Monday, April 14, 2008

Kate Walsh on Sex Education

WARNING: R - RATED POST

From Newsbusters

On Friday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Julie Chen teased her upcoming interview with "Gray’s Anatomy" actress Kate Walsh on sex education: "She is one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood today due to her roles on "Gray's Anatomy" and "Private Practice," but she's also passionate about sex education for American teens, and she took her campaign to Capitol Hill. We're going to ask her why this issue is so important." ... Walsh, who is a board member for Planned Parenthood, said during the interview:

"…there just needs to be a comprehensive sex education program, and we can't be relying on, you know, private foundations, or parents, or, you know, teens' peers, to be educating each other. We really do need government help on this. It's, you know, it's a shame to me that we spend money educating our kids on, you know, history, math, science, and English literature, and we -- we can't educate them sexually. And, you know, and it's proof in these -- in these statistics (20% of girls ages 14-19 have STDs). It's just shameful to me that in our country that these young women are being infected because they honestly just don't have the information. Abstinence is one -- abstinence is one aspect of sex education, but it is not the complete aspect. And to expect, I think, everybody to remain abstinent is just -- it's like asking them not to grow. It's like we don't ask people to not try out for sports. We don't ask people to stop learning. It's just a natural human process, and we need to be educating people. If abstinence-only did work, we wouldn't be seeing these kind of statistics. We wouldn't be seeing these young women suffering like this."

OK… I’ve never seen Gray’s Anatomy. I’ve never seen Private Practice. I wouldn’t know Kate Walsh from J-Lo if she stood naked in front of me. I have no clue who this person is or what makes her, you know, HOT…at least for today.

It seems like we have a strange idea of what qualifies a person to, you know, speak authoritatively on an issue. The “hotter” you are, apparently the more respect you command. If you are, you know, the star of TWO hit shows, maybe that means you think with BOTH sides of your brain. In fairness, I will grant that the fact that she does work in television it means she can read, and perhaps has read some stuff about this topic.

Fine. Enough ad hominem cheap shots. The real concern is in the assumptions that don’t even lay beneath the surface of what she is espousing here. Let me just take her comments in order of appearance:

“…and we can't be relying on, you know, private foundations, or parents, or, you know, teens' peers, to be educating each other. We really do need government help on this.”

The government educating our children about sex? What can the government say about sex to ANYONE, much less a teenager? Even if it WANTED to, it cannot say anything based on morality or religion. It cannot offer a theological explanation of the sacredness of the body, the sanctity of sexuality, the holiness and beauty of virginity, the spiritual/psychological damage of premarital/extramarital sex, the objectivity of the human being in the image of God and all that means. All the government can say with its own self imposed post modern restrictions is, “Hey kids, these are the polite names of your parts. This is how they fit together if you are male and female. This is where they go if you're homosexual. You decide what’s best for yourself, but here’s some information about disease and here’s some free condoms. Be careful out there. But if you’re not, we have a government program that will pay you for not listening to us.” So now kids have “information” from the government.

Information. Information is the savior of the western world. If anyone does anything stupid it is generally because of “lack of information”. The American mantra is, if we just had more education, more information, more booklets, more videos, more commercials, more warning labels people would stop doing stupid things. “Education” is the key to Utopia. In Kate’s Hollywood world, kids armed with information will stop doing self destructive things. And then as “educated” adults they will continue to act responsibly. Right. That is why we have so many single mothers with multiple kids by various fathers, men who impregnate anything that offers the chance for an orgasm, people who hand out STDs to virtual strangers like Halloween candy. They may not have a government DVD, but its not like they have no clue where those kids come from, why those women keep getting pregnant and wanting child support, and where all those warts and blisters on their genitals came from. What information the government can supply can only inform and warn. It cannot and does not form a person to care about self worth, self preservation, self control for the sake of future joy, concern for the soul of another and the meaning of love as opposed to situational passion.

Kate goes on to say, “…abstinence is one aspect of sex education, but it is not the complete aspect. And to expect, I think, everybody to remain abstinent is just -- it's like asking them not to grow. ”

I agree, that abstinence is just one aspect of sex education. However, the “other aspects” that she brings out here need to be unpacked. To ask someone to remain abstinent is asking them to “not grow”? Kate…tell me, grow into WHAT? What is it that a human being can grow into that REQUIRES premarital sex as a teenager (or even as an adult)? What aspect of the heart, soul and psyche of the human being is stunted and weakened for not having sex as a teenager? What bit of self knowledge, what revelation will come that will enlighten and illumine a teenager who “makes love” with someone when they have one year of experience (more or less) knowing what “love” is? What emotional and spiritual maturity comes with knowing how to give someone a blow job? What growth takes place when a girl finds out she’s a sperm depository for guys who say anything to get in their pants even if it takes them months? What great epiphany comes when a teenager discovers that sex won’t keep a boyfriend or girlfriend? What maturity comes with having to explain to your current boyfriend about the guys before? What does a boy grow into who has “governmentally informed” sex with “informed” girlfriends? Have you ever visited a dog park? Been around a pig pen? Ask any man who was 16 what his imagination was about. To be a slave to hormones, feelings, passions, or just plain fun is “growth”? To hook up with anyone who will provide an orgasm is “growth”? Or even to give in to the biological urge based on “loving feelings”, it is de-evolution to the level of dogs, not growth as a human being gifted with reason, rationality, and a heart and soul connected mysteriously to the act of sex. We do not “grow” from having sex. We grow up then have sex as grown ups who know who we are, what people are, what relationships need, and where our sexuality fits in the big picture of what it means to be a human being and not a dog in heat.

