sure all saliva doesn’t gush into the females mouth…of course, I’m a tall female, so maybe I have some biased sampling.

It would be interesting to test levels of certain types of infections depending on how many people an individual has kissed, or something like that. That seems like a study worth participating in! Or at the very least, a good pick up line if you’re trying to snog a biologist – “Hey baby, want to increase your immunity to Cytomegalovirus?”

Porn and Popcorn clarifications

When giant discussions/debates erupt in my comments, I’m generally more pleased than annoyed. I consider it a success that I have enough readers who care enough to keep checking back. Even when someone posts something trollish, or maybe just something I disagree with, I usually don’t have to take the time to reply because someone else will. But the comments from my letter to the editor about Porn & Popcorn have exploded, and I feel compelled to personally reply before the arguments get any sillier.

First, Donny Pauling, the ex-porn producer who spoke at the event found my post and has done most of the posting. To be honest, Donny, I really don’t need to say anything to you because your posts have totally proven my point. You retold the same stories you said at the event that show you and other horrible predators are the problem, not porn itself. You also show that you have absolutely no solid evidence for your claims, only emotional stories that may or may not have actually happened. Show me scientific studies by unbiased groups that show the same evils of porn you claim exist, and then I’ll take you seriously.

I’m not necessarily 100% pro-porn. I recognize that there are probably plenty of issues in the industry (just as there are with any industry). There are probably women who get tricked into doing it or who suffer negative consequences, and it may contribute to unrealistic body image expectations of women – but that doesn’t mean all porn is bad, or that porn itself is actually the problem. I would argue our society’s views on sex in general are the real problem. If we had comprehensive sex education, people would know how to properly use contraception, would know what real sex is like, would not use porn as their standard. Everyone would be able to recognize it as purely fantasy (a thing I think most people do anyway), just like watching a romantic comedy and realizing all relationships don’t happen like that, or a sci-fi movie and knowing aliens really haven’t invaded the Earth. And to argue that porn is the only thing presenting unrealistic images of women is laughable – have you ever watched tv, read a magazine, seen any advertisement? Unrealistic body images is a thing we need to confront, but the way to do that is not to demonize porn.

Oh, and Donny? While I usually don’t condone arguments devolving into caps lock and swearing, I’m going to have to agree with jemand:

WOMEN!!! WOMEN you FUCKING IDIOT DOUCHBAG! You are such a misogynistic prick… of COURSE you have to call them girls, because then you can dismiss and belittle their choices.

You deserve this reaction because you were acting like a total prick and provoking the commenters with your passive aggressive and misogynistic comments. The fact that you needed this as an excuse to give up on the discussion shows how your arguments don’t have a leg to stand on. You could have been the better person, ignored it, maybe even apologized for obviously causing hurt feelings – but instead you used it as an excuse to run and hide. Thank you, Donny – now I won’t have to have my inbox cluttered with your repetitive, long winded comments.

Miranda, who apparently helped put on the event, claims:

“You came to this event to make it into a joke, to try to provoke us and to cause debates.”

Really? Prove it. Where did I ever say that was my goal? I went with many club members, and I repeatedly told them to be respectful, to not shout things or interrupt, and to try to keep their giggling to a minimum as to not disrupt others. Nor did I want to start any debates or piss people off. I did want to ask questions since the event presented such gross misinformation, but of course, it didn’t allow for a Q&A session. When not able to do that, I decided to post my review on my own personal blog. If someone disagreeing with you offends you so much, either get some thicker skin, improve your arguments, or just avoid the internet altogether. And Miranda, you didn’t need me to make the event into a joke – it did that all on its own.

“But just because you disagree does not give you the right to take things out of context and spread lies about what was said.”

