As a 50 year-old male, no, I’m not a regular Teen Vogue reader. Regardless, there are many things I love about celebrated feminist and writer Jaclyn Friedman’s Teen Vogue piece. The two principal ones are here: 1. The idea that survivors of sexual violence can use sex as a healing mechanism (or just that they can engage …
Category: Religion
Paranoia Strikes Deep: Ross Douthat, College Rape & Blaming Anyone But Rapists
Paranoia strikes deep. So does male patriarchy. Almost dreamily, Ross Douthat in yesterday’s New York Times bemoans a typical scene in American college life. Alcohol-fueled parties, he says, are a “twilit (or strobe-lit) scene in which many alleged sexual assaults take place.” Fair enough, but he then goes on to say the party environment is …
Child Molesting Female Impersonators Are a Myth. Child Molesting Religious Males Are Not
“Perverts” are not coming for your children, disguised as transgendered persons, in your local department store bathroom. Far more likely- by orders of magnitude in fact- they’re coming for them in your church. That’s an arguably coarse statement, provocative and doubtlessly offensive to many. It’s also utterly correct. I know because I have prosecuted and/or …
McCrory, Forest and Moore: You’re Bigots for the LGBT Bill. You’re Cowards for Hiding Behind Women and Children
From a joint statement from Lt. Governor Dan Forest, President of the Senate, and House Speaker Tim Moore, on calling a special session of the North Carolina Legislature: “We aim to repeal this ordinance before it goes into effect to provide for the privacy and protection of the women and children of our state.” Dan …
Let There Be Light: An Examination of Darkness in a Pennsylvania Diocese
“There’s nothing there in the dark that isn’t there in the light.” Among the many well-intentioned but absurd nostrums told to children, this is perhaps the most frustrating. I was afraid of the dark as a child, albeit of things non-existent, or with no real chance of invading my bedroom. Nevertheless, the fear of inhabiting a space …