The Senate, pink Aussie flags and 5000 bums
Last Monday morning (1 March 2010), on the fabled steps of the Sydney Opera House, photographer Spencer Tunick – world renown for his photos of mass nudity – snapped a five-thousand strong contingent of butt-naked nudites under the House’s white sails.
Said Mr Tunick of the event, “Gay men and women lay naked next to their straight neighbours and this delivered a very strong message to the world that Australians embrace a free and equal society.”
Australians have been demonstrating “a free and equal society” for pretty much most of its recent history (yes, ok – many could state that that statement has a fair bit of contention, but by and large I hold it… Continue reading ...
Abstinence at the movies
The recent media attention on the issue of sexual abstinence of the past two to three weeks – which I wrote a commentary piece on over at The Aristophrenium – led me to watch a movie that I would not have ordinarily have watched. Not 15 minutes into the film I was beginning to regret watching it – I wasn’t expecting it to be as crude and as base at it actually was. In hindsight, knowing our culture and the way in which it views sexual topics and issues, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. In any case, I got the kids off to bed and settled down with my wife to watch The 40 Year Old Virgin
Excerpt: Abstinence arouses displeasure Down-under and State-side
[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… Continue reading ...
Quote: When sex gets the best of you
“What had happened to the human imagination, as a whole, was that the whole world was coloured by dangerous and rapidly deteriorating passions; by natural passions becoming unnatural passions. Thus the effect of treating sex as only one innocent natural thing was that every other innocent natural thing became soaked and sodden with sex. For sex cannot be admitted to a mere equality among elementary emotions or experiences like eating and sleeping. The moment sex ceases to be a servant it becomes a tyrant. There is something dangerous and disproportionate in its place in human nature, for whatever reason; and it does really need a special purification and dedication. The modern talk about sex being free like any other sense… Continue reading ...
Top 10 thoughts for 2009
There’s something about the end of the calendar year that causes us to reflect on the year that has just casually slipped us by. Typically celebrated in a fluttering of fireworks (or dazzling summer lightening storms and resounding thunder – as was the case in Melbourne, Australia, this last New Year’s Eve) most people take the time to spend with family and friends, among who a great many of them still remember “last year’s New Year’s Eve” (or should that be “the year before last’s New Year’s Eve”?) as though it were yesterday.
Memories can be a curious thing. So it’s with similar curiosity that I’m posting a listing of my most viewed articles for 2009 on thoughts out !oud
Corporatising unhealthy values to our youth and society
Marketers. An interesting bunch. If it weren’t for the fact that their sole job is to promote or sell something to you, you may actually just admire them for the creativity. But when marketers produce advertisements for their client’s products, the manner in which they do so promotes not only the product or service but, inevitably, a certain worldview as well. Whether or not it is intentional, all media – particularly television and film – promotes a certain worldview. As Christians and members of a concerned public, we ought to be aware of the messages that are permeating our TV sets, newspapers, magazines and bus-stop billboards; we ought to be better prepared to counter act the influences found in these mediums… Continue reading ...
“Gay marriage like incest” or “how to take quotations completely out of context”
In the wake of the repeal of same-sex marriage legislation by the constituents in Maine last month, the Australian Senate was presented with a private members bill to amend the traditional definition of marriage. The Marriage Equality Amendment Bill 2009, seeking to replace the words “a man and a woman” with “any two persons”, attracted the largest number of submissions from the public – in excess of 28,000, a record number for any Bill.
Australian Senate rejects Marriage Equality Bill
The amendment was rejected by the Senate with a 2/3 majority of the submissions opposing the Bill.
These facts and figures would be amazing by themselves if it were not for the comments made by Family First Senator… Continue reading ...
Free condoms increase teen pregnancy
The British Government spent a whopping £5.9m to “educate” over 2360 teenagers in a new program to primarily teach them the proper usage of contraceptives and of safe-sex practices. That equates to £2,500 per teen. A large part of the program involved the handing out of free condoms to the program’s participants who also received detailed ‘tips’ on how to engage in sexual intercourse.
Surprisingly – at least it came as a surprise to the Government, whose common sense does not appear that common – the program was deemed a spectacular failure when compared to other previously existing sex-ed programs that did not hand out free condoms or provide sexual tips. According to an article in the Dailymail1, 16% of participants in this program – that was… Continue reading ...