Both you and Donny have claimed that I spread horrible lies about the event, yet have failed to present any proof of this. The only thing Donny has pointed out was that I said a mechanic, rather than his buddy, said his God inducing electrical shock was a shock plug problem. I admit this tiny detail was wrong, but it’s also irrelevant to the point of the story. If that’s the worst I did, I’m ahead of most of the American media. I had a notebook that I was taking notes in, and many of the others who were there confirmed the quotes that I mentioned. Do I need to start bringing video cameras to events to prove what ridiculous things they’re saying? Actually, that may have been better. That way I could have just posted the video without my commentary, and then when hundreds of people reached the same conclusions as me, you’d have a lot harder time calling me biased.

“…but my questions is why can’t you accept us for our beliefs? You chose to believe in no god or in a god that is not involved, and that is your choice. I chose to believe in God and in Jesus, so why can’t you accept my beliefs and the beliefs of Stewart Cooperative and of XXXChruch?”

You can go on believing whatever you want. And I in no way want to ban Christian groups from voicing their opinions, a position I explicitly state in my letter. But that doesn’t mean that I need to shut up and accept whatever you’re saying. You have the right to state your opinion, and I have the right to say you’re wrong. If this was just some private event at a church or something, I wouldn’t bother – but you decided to present this nonsense to the entire student body. Not only that, but PSUB, an organization meant to represent all Purdue students, sponsored it. I have the right to go, and I have the right to say it was awful.

Anti-Porn event – emotional appeals and dangerous misinformation

*I apologize for this post being so long. If you want to read the most humorous parts, scroll down until you get to the quotes from the former porn actress, Shelly. They’re the “highlight” of the show.

As many of you know, last night I attended Porn and Popcorn, a Christian anti-pornography event hosted by the Stewart Cooperative, the Purdue Student Union Board, and other various Christian organizations and local businesses (Chick-Fil-A was one, nothing too surprising there). Oddly enough, about 25 other members of the non-theists joined me. At least I had an excuse of “this will make a good blog post,” but I think they’re all just a bit masochistic. Or in it for the free pop and popcorn, which we received without bursting into flames or being struck with lightening.

Proof I wasted my time going to this thing

We settled down on Slayter Hill, a big open air amphitheater on campus where you just sit on the grass to watch the stage. There were about 600 – 1000 people there (wide range, I know, I’m not good at guestimating crowds). The band was already playing (not well, but playing), and I was amazed that they weren’t playing Christian rock. Actually, the fact that they were singing songs I enjoy unnerved me a bit, because I suddenly heard the lyrics from a different perspective (Wait, this is about God and not his girlfriend?!). They even had about 10 female groupies in front of the stage jumping around with their hands in the air. Eventually they had 20 people holding hands and skipping around in a circle, at which point the giggling began.

As we were waiting for the real show to start, they had PowerPoint slides cycling through with what would be the only “scientific” facts of the entire show:

  1. “90% of kids age 8 – 16 have seen porn.” What a wide age range. I’d love to see the distribution of that, because I’m sure the vast majority of those numbers come from the older kids. When you have a skew like that, you can’t just keep including a lower age for shock tactics.
  2. “True or False: 18-24 year olds are the highest porn users – False. 12-17 use porn the most.” Wow, shocking. Maybe that’s because 18-24 year olds are actually having sex and are less curious about human sexuality because they’ve already learned about it? Oh wait, no, we’re supposed to be in shock that middle and high schoolers are looking at sexual things. Sorry.
  3. “Women are more likely to act out their sexual urges, like casual sex, multiple partners, or affairs.” Um, no. Buss 2006 summarizes the many studies that show men desire casual sex more than women, and both sides would engage in the same amount since they need to be doing it with someone, assuming heterosexual sex. Men and women would on average have the same number of partners, but men desire more. Laumann et al 1994 found that 25% of married men and 15% of married women had an extramarital affair at some point in their marriage. Nice try with the lies to slander women.

