You know how I know we’re doomed? There are two stories out there right now that couldn’t be more different. Our reaction to them as a culture though is interesting.
This story on MSNBC.com asks if perhaps maybe a college professor kinda’ maybe went a wee bit too far when he brought a stripper to his class to use a motorized sex toy on herself.
Did a Northwestern University human sexuality professor go too far when he held an optional live-sex presentation on campus grounds?
On Feb. 21, Prof. John Michael Bailey, a psychology professor known for pushing the envelope, invited students from his human sexuality class to observe a non-student naked woman being stimulated with a motorized sex toy on stage, NBC station WMAQ reported.
About 120 students attended the demonstration, which was curated by Chicago sex tour guide Ken Melvoin-Berg, according to the Northwestern Daily student newspaper.
The session was billed as a question-and-answer session about fetishes with a demonstration at the end, said Pratik Shah, a senior math and economics student. Students were warned of the nature of the class several times, and some walked out before the demonstration.
“Then, just out of nowhere, the girl just takes her pants off, takes her shirt off, takes her underwear off,” Shah said.
I wonder how many parents know they’re taking out a second mortgage so their kids can attend a live sex show?
The lack of outrage over this story begs the question of whether our society has completely lost the ability to call a nutcase a nutcase. This guy deserves a rap in the mouth from an angry father. He deserves to be ostracized by polite company. That’s the rational reaction.
But what do we get? We get him defending himself and the college helping him out and the media wondering if perhaps he maybe kinda’ sorta’ went a weeeeeeeee bit too far.
The professor’s eloquent defense:
“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but watching naked people on stage doing pleasurable things will never hurt you,” he said.
Sticks and stones? Really?
We are doomed. We are doomed because none of the parents rapped this guy in the mouth. We are doomed because the school thinks this is OK. We are doomed because these students are going to grow up to believe that this is all perfectly fine.
And don’t this this is about this particular college or this is about MSNBC. It’s not. It’s about us. We’ve lost our moorings. We can’t even see sane from where we are right now.
And let’s compare it to how the story surrounding Brigham Young’s Brandon Davies being kicked off the basketball team after a violation of the school’s honor code disallowing premarital sex. Mind you, Brigham Young is ranked #4 in the country and had every reason to ignore an honor code violation.
But this story has seen a heck of a lot more hand wringing than the Northwestern University story. The Wall Street Journal asks, “Has BYU Done Right by Brandon Davies?”
What, no editorial about whether Northwestern is doing right by its students by dipping them into a cesspool fetish world.
ABC ran a headline asking:
Should a University Be Involved in the Sex Lives of Its Students?
The fact that they wrote this headline about the BYU story and not the Northwestern University story is indicative of something. Oh yeah, it’s indicative that we’re all doomed.
March 4, 2011 at 2:58 pm
What surprised me most about the sex act at Northwestern was that it didn't happen at a Jesuit-run university.
March 4, 2011 at 3:34 pm
@ LArry:
It hasn't? Give it time.
March 4, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Ugh. Lord, have mercy.
March 4, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Now feeling really unhappy that my son is facing this nonsense next year….we still are going through where to go, to whom do we begin shelling out our money to have our values undercut systemically across subject matter?
March 4, 2011 at 7:31 pm
To be honest, it's stories like this that make me glad the only class I really pay attention in on a regular basis is Latin.
Kyrie eleison
Christe eleison
Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis peccatoribus.
Sancte Michaël Archangele, defende nos in proelio.
March 4, 2011 at 7:51 pm
If you would have told this story just 10 years ago…
March 4, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Two words: Alfred Kinsey.
March 4, 2011 at 11:48 pm
So what did ancient post Caesar Rome do that was more decadent than current practice in the USA?
TeaPot562
March 5, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Contemporary thinkers in all fields have sacraficed the moral aspect of every action for the pursuit of their own field. Nothing, in their minds, can be as important as that which they've spent their whole lives trying to propagate to others. If only more professors today wanted to look at the big picture rather than merely through their own 'hermeneutic' lens. We think, we experience, we love in ways that are all too small. We have to have people who are 'big' enough to show why a complete world is better.
March 6, 2011 at 6:16 am
Rome is burning and the Empire is doomed!!!
When decadence reigns supreme from the ivory tower to social media and that which is pure, chaste, right and just is scoffed at and spurned- the American society has lost its moral compass to lead or interfere in other nations' struggle for justice and democracy.
Stay home and rot- Do No Harm!
March 6, 2011 at 7:37 am
It raises the question, it does not beg the question.
March 6, 2011 at 1:07 pm
NU's motto is: Quaecumque Sunt Vera. Translated as "Whatsoever things are true," from Philippians (4:8), "…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Clearly, the school has lost sight of it's mission.
March 7, 2011 at 11:09 am
OMG. The world is coming to it END. I can't believe this story happened. It's the worst THING EVER to have happened. I can't believe more PEOPLE aren't SHOCKED! A stripper on stage that HORRIFYING!!!!! GOD will punish EVERYBODY for this!!! GOD hates strippers, especially on stage!
March 8, 2011 at 1:56 am
Matthew – you might want to moderate Early Riser and perhaps even delete his comment – his name is a hijack link to Adrienne's blog. I'm dam* sure Adrienne didn't make that comment.