Excerpt: Abstinence arouses displeasure Down-under and State-side
Posted by Mathew | February 2, 2010 | 2 Comments
[The following is an excerpt of an article I published on The Aristophrenium. As indicated in my two-year anniversary post, I will be writing both here at thoughts out !oud and The Aristophrenium.]
“One thing that hasn’t been abstaining from the news in the past fortnight is culture’s attitude towards sex. There are two counts in particular that caught my interest: one was State-side, aroused by curious questions from Oprah Winfrey on her namesake’s show; the other was a reactive orgasm from Australia’s media and some members of it’s Federal Government (including the Deputy Prime Minister, no less) towards remarks made by the Opposition Leader.
Both instances concerned the topic of sexual abstinence and, while both were delivered a world apart, both were raised in praise of abstinence. In the US, it was Bristol Palin’s (daughter of 2008 US vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin) commitment to abstain from sex until marriage; in Australia, it was Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott’s parental exhortation for his three daughters to remain virginal until marriage.
In either case, neither of the comments made were received with any measure of intellect. Just an incredulity and a penchant for political power play …”
… read the rest of the article at The Aristophrenium and be sure to subscribe to the site’s RSS Feed in order to stay up to date with both my articles and those published by my colleagues.
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Tags: abstinence > Bristol Palin > Julia Gillard > Oprah > sexuality > The Aristophrenium > Tony Abbott
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2 Responses to “Excerpt: Abstinence arouses displeasure Down-under and State-side”
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February 2nd, 2010 @ 6:26 pm
As I read I thought of another advantage. Only serious suitors will end of knocking at her door.
This is astounding really and I believe that it is the result of judgmentalism. People who have failed at something have a natural inclination to begrudge those who do not fail. This is worsened by even suggesting that a person should try to remain abstinent. Since most haven't, what they really hear is you shouldn't have done that. This may explain journalists and politicians in nations that are going broke paying for the many ramifications of fatherless children reacting so virulently to the suggestion that abstinence best.
February 2nd, 2010 @ 10:29 pm
Excellent observation, Dan. It is entirely within the bounds of possibility that some will (and do) lash out at those who dare to succeed where they themselves have failed.
A la bucket-o-crabs.
(And for the record, the mention of crabs was a purely unintended pun – but it is funny though, in light of the subject matter, even if I do say so myself.)