Archive for the 'Sexuality' Category

In light of the Obama Administration’s HHS Mandate on providing birth control, the question has been posed to me of why the Catholic Church regards birth control as gravely sinful. Using Pope Paul VI’s encyclical, Humanae Vitae (or Of Human Life in English!), it behooves me to make several points on the Church’s teaching on contraception and responsible parenthood.

Humanae Vitae, 10 begins with the teaching on responsible parenthood, which each married couple is called to. This ‘responsible parenthood’ refers to the knowledge and respect for the biological functions and laws which are part of humanity. This includes dominion of the reason and will over the tendencies of instinct or passion.
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Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration issued a mandate requiring so-called “comprehensive” sex education for all middle and high school students in NYC public schools.

In response, Dr. Anne Nolte, a family practice physician in Manhattan, wrote last week that the city’s new requirement reminded her of the saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”

She then goes on to make some bold observations:

If we had the courage to look honestly at teen pregnancy, we wouldn’t be satisfied with a mandate that does the equivalent of placing a tiny band-aid on a gushing artery. If we had the courage to admit that we don’t have a solution, we’d be unwilling to spend more money on an old model that has pretty much failed. (more…)

I finally got around to watching the third installment of the “Twilight” saga, Eclipse. While I am a casual observer of the series, I found this movie had interesting pop culture theories and offers comparison and contrast to the topics I hold important.

In the movie, Bella argues that marriage is just a piece of paper, points out high divorce rates, and thinks the marriage in our generation means “I got knocked up.” Edward, on the other hand, views marriage as his generation’s way of saying “I love you” (Edward, a vampire, was born in 1901, while Bella, a human, is a teenager from our generation). He wants to marry her before (more…)

While doing some research on another website about comprehensive versus abstinence only sex education, I learned that May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.

While that particular website’s take on the event is by promoting the use of birth control in its various forms, I have another proposition.

How about all unmarried teens abstain for the entire month of May? I am willing to bet, by doing so, not one teen will get pregnant. And I’m further willing to bet that your life won’t fall apart like you might imagine.

Yes, maybe it might end the relationship you currently have with your girlfriend or boyfriend. But if physical affection is the glue that holds your relationship together, don’t you think maybe, just maybe, it’s better to unglue it?

It would certainly seem that if, without sex, a couple has nothing in common, that the relationship might not be built on the healthiest of foundations. (more…)

In response to my post last week — Relationship Advice from Planned Parenthood: “Stop Thinking of Her As a Person” — a commenter named Sophi wrote the following:

if you actually read the nyt piece you’d know that the author is quoting a friend and acknowledges the poor choice of wording.

and if you knew anything about feminism you’d know they’re more concerned with the actual message and not just the choice of words.

and even with the poor choice of words the message his friend was trying to get across is clearly that “humans are animals and that sex is natural.” and taken in the context of the whole article it becomes part of a nice story of coming to terms with the sexual hangups he got from his traditional/strict religious upbringing.

and beyond that, even the congressman who claimed 98% of what pp does is abortion came out and said it wasn’t a factual statement. so repeating that lie only hurts your credibility.

I wondered if someone might try to argue that I was taking the “Stop thinking of her as a person” advice out of context (more…)

Supporters of Planned Parenthood are quick to point out that abortions aren’t all that PP does.

And although abortions do make up 98% of the “services” PP offers to pregnant women, it is true that they’re not the only thing they do.

Among other things, they also link approvingly from their Facebook page to essays in newspapers like the New York Times that recommend that guys get over their natural inhibitions about having premarital sex by thinking about women not as people, but as animals.

No. Really.

Last week in the NYT, college student Andrew Limbong wrote about how he wanted to have sex with his girlfriend, but the influence of his mother and his Christian upbringing was holding him back. Rather than listen to his conscience, he sought the advice of a friend: (more…)

On Wednesday, March 30, the National Institute of Reproductive Health’s Back Up Your Birth Control Campaign is sponsoring a Day of Action aimed at high school and college students.