The show opened with a nicely produced video set to some hip hop music (dude, they get us) about how horrible sex and porn is. They had some skeevy looking guy taking of advantage of what I have to think was a thirteen year old girl, especially since they had toys and children’s drawings everywhere. Afterward the pastor* comes out and tells us this is a reality (*Side note: I just want to make it clear that these are the “good” Christians who say Jesus loves everyone, only God judges, love the sinner hate the sin, yadda yadda). Yeah, sexual abuse of children is a reality, but it has nothing to do with pornography and should not be used as an emotional tool. But that’s the only tool they have. The entire two hour presentation contained nothing but emotional arguments and personal stories – those “facts” I listed above were as close as you get to “science.” To illustrate my point, here are some of the scare tactics they used at the beginning (bold is their arguments):

  • Senior citizens are the highest porn users. Doesn’t that make you want to throw up? Wow, way to marginalize an entire group of people for being sexual. Oh wait, that’s the whole point of this presentation.
  • A mother called us saying her 8 year old son stumbled upon a porn site. Yeah, he “accidentally” found it. Rigggghttt.
  • Porn destroys the economy because you’re wasting your money on it. This said right after they tell us how porn is a multi-billion dollar institution. Doesn’t that mean it would be stimulating the economy? (EDIT: Apparently even Gingrich agrees with me)
  • When this anti-porn Christian group went to a porn convention, everyone their loved and accepted them. Therefor they’re doing the right thing. Could you imagine a Christian convention accepting a porn group? Or maybe people at porn conventions are more liberal and open minded, and accepting of people who are different than them?
  • Men feel terrified and guilty that they have to hide porn from their wife. Maybe you shouldn’t marry someone who’s so uptight and anti-sex that she’s not cool with you watching porn. Some great communication you have in your marriage there.
  • Porn is a gateway drug to child porn. What. No.

They then brought out a former porn producer to talk about how he saw the light, quit the porn industry, and became a Good Christian. Every story he told didn’t shed any light on the evils of porn – it just showed that he was a giant douche bag. He cheated on his wife multiple times before even getting started in porn. He secretly was a porn producer for 3 years without his wife’s knowledge, and then when she found out, she left him. It’s not porn that ruined your marriage – it’s that you’re a lying dick who was duping your wife. He then went on and on about how he ruined all of these women’s lives and tricked them into porn, how in between shoots they would curl up in the fetal position and suck their thumb, how they needed surgery to correct the sexual things he made them do. I’m going to call Bull Shit on all of this, but even if it was true, that just further reflects on the guy’s character, not porn – he’s a giant insensitive ass.

Pastor: What did you think of our group when you first saw it?
Porn Producer: I thought you were a porn site making fun of Christians, and I thought it was a great idea!
Us: *laugh* …*realize we’re the only people laughing, go quiet*

He then went on to tell the story of all his inner turmoil because of porn (no, because you’re a jerk) and how he used to be a troll at Christian forums. But they were all so nice and even though they banned him they kept telling him over and over again that they would pray for him. And eventually he prayed that God would give him sign.

Pastor: At some point you need to give up.
Us: …

His car broke down and while the mechanic told him it was something wrong with the spark plug, he knew it was God. And that’s when he stopped being an atheist and accepted Jesus. …Yeah, buddy, if you’re asking God for signs and you’re willing to believe events with rational explanations are signs, I’m inclined to believe you weren’t an atheist. Stop trying to make us look bad. He then went on to say how he was at peace, which including crying and puking… uh, okay, sounds real peaceful to me.

Porn Producer: There are bad Christians, but not a bad God.
Josh: Because there’s no God
Me: *high five*

These sort of emotional, personal stories went on all night: they never presented any scientific studies or even included possible credentials they have (anyone have a degree in Psychology? no?). It even included a video of Pornmobile Confessions where people talk about their porn problems while riding in the backseat of a Mini Cooper at night. Their main argument is that they get people writing them all the time about how porn has ruined their lives. Um, have you heard of sampling bias? You only see the people who have been negatively affected by porn because those are the only people who are contacting you. The vast majority of people have had a neutral or positive experience, but you don’t see them because you’re not seeking them out. I’m sure some people really have had negative experiences with porn, but they’re blowing it way out of proportion.