Third grader organises and speaks at pro-gay marriage rally
This is a video taken of Ethan McNamee’s speech, which he delivered at a pro-gay marriage rally that he organised for a school project last Saturday, May 16. Ethan, a nine year old third grader from Montclaire Elementary School in Denver, Colorado, showed amazing poise for his age in front of the crowd that had gathered outside of the steps of the Denver state capitol building.
Below the video, I have also transcribed Ethan’s speech (as best I could. Please let me know if you believe I’ve transcribed anything incorrectly.
I will follow up with some remarks on this event in a separate post.
(This is now published: Ethan McNamee – 9yo gay-marriage advocate.)
While I definitely applaud Ethan’s spirit, courage and confidence to organise such… Continue reading ...
18+: Christian media – Church services to follow?
Anyone who says that the legalisation of homosexuality in general, and the legalisation of same-sex marriage in particular, is “just a progression of civil rights” – think again. The Brazilian government is considering on labelling Christian media content with viewing warnings of 18+.
From the article published on www.lifesitenews.com:
Brazil’s Secretary of Justice reportedly told Folha that, while such programming would be restricted to after 11 pm, “the ideal is that they not be shown at any time.”
If carried out in accordance with Brazilian President Luiz Lula’s definition of “homophobia,” the new restrictions will effectively ban public statements on television that identify homosexual behavior as sinful and/or unhealthy.
“Pornographic sex education classes that praise homosexuality cannot be rated as ‘unsuitable for children and teens,’ because… Continue reading ...
Swineflu, condoms and Twitterologies
Here’s a gem from the Twitterverse that I saw the other day:
“90 people get the swine flu and everyone wants to wear a mask. Millions get HIV, and no one wants to wear a condom”
Of course, it is far, far easier to refrain from having unprotected, promiscuous sex (therefore halting the spread of HIV altogether) than it is to suppress a sneeze.
(I gather the implied reference in the Twitter comment was in relation to the Pope’s recent statements in Africa last month re: the ineffectiveness of condoms in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and that abstinence instead should be the main weapon (for which the Pope was trashed by the main stream media as being outdated. Outdated or not (it’s not outdated … un-applied… Continue reading ...
Why the Pope is right about condoms … still!
Well, I don’t believe much has changed since my last post on this topic: Pope disses condoms as Saviour from HIV / AIDS – the Pope is still very much right: condoms do very little to fight and reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS.
In the editorial of Family Voice Australia‘s May 2009 VoxPoint publication, David and Rosyln Phillips lay down yet more startling facts about why the promotion of condoms does very little. Conversely, some of what they have to say also lends support to the American Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) stance on why practicing homosexuals should still be prohibited from donating blood to organisations like the Red Cross. (Re-read my article, Blood on the boil: Homosexuals see red over discrimination, on why… Continue reading ...
Fake breasts, but real gutsy answers: Carrie Prejean
Carrie Prejean is a brave soul. As many would now be aware, the Miss California beauty queen, in the Miss USA beauty pageant this past April, was one of the front runners for taking out the title – she was easily top three and was the likely winning candidate. At least she was until she honestly spoke her mind regarding the question put to her by celebrity blogger, radio host and author Perez Hilton, who asked: what is your view on same-sex marriage.
Ms Prejean’s answer was simple, non-condescending, fair, non-judgemental and, above all else, brave:
I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage and, you know what, in… Continue reading ...
Pope disses condoms as saviour from HIV / AIDS
A day before starting his tour of AIDS-ravaged Africa, Pope Benedict made a remark that, it would seem, was too remarkable for a whole host of sexual health organisations, AIDS activists and family planning groups.
“[AIDS] cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms,” the Pope was quoted as saying. “On the contrary, they increase the problem.” The Pope then stated that the way to reduce the AIDS issue in Africa is to promote monogamy as well as observance of the Church’s teaching on moral behaviour.
Personally, of course, I don’t have much of an issue with what the Pope said and believe there is merit behind his intent. A shame his comments weren’t received in the same light by the media, however, as article after article painted… Continue reading ...
Female student allowed to wear tux to prom because … she’s not female?
A quick thought in response to onenewsnow.com’s story, School caves to tuxedo-clad lesbian, that reports of an Indiana school being forced to allow an exception to their prom dress code for a lesbian student who wanted to wear a tux:
The school’s request for the female student to dress in a dress had everything to do with the fact that she is biologically female – it had nothing to do with her sexuality, but her sex. Unless groups like ACLU and other pro-homosexual lobbyists can prove that the student in question is actually male, I remain constantly amazed that such strong-arm tactics are so effectively used in situations like these and that they feel they are justified in employing the same.
Based on this, we should now… Continue reading ...
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