There was, believe it or not, a time when professors and teachers fought tooth and nail with parents and citizen groups in order to get sex education into classrooms. Now, especially in college, the curriculum and campus seem to offer little else.
Recently, I was interviewed on the university newswire about the use of pornography in classrooms. The young man who conducted the interview said that he came to me for a comment when he could not find any professors who were against it.
“I am writing to inform you of some problems Towson University in Towson, MD, has had,” one of our readers wrote. “My tuition money has been used to fund condom distribution (including a condom machine in the library!), a health center which provides the ‘morning after pill,’ a Planned Parenthood student group referred to as ‘VOX,’ and a number of other liberal-based initiatives.”
“I have on most occasions turned a blind eye (on one occasion I did petition a group to distribute abstinence material along with their condoms but was turned down). However, this past week our SGA [Student Government Association] approved using the mandatory ‘campus activity fee’ (which I along with every Towson student pays each semester) to fund tee-shirts which state ‘Gay? Fine by me.’”
“I am writing to you because enough is enough. One student penned a letter stating his own rage. The backlash from his letter can be found here at our newspaper’s website. I thought I would inform you because I am aware of your group’s efforts.”
It’s a good thing he doesn’t go to UC Davis. Not only might he find prophylactics in novel locales but his student activity fees would pay for really vivid demonstrations of their usage.
“A student blew up one of the free condoms being passed out in Freeborn Hall on Tuesday evening and sent it flying into the crowd like a beach ball at a sporting event—a prelude to a presentation both humorous and informative in which no topic was taboo,” wrote Michael Steinwald in The California Aggie last Fall. “The crowd was abuzz with excitement as students and community members awaited the final performance of ‘Sex Rules!’ featuring Maria Falzone, a comedian who presents serious sexual issues with her own comedic twist to college campuses nationwide.”
What? No animal balloons? But twisted might be a good description of Falzone’s idea of audience participation.
“After discussing her own life experiences with sexual activity, which motivated her to perform ‘Sex Rules,’ Falzone brought first-year student Mohammad Azizian onto the stage to demonstrate the necessity of communication in a relationship,” Steinwald reported. “I was very nervous at first but I started to feel better as it went on,’ Azizian said.”
“She then illustrated the strength and flexibility of a condom by pulling it over Azizian’s head—an experience that he said was ‘pretty weird.’” Who of us would doubt him?
Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.