By spreading the word about so-called emergency contraception (EC), apparently the campaign’s purpose is to try to prevent unintended pregnancies. But I have to wonder if the folks at NIRH somehow missed the memo that EC has proven to be not all it’s cracked up to be.

“More Effective Than Nothing”: The Best That Can Be Said of EC?

Three years ago, Dr. James Trussell conducted a web seminar (accessible here) in which he made some very candid admissions about the failure of EC to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy. (more…)

In my last post on chastity in May, “Sex as a Gift,” I got some positive feedback, but I was also taken aback by some of the negative responses I received. Is sex really “a skill like any other,” as a poster named Alexander Helphand claimed? He said, “I can only imagine how disappointing it must be when two virgins get married and spend their wedding night jostling one another like blind puppies.”

Another poster, Rebecca, said comments like: (more…)

Live Action released a great new video today that in 33 seconds makes the case for why Planned Parenthood should be defunded:

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Just released this morning, here’s the latest undercover video from Lila Rose and Live Action. This is definitely their most shocking video so far:

From Live Action’s press statement announcing the video’s release:

A Planned Parenthood manager in New Jersey coaches a man and a woman posing as sex traffickers how to secure secret abortions, STD testing, and contraception for their female underage sex slaves, and make their whole operation “look as legit as possible” in an undercover video released this morning. (more…)

Last week, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell came under fire after some 1996 MTV video footage surfaced of her speaking out against masturbation:

As far as I can tell, one of the most common reactions people have to the message in the video is to say little or nothing, other than maybe to simply refer to O’Donnell as “anti-masturbation candidate Christine O’Donnell” — as if it’s clearly obvious that someone who says masturbation is wrong is crazy. (more…)

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America will cut ties with its San Francisco affiliate office, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, as of September 3, apparently due to serious financial mismanagement, as its most recent documents filed with the IRS showed a loss of $2.8 million!

Planned Parenthood Golden Gate is probably best known for its infamous 2005 video “A Superhero for Choice,” featuring Dianysis, a “superhero” modeled on PPGG’s CEO Dian Harrison. The video — which PPGG pulled from its website soon after posting it — features, among other things, Dianysis drowning an abstinence educator in a garbage can and blowing up pro-life demonstrators: (more…)

While doing some reading over the past few days, I came across this passage that inspired me enough to share it. It is taken from a series of private revelations from Christ to “Anne”, a lay apostle, in 2005.

While the messages have not yet received the imprimatur (official approval of the Catholic Church), the bishop of Kilmore – Anne’s diocese – has given permission for their publication on the basis that there is nothing in them that is contrary to faith or morals, and much that is positive and nourishing for the faith. (more…)

The Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health is at it again.

In 2006, ICAH held its annual fundraiser at Playboy‘s executive offices.

That event—view the invitation here [PDF]—included a VIP reception with Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, the daughter of Hugh Hefner, who founded the magazine in 1953. Several years ago, Christie decided that the company could make more money by producing increasingly harder-core pornography — something that even her father was reluctant to do for a long time.

The next year, their annual fundraiser featured a stripper.

At this year’s event on June 15, ICAH will be honoring sex advice columnist Dan Savage with the group’s “Sexuality Activist Award.”

The fact that Savage is being honored tells us everything we need to know about ICAH’s values and the advice they believe should be given to kids. (more…)

“Sex is the secret of every human being, the delivery of it to another human being is a unique self-surrender, a gift of the whole person.” (Following Christ in the World by Anne W. Carroll, Seton Press, Front Royal, Virginia, copyright 2008, p. 103 .)

Perhaps one of the reasons why sex has become devalued in our society is because we have lost sight of one of the facts about sex: it is a total gift of self. It is not just something fun to do on Friday or a recreational activity—it’s serious, because the gift of sex has two purposes: “a unitative purpose (love-giving) and a procreative purpose (life-giving).” (Ibid., p. 94)

Put it another way: if you give someone you love a gift, do you usually want to give them a (more…)