Kate goes on to say, “…. It's like we don't ask people to not try out for sports….. It's just a natural human process, and we need to be educating people.” Oh, Kate. So, sex is like professional sports, only natural. It’s just a game people play, scream a little, bump around and sweat a little, score some points, then go home. In the end its just touch football with an orgasm instead of a touchdown. Its all about how “good” you were in bed, or under the dining room table or whatever. You sound like the Boston Medical Group appeal to men’s fragile sexual egos: “Get examined today, perform tonight!” So how many men have you tried out? What is your criteria for a “first string” sex partner? Would you settle from someone coming off the bench if you’re REALLY horny? How many guys think of you as their starting quarterback? Do you know how many think you are second string? How much education do you need to learn to do like a superstar what is “natural”? Dogs don’t need education to do what is natural, except when they are trying to slam dunk on your leg, but then all you have to do is kick them. Don’t you, somewhere in the depth of your soul, find this the slightest bit DE-humanizing? You are a human being reduced to a performer of sex acts, and how well your human pretzel performance matches up with his internet porn queen fantasies determines how “deep” your relationship is going to get. You try out, and if your partner is as vapid, inhuman and soulless as you are, depending on how skillfully you drive his hot rod, you may or may not get invited to sit on the “pole position” at the next race. Does it ever occur to you that you are being used for a cheap thrill (or even an expensive one…since you are really “hot”, I’m sure you’re not cheap anymore). Do you ever feel hollow using someone else for a good performance. Do you ever feel heartless when you discard a human being because your orgasm wasn’t a Cosmo screamer? Or did it occur to you that maybe he really didn’t care about yours because he got his anyway.

Kate finishes, “We wouldn't be seeing these young women suffering like this (referring to having an STD).” Given the choice, I think I’d rather suffer with an STD than suffer the ultimate loneliness and dehumanization of the mechanistic soullessness of Kate’s philosophy of sex. I’d rather sleep with one woman for my entire life than try out for the team with a dozen like her. I’d rather spend a lifetime learning to have decent sex with someone I know loves me and will care about me when our bodies fail and our bed is for sleeping, than try to please someone who tomorrow will spread her legs for someone who looks just a little hotter than me. In the nights she spends alone and she lays in bed staring at the ceiling (or even when she’s staring at the ceiling with some new rookie on top of her who isn’t making the team), I wonder what really goes on in the dark empty corners of her heart? STD’s can be cured and you can still become a human being. I don’t know how you can cure not having a human soul.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good post, S-P. Without defending Walsh's original comments, I wonder how the Ecumenical Patriarch's recent comments on the darkened soul should affect our outlook on this issue. I don't have the exact quote available, but the gist of his statement had to do with the ability of a person lost in sin to make right decisions. Are you familiar with the thought?

Assuming that a person is incapable of making the "right" decision with regard to sexuality, what should be the proper approach?

Or do we preach the ideal with the knowledge that many won't understand what we are talking about?

Justinian said...

S-P, it's been a while since I've read a blog post that really made my heart hurt like this one. *sigh* I am in continual amazement at my peers, who, like Kate, believe that there is nothing wrong with being animals enslaved to impulses of passion. Lord, have mercy on us...

Steve Robinson said...

Hi Kirk, Good question. We don't believe in total depravity so we can still appeal to the image of God within the person to elevate them above the animal kingdom's morals. I think Christians often stand above people and cast stones when we should be appealing to the dark corners of despair and loneliness and glimpses of God that everyone experiences in life... then explain where those come from. It is not as much condemnation as it is doing what Jesus did: entering people's pain with compassion and hope.

Anonymous said...

i liked this post. muy muchoooo papa. si bueno.
yeah.
i read some of the book that Bufo gave me before he left to greece and it talked about sex before marriage. it talked about how it effects you as a person. that you are no longer able to grow as a human and you stay in your youthful ways and don't excel in your abilities or somethin like that.
:]
makes sense....
i don't think that ANYONE who doesn't have a spiritual background doesn't really understand why sex before marriage changes a person inside and also..some that DO have a spiritual background get so caught up in the passion and horrrniness haha...it's a crazy topic that is extremely frequently talked about every where someone goes.
but i think that it needs to be talked about.

<3
kenzy

James the Thickheaded said...

