Posted on 05/19/2004 4:15:19 AM PDT by TaxRelief
Program director says courses will appeal to “sexual minorities”
CHAPEL HILL—This fall the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will offer a new minor program: “sexuality studies.” The program will be offered as an interdisciplinary program, similar to nearly 15 others on campus. Students who complete 12 hours’ worth of courses can receive a minor in sexuality studies.
According to the program’s web site, the program is “designed for students who want to explore the study of sexual/gender identities — such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual.”
Some of the courses being taught in the fall semester include a history course on “the history of sexuality in America” and a political science course on “the politics of sexuality.”
UNC-CH Political Science Professor Pamela Johnston Conover, who will head the sexuality studies program and teach “the politics of sexuality,” says the program will not be limited to gay, lesbian, and bisexual students on campus. Instead, she said, the program would be a way to bring about discussion of sexual minorities’ issues at UNC-CH and in other locations.
“It would certainly be a mistake that only LGBT students take these courses,” Conover said. “They are interested in these courses. Most of these courses have appeal to students who are sexual minorities.”
Conover said the program would be important for those wanting to become activists, lawyers, or doctors. “All of these professions deal with sexual minorities,” Conover said. “There is a tremendous benefit to students who want to minor in these subjects.”
In all, the program comprises 33 courses in sexuality studies. Many are geared specifically to discuss homosexual topics of themes. Others focus on gender issues or women’s issues. More than 20 deal with the broader term of “sexuality.”
Pornography in its various forms is also a topic of interest. For instance, one of the courses offered is “communications 549: sexuality and visual culture.” In that class, taught by Associate Professor of Communications Richard Cante, students will “examine how sexuality has changed through films, video, television, theatre, painting, photography, and other forms of media.” Cante’s “communications 545: pornography, sexuality, and american culture” promises to examine “the social, cultural, legal, historical, ethical, and aesthetic implications of pornography.”
Save for two classes sponsored by the Religion Department, none looks at sexuality issues through a religious perspective. One of those classes, “gender and sexuality in the Western Christian tradition,” will focus on contemporary controversies and the teachings and issues involving gender and sexuality within Christianity. The other course, “gender and sexuality in contemporary Judaism,” looks at the development of gender roles in Judaism.
Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council, said he was concerned about UNC- CH taking on these courses.
“It is especially troubling that UNC-Chapel Hill seems so intent on affirming and promoting unhealthy, high-risk alternative sexual lifestyle in the wake of investigations, by none other than UNC researchers, exposing what has been referred to as an HIV outbreak among students at North Carolina universities,” Brooks said. “Parents of current and future students should be concerned about the quality of education their children will receive as well as the diminishing value of their own degrees as UNC-CH gains a reputation as a university whose curriculum is inconsistent with traditional family values.”
Advocates of the new minor laud its educational value. One UNC-CH junior, David Barbour, told The Daily Tar Heel that the courses should provide a better understand of homosexual issues on campus.
“In our country, where homosexuality is becoming more visible, I think it is important to find out the struggles [homosexuals] have to go through on a daily basis, like discrimination and what the government is doing,” Barbour said. “[The government] is not dealing with issues in the homosexual community such as AIDS.”
“These areas of scholarship are looking at interesting questions that are not necessarily looked at by other disciplines,” Conover said. “We felt like UNC, because it is a premiere research university, should also have a cause and program that looked at these issues.”
UNC-CH is not alone among universities with a program in sexuality studies. A steadily growing number of universities and colleges across the nation offers some form of sexuality or gender-study programs. Included in that list is Duke University, which has offered a program on sexuality studies since 1994.
Conover said that sexuality programs have been around for much longer than just the last five years.
“If you look around the U.S and universities across the country, for the last 30 years there has been a considerable growth and interest looking at and studying matters of having to do with sexuality,” Conover said. “In this regard, we are simply looking at those national trends.”
In fact, when this program was proposed in 2002, John Younger of Duke University expressed his “fascinat[ion]” in The News & Obsever of Raleigh July 29, 2002, that “UNC has languished until now” in entering the discipline.
“In the last five years, just about every podunk college in the United States has established something” in the field of sexuality studies, Younger said. “It’s very mainstream.”