And with the people who did have bad experiences with porn, those were all caused BECAUSE OF THEIR RELIGION. People feel guilty/scared and hide porn from loved ones, and it ruins their marriage because of bad communication. People feel guilty for being sexual beings or need to turn to porn for their sexual curiosity. You know where this guilt comes from? RELIGION. If conservative Christians didn’t beat over your head that sex was so evil to begin with, people wouldn’t be having these problems. We’d have comprehensive sex education and open dialog about human sexuality so little kids wouldn’t have to turn to the internet for information. We wouldn’t feel guilty for engaging in normal sexual activity. We’d be able to talk about sex with our loved ones before marrying them and finding out they have incompatible viewpoints.

It’s like Christians have fabricated the problem of sex so they can come down and fix it. And that’s the only solution or “reasoning” they give: Jesus. All they repeated is that you need to follow God’s plan and be a pure person. “Jesus died and can help you,” but they don’t say how. They never give a single other reason other than God. What about people who aren’t Christians? What’s their incentive to stop watching porn? I guess they either forget us non-Christians even exist, they figure we’re a lost cause, or they see this as a good method to get us to convert to Christianity. The Religiosity Level was through the roof at this point as they told people to give themselves up to Jesus, and I really expected them to ask people to come up on the spot, but they didn’t.

And as an important side note, this whole beginning piece came off as very demeaning towards women. All women were painted as fragile children who couldn’t make their own decisions and were duped into porn. I never heard the pastor or the porn producer refer to females as women or ladies – they always called them “girls.” Whether you were a helper in their movement, a porn actress, or the producer’s wife – you were “Girl.” Way to show some respect to adult women.

Then the night took drove right past Religiousville and took a right into Bizarroland. They brought out Shelly, a former porn actress who talked so nonsensically that the whole audience (not just us) was murmuring in confusion and convinced that she was either high or that her brain was permanently warped from years of drug abuse (which she later admitted to). Her talk was not only rambling, but incredibly sexist and racist, which was even more ironic coming from a black female. It was so rambling that I can’t form coherent paragraphs about what she was saying, so here, have some lovely statements:

  • “Women were created as helpers.“ Isn’t it lovely how Christianity can brainwash you into subordination? Why do women take this shit?
  • “Chosen virginity” Apparently those times you lose your virginity when you were a confused heathen don’t count. You get to start over when you’re Christian again!
  • “Once you start having sex, God’s plan doesn’t want you to stop.” Or maybe you don’t want to stop because you realize how nice sex is. What does that have to do with God’s plan? If he doesn’t want you to have premarital sex, why would he keep you going unless his plan is flawed?
  • “If he can’t pay for the movie, he can’t pay for the rent! You don’t want him!” What the fuck? So that’s all women want in a man – support? I rarely have had guys pay for dinner because we usually split, but if he does, I’ll usually pay for dinner sometimes to. I can’t imagine the idea of a boyfriend paying my rent. My parents raised me to be able to take care of myself without a man, thank you very much.
  • She was introduced to masturbation by her African Studies Professor, who said it was the best way to have an orgasm. She also supposed he was sleeping with half of the students. First of all, what is the purpose of pointing out he was an African Studies Professor? Second of all, since when is it okay to make wild libelous claims that you give absolutely no proof of?
  • “Think of a clean glass of water. Now imagine greasy finger prints all over it, like I was just eating fried chicken. That’s what masturbation is.” …I don’t know what’s more disturbing here, the fried chicken comment, or the fact that masturbation is considered dirty.
  • Many women like masturbation more than sex, and that ruins their sex life. Therefore masturbation is bad. Or maybe their lack of communication ruins their sex life because they’re too ashamed to tell their partner what they enjoy.
  • “Women were created to receive.” …Feminist rage in 3…2…
  • God created sex so you could be one with your partner. Every time you have sex, you’re creating oneness with that n

    ew person, so you’re fracturing your soul into pieces. OMG SEX CREATES HORCRUXES. That’s really how Voldemort was doing it, but Rowling had to keep the book rated PG-13. Man, so does that mean when I reach 7 sex partners I’ll become all powerful? Sign me up!

