Posted on 01/12/2007 8:59:12 AM PST by CANBFORGIVEN
Sex and Consequences 1/10/2007 By Janice Shaw Crouse
On college campuses, counselors are seeing double the number of depression cases and triple the number of suicidal students.
On college campuses, counselors are seeing double the number of depression cases and triple the number of suicidal students. The American Psychological Association reported in 2003 that counselors on the nation's college campuses were seeing significant increases of these and other "severe psychological problems." Why are the nation's brightest young adults flooding the student health centers to overflowing? What has changed since the late 1980s to produce such emotional and psychological devastation among the nation's college students?
A campus psychiatrist at a major American university has written a book attempting to answer the questions about what has gone wrong. The book, Unprotected, (written anonymously but revealed to be Dr. Miriam Grossman from the student health services of the University of California, Los Angeles) reveals that "radical politics" has replaced "common sense" in the campus health and counseling centers to the detriment of students' well-being. In short, Dr. Grossman declared that her profession was "hijacked" and that college students are the "casualties" of "radical activism" by the health professionals on college campuses.
The nation's 17 million college and university students are being denied truth while their risky behavior is condoned by the prevalent social agenda on campus. Dispassionate objectivity and compassionate concern for an individual's health and well-being have been replaced by social activism. Now, the "polarization" of "opposite" sexes and a "binary gender system" must be replaced by androgyny and "alternative sexualities." Nobody dares mention that emotionally destructive behavior produces negative consequences. Ideology takes precedence over consequences. In fact, consequences are never mentioned except in the context of smoking, diet, exercise or sleep. Certainly, no one mentions the "fascinating research on the biochemistry of bonding" which reveals that casual sex is hazardous to a woman's mental health.
When I was an academic dean, I found that there was often (though not always) a relationship problem -- usually a broken romance -- behind a sudden drop in a student's grades. Dr. Grossman describes story after story of students who came in with academic and psychological problems that, she discovered with a little probing, turned out to coincide with sexual intimacy that produced one-sided attachment. Dr. Grossman quotes a neuropsychologist who described the effect of oxytocin (the attachment hormone that produces bonding and trust): "You first meet him and he is passable. The second time you go out with him, he's OK. The third time you go out with him, you have sex. And from that point on you can't imagine what life would be like without him."
Ironically, Dr. Grossman (who laments political correctness) uses the term, "sexually transmitted infections" (the politically correct designation because "infections" seem less serious than "diseases") instead of "sexually transmitted diseases." Today, on and off campus, STDs are considered no big deal. Yet, human papillomavirus (HPV) -- a major cause of cervical cancer -- is so common and so contagious that some doctors recommend that women "assume" that a partner has the infection. Condom use among college students is a joke -- one study revealed that less than half of college students used a condom during their last vaginal intercourse. Discussions about HIV/AIDS are even more off-limits: while definitive information is available about the specific behavioral risk factors, myths spread misinformation -- anybody can get it or AIDS doesn't discriminate. Dr. Grossman lays out the facts: HIV is spread through anal sex, shared needles or a partner who does those things.
Dr. Grossman reveals, too, that God is not welcomed in college health clinics. In fact, psychologists are almost five times more likely to be agnostic or atheist than the general public. Almost 90 percent of Americans believe in God. Among students, over three-quarters say they pray, and an equal number say that they are "searching for meaning and purpose in life." In fact, "cultural competency" (respecting the values of inclusion, respect and equality, especially in respect to gender, race, sexual orientation, disability and other identities) is replacing religion, even though evidence reveals that religion protects against drug and alcohol use, early sexual activity and suicide.
While the public generally sees abortion as a "woman's issue," Dr. Grossman cites a Los Angeles Times survey indicating that post-abortion men experience more regret and guilt than post-abortion women do. She also reveals that chlamydia is far more serious than generally perceived and that the college years are a good time to address the ramifications effectively; instead the dangers of chlamydia are ignored or profoundly sugarcoated. As a result, untold numbers of women discover too late for intervention that they are infertile.
Another profound misrepresentation takes place on college campuses: by focusing exclusively on career, many women will pass their window of opportunity for finding a husband and having children. After age 30, a woman's chances of conceiving drop by 75 percent; if she gets pregnant, her chance of miscarriage triples, the rate of stillbirth doubles and the risk of genetic abnormality is six times greater. Sadly, as Unprotected points out, the waiting rooms of infertility centers are crowded with professional women who bought into the myth that they should focus on career and wait to have a husband and children.
The basic message of Unprotected is that today's women are amazingly misinformed and unprotected. Casual sex has consequences, and the steady flow of students crowding campus health centers is a clear indication that somebody needs to be telling young women the truth. Dr. Miriam Grossman has begun the enlightenment. Let's hope that others will follow her lead.
Secondly, males have oxytocin, too. (Just as females have testosterone.) Just in different amounts and different ratios.
Third, many women DO bond with their obstetricians. It is a well-known professional risk. It's one reason why many male OB/GYN's make sure there is always a female health professional/colleague around, so that they're not constantly alone in small rooms with sexually exposed and emotionally tenderized women patients.
Fickle fallible fingers here.
Redpoll, I value your testimony. Too many people talk about abortion as if it's exclusively a women's concern--- which is a biological and spiritual absurdity. Evey aborted child had a father who begot him for sudden destruction. And that is a burden on the souls of men.