Boy.... I liked the part before you got all worried about the ad hominem. I mean let's face it... mass media's notion that "hotness" and willingness to market it... is somehow a basis of wisdom we all need to share... puh-leese!

I mean they don't believe this either... but having a "cause" helps fill some dead air time with some PR... so everybody wins and the public is none the wiser. I mean... doesn't what she's selling kind of relate to what her shows are selling - even if peripherally? I mean the school nurse teaches sex ed... so...maybe it gets a free plug for the show, too?

Reminds me of "Arrested Development" and Job's favorite filming of "Girls With Low Self Esteem".... I mean this is soooo over the top blatantly taking advantage of a lack of programming to fill airtime with nothing... I'm just glad I don't watch much more than football. Leaves me too disconnected from pop culture that some times I wonder....

Anyway... thanks for the post! so I could use the terms "hotness" and "wisdom" together. It's an idea.

Another idea is that I bet James Bond would curl up and die if he had to worry about STD's... I mean he might even get married! Nah....

Steve Robinson said...

J the TH,
LOL! Yeah, PhD should stand for "Pretty Hot, Dude!" It seems we fall for both errors: We seem to think hotness of body and/or hotness of mind actually qualifies someone to say something of substance. Of course Kate doesn't see that the very thing her industry promotes is one of the causes of the need she is championing. It is a VERY short line between the dot "sex is just natural and like trying out for sports" and the dot "STDs are rampant among teenage girls who act like me in my TV shows." That's not rocket science.

I have not unravelled the "chicken and egg" issue of whether TV programming is created to fill dead air in people's souls, or if people are so hollow because the substance of their humanity is being systematically scooped out of their souls by media that keeps giving us the icon of the human being created in the image of the dog rather than God. One could say, if people weren't in the market for it they wouldn't be buying it and Hollywood would have to create new programs. But then we can't underestimate the power of advertising...after all Satan had the first infomercial about the benefits of the Fruit in the Garden, yes?

I suppose its still all the same lie: The government is our Tree: and if you have knowledge/information you can be "hot" and not die.

Ranger said...

Great Post, I appreciate the no holds barred honesty. In reference to throwing info at kids... we had and STD outbreak in our HS in the early 90's. The Schools reponse: Here kids, watch one and a half hours of diseased, pussy, nasty genetalia.
I looked up from the gym floor at the slide show, maybe once. What on earth did that accomplish?
Another thing, I am pretty sure that any spokesperson for planned parenthood never speaks of or even implies that anyone should be personally responsible for any of their actions. No, Society is responsible for cleaning up other peoples messes.
Last time I checked we as a society were still funding organizations like PP to give women low/no-cost abortions, so that they the individual would not have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
THis is the bandaid mentality of Govt, and many "social action" organizations. Don't get me wrong, there are good bandaids, such as feeding the hungry, not everyone wants to learn how to fish. But to tell kids, that if you make a mistake, all you gotta do is schedule a 6 am appointment, or... make all the mistakes you want, just use a condom.
I don't believe it is a symptom of soulless people, but of a soulless society.
I wonder, if Mr. Obama was truly confronted with the reality of his grandchild growing inside one of his daughters young womb; would he be so quick to not allow the "punishment of that baby?
Or Miss Walsh, if she had a daughter, would she so easily advise her to "just be safe"?
THis goes back to bandaids, a bandaid is easily place on a festering infected wound, when you don't have to see the actual sore. So it is easy to build some exterior wall, around kids to protect them, not realizing, or choosing to ignore the floodgate that has now been opened to their soul.
Policy very seldom considers ones soul: That is that of the policymaker or those affected by such lifeless policies.

Byzantine, TX said...

FYI, you were nominated for an Eastern Christian Blog Award! Best of luck to you in the upcoming voting!

http://ecawards.blogspot.com/

robert Mahoney said...

Its a damn shame that pretend doctors make more money than real doctors. But that is the world we live in and that we created.

I am always amazed how attaching a famous person to any cause will actually convince people that it is a cause worth supporting.

I am even more amazed with it is also done with politics. Rock stars who didn't even finish high school are somehow these political whiz kids who get paraded out and speak as if they are an actual authority. I love the answer Alice Cooper gave a few years ago when he was asked a political question by a news reporter.

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal."

Steve Robinson said...

LOL! I LOVE Alice Cooper's comment (he's a "local boy" here in Phoenix).
I was talking to my "poly sci/law school" daughter who gave me an education about the finer social policy points of the necessity for "real sex education", who Kate Walsh is and also thought it was pretty lame that they paraded her out and even lamer that her comments were the best she could do on national television...you'd think if she knew she had a two minute sound bite to represent a cause she'd prepare ahead and come up with something of substance rather than explicating her "hollywood ho" personal philosophy of sex. Which is exactly what Alice Cooper is talking about. If I was Planned Parenthood, I'd be embarrassed and tell her to shut up.

Kimberly said...

Enjoyed the rant.

I am reminded of the commercials from a few years ago which said, "I am not a doctor, but I play one on t.v."

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