  • Do any of you watch soap operas? *looks at audience* A DUDE watches soap operas? Man, we’re going to need to have a talk. Yes, because you’re not conforming to your gender stereotypes! Oh, she then went on to say soap operas were evil, which I guess I’ll agree with to an extent.
  • “Non-married sex is fake, it’s counterfeit. The devil came up with it.” …Yeah, around this point she started invoking the devil. I have to admit this made me really uncomfortable. I mean, I’ve heard a lot of ridiculous religious things before, but just something about someone going on about the devil’s influences and truly believing he exists unnerves me. It’s such a convenient excuse for all the bad things you do that it absolutely absolves you of personal responsibility or control.
  • I had four abortions because my friend told me they were an option. Yes, blame your friend for your irresponsibility. Four, really? I mean, I’m pro-choice, but at a certain point you have to learn to be responsible. Maybe if she had proper sex education she would have known how to properly use contraception.
  • I had such bad self esteem that I would sleep with any guy who complimented me to thank him. Yeah, how is this porn’s fault and not some serious issues you have? Go see a Psychologist, not Jesus.
  • I was sleeping with this gangsta guy who was had seven girlfriends at once. Again, what does this have to do with porn? This just shows that you made really poor life choices and have bad self control when it comes to sex.
  • I was a wedding planner for my best friend, and I slept with the groom. Okay, what are all of these stories illustrating other than you’re uneducated about sex, out of control, have severe psychological problems, and are a horrible friend? Oh, that’s right, they’re setting you up to be incredibly hypocritical:
  • To connect with an unbeliever is to connect with the devil. and “If he can’t be a faithful to God, he can’t be faithful to you.” Yep, can’t go a whole Christian event without bashing the atheists. This quote made me fume. I just listened to a bunch of Christians go on about how they cheated, had promiscuous sex, kept giant secrets from their spouses, got STDs, did drugs, had abortions, etc etc – but that’s all okay because they found Jesus. But those atheists? They have no morals, so they’re all going to cheat on you. What a bunch of fucking shit. Our whole group was sitting their in awe of how morally bankrupt these people were, because we’re actually good, honest people, and then they go and say we’re the cheaters. Or as my agnostic friend said, “My current girlfriend (atheist) is the first one to not cheat on me, compared to all the Christians I dated.” PSUB is going to get quite a few unhappy emails about how they’re sponsoring events that slander non-believers with unfounded lies. I yet again had the wonderful feeling of being an outcast; that if I introduced myself to random people at Purdue and they found out I was an atheist, the vast majority would instantly not like me. But if you can believe it, that wasn’t the quote that upset me the most that night:
  • “Protective sex is a joke.” Wow. I can’t think of a more horrible thing to be telling a crowd of 18-25 year olds. This is just plain irresponsible and dangerous. Again, I can’t believe PSUB would sponsor an event that could have a severe detrimental affect on the health of students at Purdue. I…I’m really left without words.

After they basically had to kick Shelly off the stage because she ran over her time and refused to stop talking, they went right back into the Christian rock band. That’s right, no time for questions. But you know what, it doesn’t really surprise me. This type of religion isn’t about asking questions or thinking for yourself. The event was to give you a biased view (no one pro-porn there) and to tell you what to do and how to think or else God will be very disappointed in you. I guess I was naive to assume they would encourage any intellectual discussion.