Absolutely correct. And the young women don't get it! Case-in-point. Seemingly nice girl, college grad working girl, lives next door. Asks us to watch her cat. She found 'the one' and he is bringing her to Hawaii for Christmas. "How long have you known him?" my husband asks. "Two weeks" she replies. They went and 2-3 months later he was no longer coming around.
Scenario is repeated somewhat as time goes on. No more vacations, but guys stay over her house after limited dating then disappear.
We have noticed that she rarely stops to speak to us anymore. She is embarressed I tell my husband.
Her sexual behavior is flawed, but she is well spoken, does not curse, is not crass, dresses nicely and her parents are nice (from New England area, so liberal I suspect). She wants what most young woman want now that she has graduated and landed a nice job. She wants a serious relationship and marriage to a solid, supportive young man.
I could tell her that her chances of growing old with a committed partner are slim to none and could even indicate what I view as the problem. But I won't as she doesn't ask and it is not my job to interject my opinion into her life. But she is not happy and I feel her loose behavior has a direct bearing on her future. Once she reaches 30 her chances deminish with every year, unless she finds a trophy wife situation, IMHO.
The damage has been done, indoctrination is complete and there seems to be no way to rescue these girls.
Woman's Lib brought them sexual freedom but they gave up certain satisfying and happy relationships as a result. I'm not so sure that simple marriage is an answer, as the lack of value and respect they place on their most intimate of gifts has been translated through their e-z behavior, and will surely be returned as a lack of respect by a partner.
Grandmom was right. If someone loves you, they will wait.
Your right. I went back and read it. I did miss the sarcasm...sorry.
I understand all that, but the hormonal action wasn't called a suggestion. What was claimed was: "And from that point on you can't imagine what life would be like without him."
There's a place for hyperbole and I don't think neuropsychology is that place.
"I want my daughter to treat herself with more respect than the women I knew as a bachelor. She deserves better, and so did they."
Yes. Yes. And yes.
Thank you.
Hollander bump.
Correlations absolutely do contribute to cause. Let me challenge you on this point. What do you think would happen to you if you put your hand on a hot stove burner?
Not true. Correlation is a useful tool for establishing possible causative actions, but it is not a foolproof deductive logical conclusion. You have to use abductive logic first to remove things like this.
Example:
In the last 15 years, there has been a rise in the number of young men wearing pants too low.
There has also been a rise in the numbers of drive by slayings
Using your idea that correlation = causality, young men wearing pants too low causes drive by shootings.
My husband's niece created a webpage when she was planning her wedding. Boldly placed on the front page were the events of the proposal, which was issued to her in bed, presumably after a memorable night.
Very now, very tacky.
Didn't say it equals it, I said it contributes to it. That is a difference. I was responding to post #2.
I love your tag line.
OK, I get your point. But in context, I don't think that was being set up as an iron-clad inevitability. (If it were, no girlfriend would ever break up with a boyfriend she'd slept with, and woman would ever divorce her husband. I think everybody knows this is not the case.)
It also corresponded to a society that came to say that God belonged in church on Sunday. I remember that even though folks went to church, the rest of the week you would not have know that there was a God. People did not mention anything about God or they were considered weird. No wonder I became an atheist at a very young age.
It was after the horrible 60's that people actually started to talk about God again. I think the hippies who became The Jesus People had a good effect on society in that way.
Sadly, though, many of the hippies of the 60's have had a terrible influence on society on a whole. We have not pulled out of the moral abyss that we fell into. We may not until Christ comes back. These do seem like the last days with things spiralling downward until the great judgment.
About 26% of freshmen in 1997 came from divorced families. In 1997, 32% of all children lived with only one parent.
(Essential Demographics of Today's College Students From AAHE Bulletin, Vol 51, No. 3, November 1998.)
"There has been a sharp rise in depression over the past century. It is not unique to college students."
Is it actually a sharp increase in the problem, or are we simply realizing (and focusing on) something that has been there all along?
The difference is we aren't programmed to be like that, and the sadness and depression comes from the fact that these young women soon feel empty, which sex without committment will do to a girl.
"Society has devalued the role a Father plays in a childs life and they have redefined it only as monetary support, rather than emotional or physical safety."
I think you're being overly optimistic and pulling your punches on this issue.
The reality circa 2007 is that a father is a father to his children only so long as the mother decides she wants to stick around. Other than that, he's simply the person who donates the chromosomes and scratches out the checks.
Marriage in our country is dying out. In another generation, the only people that you're going to see getting married are those who look upon it as a way of acheiving some sort of societal legitimacy (e.g. homosexuals), or those who are profoundly religious.
The practical benefits of marriage from a male perspective are almost nonexistent. While women may view men as being somewhat unintelligent, we aren't. Men can see that marriage in the pragmatic sense is a bad deal for them and they're simply not going to consent to marriage absent a compelling religious reason for doing so. You can see this happening already in the increasing level of illegitimate births and the number of men surveyed who are saying that they simply will not marry. That's an absolute disaster for women, because marriage is for the protection of women and children.
The coup de grace, of course, will be when a male birth control pill is developed. Probably within the next 10 years.
At that point, we will all be able to stand back and reflect on the irony of of 50 years of radical feminism. There has been a sexual revolution in the west, and when all is said and done, women will have completely and utterly lost.
Co-Ed dorms were the worst thing for women. Way back in the day, men and women were not allowed in each other's dorms, and students had to be in by a certain time or the door was locked. People still managed to have sex, but now the situation is out of control.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.