Moving to Coed Rooms

Chicago Tribune April 6, 2008 sec. 1 p. 6:

Over the last few decades, single gender dorms have become hard to find on a college campus.  Many moved to coed floors, coed suites, and coed bathrooms.  Now a number of schools have instituted coed rooms.  Approximately 30 campuses now have rooms that are officially shared by male and female roommates.   Schools who have made the switch say that gender-blind dorm rooms are more inclusive and acknowledge modern realities.  Most of the schools discourage romantically involved students from rooming together, but maintain that such choices are up to the students.  Critics say coed rooms are one more indicator of the eroding morals on the college campus.  

So do I.

“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” -Abraham Lincoln

Troubling News

AP March 11, 2008. 

25% of Young Women Infected:   Shocking results from a recent study by the Center for Disease Control show that one out of every four girls ages 14-19 has an STD.  That translates into approximately 3 million infected girls – about 40% of all girls who admit to having had sex.  The HPV virus was the most common infection.

 

And you thought pregnancy was the worst thing that could happen with casual sex. Folks, HPV is incurable and is a primary cause of uterine cancer. 

Abstinence Doesn’t Work

I was dismayed to read that a school board in Maine decided to make “the pill” available to middle school students (10 year olds) without parental consent or knowledge. 1As long as a parent had signed a general consent form to have their child receive medical care at the school. In several of the “pro” interviews, the first thing the interviewee would say was, “First of all, abstinence education hasn’t worked.”Let’s get real. Of course abstinence education doesn’t work if you don’t use it. Condoms don’t work if you don’t use them. “The pill” doesn’t work if you don’t use it. So saying that abstinence doesn’t work is a specious argument.Here’s a little list of the effectiveness of abstinence, condoms, and the pill:Effectiveness against pregnancy if used:

  • Abstinence: 100%
  • Condoms: almost 100%
  • The pill: almost 100%

Effectiveness against STDs if used:

  • Abstinence: 100%
  • Condoms: almost 100%
  • The pill: 0.0%

Effectiveness against pregnancy and STDs if not used:

  • Abstinence: 0.0%
  • Condoms: 0.0%
  • The pill: 0.0%

By the way. The article regarding giving children the pill was on the same page as an article explaining why folks are lobbying the FDA to not allow children to have cold medicine. Cold medicine: no; the pill: yes. Ironic, isn’t it? 2Before you jump all over me about this, yes, I know the cold medicine was for children under 6. But then, again, how long will it be before we begin issuing the pill to 6 year olds?

Footnotes

Footnotes
1 As long as a parent had signed a general consent form to have their child receive medical care at the school.
2 Before you jump all over me about this, yes, I know the cold medicine was for children under 6. But then, again, how long will it be before we begin issuing the pill to 6 year olds?

Porn Driven Look At Me Culture

Here’s an article from Campus Ministry Update June 2007 published by Ivy Jungle:

“Porn Driven, Look-at-Me” Culture: The evidence of the mainstreaming of pornography is not hard to find in our culture today – from the provocative videos on YouTube to Myspace pages for adult film stars. Some researchers and observers continue to express concern over the impact on young people – particularly girls. “Sexiness” has become very important to girls, with an increasing push into raunchiness. High school counselors find themselves consoling teenage girls who have undressed and more in front of web cams. Employers are increasingly implementing dress codes. The American Psychological Association recently published a paper on the sexualization of girls. One great concern is that while boys tend to use pornography and other aspects of sex for their own pleasure; most girls who exhibit provocative behavior are doing so for the pleasure of someone else – often someone they don’t know well (or perhaps not at all thanks to the internet). Some women claim they have more power with their sexuality, but many researchers are seeing a very negative impact – especially among teenage girls. (AP June 4, 2007)

Here’s a semi-related photo I received via email some time ago:Control You

18 Reasons Why I Gave Up Sex for Golf

18. You don’t have to sneak your golf magazines into the house.

17. If you are having trouble with golf, it’s perfectly acceptable to pay a professional golfer to show you how to improve your technique.

16. The Ten Commandments don’t say anything about golf.

15. If your partner takes any pictures or videotapes of you golfing, you don’t have to worry about them showing up on the Internet if you later become famous.

14. Your golf partner won’t keep asking questions about other partners you’ve golfed with.

13. It’s perfectly respectable to golf with a total stranger you happen to meet at the golf course.

12. You can put yourself through college on a golf scholarship and earn a varsity letter in golf.

11. When you see a really good golfer, you don’t have to feel guilty about imagining the two of you golfing together.

10. If your regular golf partner isn’t available, he/she won’t object if you golf with someone else.

9. Nobody will ever tell you that you can go blind if you golf by yourself.

8. When dealing with a golf pro, you never have to worry if it’s really an undercover cop.

7. You don’t have to go to a sleazy shop in a seedy neighborhood to buy golf equipment.

6. You can have a golf calendar on your wall at the office, tell golf jokes and invite coworkers to golf with you without getting sued for harassment.

5. There’s no such thing as a GTD (golf transmitted disease).

4. If you want to watch golf on television, you don’t have to subscribe to a premium cable channel.

3. Nobody expects you to promise to golf with just one partner for the rest of your life, then give up the game if your partner loses interest in golfing.

2. You don’t have to be a newlywed to plan a vacation primarily for the purpose of golfing.

1. Your golf partner will never say, “What? We just golfed last week! Is it all you ever think about?”