We then left and went to Qdoba to eat food and rant, and I’m sure some of the arguments we came up there were far more intelligent than the things I have just said. But I’m getting to the point where thinking about this depresses me, so I’m going to leave the rest of the insightful comments to you guys, and give you some funny highlights from the event:

Pastor: What better truth than the Bible?!
Non-Theists: *giggle*

Pastor: God wants to come inside you!
Friend: Woah, kinky

Shelly: *first comment* Sex outside of God’s intention is desicration.
Me: … *feeling insane at this point, lays down, covers face with notebook, and has a stifled tear-producing giggle fit, which in turn makes all the other members giggle inappropriately*
Friend: Jen’s down! Jen’s down! Monya [Treasurer], you’re our first in command now!

Shelly: How many of you are virgins?
Audience: *some people put hands up*
Shelly: I mean a real virgin. Oral sex and anal sex and masturbation count.
Audience: *everyone puts hands down*

Shelly: What’s that one guy’s name with the long flowing hair?
Me: (from all the way in the back) FABIO!
Shelly: Yeah, Fabio! He’s used as a sex symbol –
Non-theist females: Ewwwww Fabio

Shelly: Any of you ever want to admit to having a roach in your apartment?
Me: *only person in audience who raises hand*
Shelly: Yeah, you live it up, girl!
Me: …Wait…IS SHE TALKING ABOUT MARIJUANA? I MEAN THE INSECT! *horrified, lays down in grass dying laughing along with all the other Non-Theists*
Minutes later
Friend: Jen! Now she’s talking about bugs! Either she was always talking about cockroaches or she just got confused mid metaphor.
Me: Knowing her, it’s the latter.

Shelly: How many of you girls have asked a guy what his life goals are before dating him?
Non-Theist girls: *raise hands*
Shelly: Only you four? You go girls! (Yeah, those evil, corrupt atheists…)

Shelly: How many of you have had one of those crazy drama girlfriends?
Some Non-Theist girls: *raise hands*
Angry Christian nearby: Faggots

Yeah, that last one wasn’t funny – just wanted to illustrate what we’re dealing with at Purdue.

Questions for the anti porn people?

Hello there loyal readers! Sorry I’ve been somewhat absent lately – this week has been absolutely destroying me. Guess my professors feel like they have to make up for us having Monday off. Anyway, I’m capping off my week by going to that vile Porn and Popcorn event tomorrow with some other club members because 1) Other people don’t want to go alone 2) I’m a masochist and 3) for yooooouuuuu *insert hearts and sparkles here*. If this event is as mind numbing as I suspect it will be, you all owe me. If you have no idea what Porn and Popcorn is, go here and here.

Does anyone have any good questions they’d like the anti-porn people to be asked? Any scientific studies I should have under my belt (links would be nice)? Suggestions of alcoholic remedies for afterwards? Maybe I’ll have a Sex on the Beach followed by a Screaming Orgasm.

Porn is evil! God is good! Rarrrr!

Man, you know what’s one awesome thing about school starting again? Endless blog material! Thank you, conservative uber-Christian Midwest!

My friend directed me to this lovely event on facebook – Porn & Popcorn – that will be at Purdue on Friday the 11th. I thought, porn and popcorn? At Purdue?! Awesome! Then I took the time to read the event description, and I wanted to cry. Actually, it’s so bad, I’m going to have to continuously interrupt it; sorry folks:

Porn has now become an accepted mainstream topic.

Good. We need to stop having such Puritan views of sex.

Porn is glamorized in almost every hit TV show today, magazine (teen or adult); it is piped into your cell phones, children’s cell phones,

Okay, fear tactics much? Porn isn’t randomly being sent to the phones of 12 year olds. Actually, your 12 year old shouldn’t even have a cell phone, but that’s a different pet peeve of mine altogether. If there’s porn on your 16 year old’s phone, it’s because he or she wants it there. And if they can’t get it on their phone, they’re going to find other ways to find it because they’re naturally horny and sexually repressed by your domineering religion.

book stores and even public libraries. Porn is regular conversation at jobs, in classrooms, and on most radio programs. Yes, it can even be found on the shelves of the libraries at the conservative midwestern campus of Purdue University.