Shannon Blosser is a contributing writer of Carolina Journal.
This brings out the point that "knowledge," "science," or we could call it "materialism," is a form of religious belief, which its followers "profess," just as we profess Christianity.
I find it interesting that science or knowledge are both used there too. If you look up the definition of science it talks about knowledge but that work implies truth. We know that Jesus is the Truth so when we see something passing itself off as knowledge but lacks Him then we know that it is "falsely so called". I'm sure glad you find this verse as interesting as I do.
Maybe you'll like these too.
Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts.
This takes us back to education and teachers and not only the things they told us, but the "ancients" from which they quoted. We find that the Word of God puts in a class way beyond them.
The HIV scare in California is a cultural watershed.
Paris Hilton's video is out on DVD soon which is another mile-marker in the mainstreaming.
I will also let you in on a little secret in the world of professional pornographers- straight sex is rather boring and unexciting. They vastly prefer other avenues of entrance. This again is the most problematic type of sex when it comes to contracting STD's.
Also and for your information, Howard Stern is a gatekeeper for Pornography since he is constantly shilling it. Stern is like the circus barker welcoming folks into the PornoTent.
UNC-CH overlooks the seedier aspects of Porn where actors are paid but cannot for one reason make their rent payments. No doubt much of their pay is going to drugs.
It is as though the 60's impulse for free love has mutated into the permissiveness of pornography,
No I say that I'm ashamed when I use pretentious words that God didn't bother to use. Oops. This doesn't include tech words like computer and Harley and stuff though.
That dictionary is amazing! I've heard that webster made it as a bible study reference. It has degenerated as much as the rest of the country in that respect. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. The bible says that when we say that we are not wise.
That dictionary is amazing! I've heard that webster made it as a bible study reference. It has degenerated as much as the rest of the country in that respect. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. The bible says that when we say that we are not wise.
Hey. It'll look GREAT on a resume'.
How I miss the in's and out's of course study. BTW, where did the Anna post go?
Never heard the "we need one more sexuality studies major." Or, for that matter, I don't remember any major with 'studies' in it (women's studies, Afro-American studies, etc) ever coming up at all.
That's what I thought, but that would be pitiful! Four courses constituting a minor? Gimme a break. Of course the "lab requirement" for one of these courses could be fun .... or very very very bad.
And I totally forgot about the skilled labor jobs....they're likely the most in demand of all. How many times have people here been desperate for a plumber, or an electrician?
I took a sociology course in college entitled "Deviant Behavior." The professor considered a wide variety of deviant lifestyles, including sexual deviancies. He had some outcry from a handful of students, but most seemed receptive to his discussion. It did explore the sociological problems stemming from such lifestyles - how they break down families and provide a less-than-nurturing environmnent for children. It was really quite refreshing.
This course is now so popular that it's limited to juniors and seniors ONLY, and was expanded to 2 sections of 300+ students each.
There's definitely the potential for knowledge or education to become a false god for people. I sometimes feel that my desire for books has the force of religion!
On one hand, a good education can be useful for growth in holiness, and also for getting a job. On the other hand, "knowledge puffs up," and both the goals of education (a job that offers money and power) or the means (schools that train students in evil) can be contradictory to our faith.
How?
Yeah, I'm CPA...but I minored in SEX!!!
If you can't read and comprehend, you can't read and understand the Bible. It's not written at a 6th-grade level, either. You need some research skills to learn (for example) that the Greek word often translated as "dogs" really denotes male prostitutes.
In addition, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork." Knowledge and science that are true lead us to a greater appreciation of God and His greatness.
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
It is as though the 60's impulse for free love has mutated into the permissiveness of pornography.
My guess is they knew where they were going the whole time. :-)
With new sexual identies being invented faster than names for new countries, we may all have to go back to school for refresher courses in Which sex is which, what, why or how.
Discrimination against miners-just wait til the UMW hears about this! Oh, minors....never mind.
If only they would leave the kids alone!
You got in early on this one! LOL! Anyway, it reminds me of when I was in college and nearby UMass-Amherst had a sex ed course that was known throughout the area as "Holes and Poles."
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