Uh, no, I’m pretty sure it can’t…but if it can, where can I find it?

The statistics associated with pornography and pornography addiction are truly staggering. What began as seemingly harmless “pictures of pretty girls and some good articles” has spawned a generation of pornography that is more explicit, more violent, and more deviant than ever before. We need to start talking about it.

The statistics associated with pornography and porn addiction are pretty much worthless, but spread by extreme right religious groups in order to scare their followers into not being sexual beings. You know, human beings. Yes, some studies have shown that watching violent porn increased thoughts about violent sex – but some studies show the opposite effect, that porn decreases rape. You know why? Correlation doesn’t imply causation. People could be watching violent porn because they’re already predisposed to violent sexual thoughts! If you were looking for porn and accidentally found something violent and you weren’t into that kind of stuff, would you just sit and keep watching it?

And violent sexual thoughts don’t necessarily mean rape. A large amount of people are into BDSM, which some people may view as “violent,” but it is completely consensual. Of course, we know how much fundamentalists respect consenting sex between two adults… And just because someone has a rape fantasy doesn’t mean they actually are going to – or even want to do it. Rape fantasy is one of the most common fantasies in females, but that doesn’t mean those women actually want to be raped. That’s why it’s called a fantasy.

And on a final note, I don’t deny that there are people with porn addiction, or that this isn’t a problem. But you know what, you can get addicted to nearly anything. Do we ban alcohol because some people have problems with it? How about the internet? Hell, some people get addicted to working out – does that make it evil? No. Some people are just predisposed to engage in addictive behaviors. If porn starts to interfere with your normal life, then yes, you should probably lay off. But for the rest of us, it’s not dangerous.

Join us for a FREE event at Slayter Hill on the campus of Purdue University!

The band will start rockin’ at 9:00 pm
XXXChurch (leading expert on pornography) will present from 9:30-11:30
Then, choose to stay for a midnight showing of the movie, Fireproof.

…Lies about pornography and Kirk Cameron’s shitacular movie Fireproof?!?! Nooooooo! I feel dirty knowing this will even be occurring anywhere near me! It’s bad enough they’re spreading lies, why spread bad movies too?

Stuff like this really bugs me. The same people who think porn is evil think all sex is evil. They’re the ones who cause more problems. If we we more accepting of sex and had more comprehensive sex education, we’d have less teen pregnancy and less spread of STDs. And you know what, people may even rely on porn less because they wouldn’t feel so bad about actually having sex! It just drives me mad that people can be against something so natural and human that they need to go around fear mongering.

Where did you learn about sex?

People assume that parents or schools are going to be where you first learn about sex…but that hardly ever seems to be the case. When I was 11 I had many slightly older online friends thanks to a Pokemon forum (ha) who thoroughly corrupted me. By age 13 I was giggling at goatse, by age 14 I was the resident sex guru – before taking any official sex ed class. And I don’t mean the kid who spreads misinformation about sex – I really knew what I was talking about. It was this fascinating area to me, and I couldn’t stop reading every sex information and sex advice thing I could find online. I wanted to understand as much about it as possible in a scientific way – it didn’t even cross my mind to start trying things out on a practical level for a few more years. It was just another topic to learn, just like history or biology. I didn’t even quite understand how taboo it was in America.

I take great pride in that my Sexpert status has stayed with me – I still have people coming to me with their random questions.

Where did you first learn about sex? And how the hell is it that I somehow thoroughly educated myself using the internet, but your average American teen uses the internet just to learn stupid rumors (can’t get pregnant on your period, etc)? Kids these days. Get off my lawn, etc.

This is post 36 of 49 of Blogathon. Pledge a donation to the Secular Student Alliance here.