Posted on 10/17/2001 9:25:21 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
TownHall.com: Conservative Columnists: Brent Bozell
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Brent Bozell (back to story)
October 18, 2001
Sex wars at Penn State
Life at Penn State University is in sad shape, most noticeably the fabled Joe Paterno's team's attempt at playing the game of football. But off the field, matters are even worse. Take a look at this educational institution's sense of sexual morality, assuming it can even be said to have one.
In the fall of 2000, Penn State hosted a gathering with two names -- one being Womyn's Concerns, the other being unprintable because it contains a vulgar synonym for the vagina. The event received more than $9,500 in PSU funding. Thus far in 2001, the campus has hosted two more exceptionally distasteful sex-related events. Penn State is really into this stuff, it seems.
The Allentown, Pa., newspaper the Morning Call reported that the attractions at February's Sex Faire, which wasn't university-funded but was held at a PSU dormitory, included one game called Orgasm Bingo, another called Pin the Clitoris on the Vulva, and anatomically correct gingerbread men and women accompanied by an "Eat Me" sign.
Then, earlier this month, that shining star of American liberty, Hustler magazine's Larry Flynt, spoke at Penn State under the auspices of the university's Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment. The center's co-director described Flynt to CNSNews.com as "an exceedingly complex man who can't be easily categorized into black or white." Translation: If you think he's disgusting, you're just not enlightened enough to understand him.
In the account of the Penn State campus paper, some of what Flynt said at PSU dealt with the skin-magazine trade (he accused Hugh Hefner of "very much still living in the '50s," presumably because Playboy is more restrained than Hustler.) A lot of it didn't (he called President Bush an "idiot.")
But Flynt's remarks, no matter the topic, were sex-related for these simple reasons: Ultimately, he was invited to appear at Penn State (SET ITAL) only (END ITAL) because he is a public figure, and he is a public figure (SET ITAL) only (END ITAL) because he's an accomplished pornographer, and a trailblazer of a breathtakingly crude form of porn at that. If Flynt were an orthodontist, an insurance salesman or a bartender, no one would be interested in his political blatherings. The Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment certainly wouldn't be.
Penn State would surely tell us that to welcome Flynt is not to fully endorse what he represents, but what this taxpayer-funded institution is doing is to confer credibility on him, and respectability on the profession he champions. It explains why, as CNSNews.com reports, one result of Flynt's appearance may be that university representatives will face a grilling early next year when the state legislature holds appropriations hearings.
It's just another step in pornography's long march through the institutions.
The Comedy Central cable network runs a considerable amount of ultra-raunchy programming, so it's no surprise that the network's first original film, which goes into production early next year, will be called "Porn 'n' Chicken." The movie has a connection to the world of higher learning, since it's based, notes the entertainment Web site Zap2it.com, "on the true story of Yale's Porn 'n' Chicken Club ... an underground group that gathers weekly to eat fried chicken and watch pornography."
And the other day, a piece in the Sunday Times of London stated that "an estimated one in seven British teenagers are registered to check into the virtual Habbo hotel." And what happens at the Habbo? The teens "simulat(e) adult affairs by checking in ... under assumed names ... Girls using the site ... routinely offer strangers sexual favors, which they describe in lurid detail." The paper added, "Predatory adults appear to use the site to try to contact teenage girls."
Few in the entertainment community have done more in their careers to promote the culture of sexual permissiveness than has the performer Madonna. From the glorification of her erotic lifestyle to the bashing of religion in general, and the Catholic Church in particular, she has influenced an entire generation of youngsters to accept the lewd as normal.
There's a body count to quantify the consequences of Madonna's sexual promiscuity, though obviously it must not bother her one bit. The New York Post reports that a new biography of her reveals that she's had eleven abortions.
Ah, consequences. It often seems that there's nothing the makers of modern popular culture would rather do than portray sex, and that there's nothing that would bother them more than to talk about its consequences.
Brent Bozell is President of Media Research Center, a TownHall.com member group. Contact Brent Bozell
©2001 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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Standards are what is tolerated in an academic or social environment, by faculty and students alike. America has been engaged in a war for the culture for the last 40 years. The goings-on at Penn State stems from the philosophy of moral relativism. There seems to be a need for reform, or do you not have a problem with these classes?
Western civilization is based on Judeo-Christianity, and if we lose the base then we will be eclipsed by three Pagan cultures who haven't been aborting their children--Mandarin China, Hindu India, and Islam. They have no love for Christians, as witnessed by the millions of us they have been slaughtering. We need to get our act together.
This tiny minority obviously is immoral, but one can hardly claim that the other 44,900 students hold the same moral beliefs.
Why do the 44,900 students put up with that kind of garbage? Tolerance? I think it is demeaning to women, has nothing to do with education, yet this is a class offered to our young people...because??? Please tell me the benefit of offering this class to students?
This is not a class, it is a student organization. The controversy is over the funds they receive from mandatory student fees and taxpayer dollars. I see no benefit whatsoever to holding these events - I believe if these students want to do so they should raise the funds themselves instead of taking others' $$$ by force.
The goings-on at Penn State stems from the philosophy of moral relativism. There seems to be a need for reform, or do you not have a problem with these classes?
Again, not classes. JMJ, I don't like these people anymore than you do. I don't recognize their "right" to use my money for their causes, just as I have no right to use their money for my causes. I live my life based on moral absolutes regardless of my current surroundings, and suggest that there are plenty of people at every location who do the same. I further suggest that the people like me greatly outnumber the people described in this article. The largest organization at Penn State is the Newmans (Catholic Community).
to some "persons"...
michael jackson,
paula poundstone,
mr and mrs bill klinton,
and larry flynnt, are normal
Play Rutgers.
What is Hillary, Alex?
We have been noticing this. There will be consequences now and later.
Although I dread the thought of what they might come up with as a mascot.
Sickened and saddened...
I don't think you have been paying attention to the morals of this generation.
Okay. I still will not be sending my child to a college that allows that on campus. I thought I outlined why we need reform on campus and in America, but apparently you are to worried about me not judging Penn State.
The controversy is over the funds they receive from mandatory student fees and taxpayer dollars
There is also a controversy over the lack of standards, with respect to who does what on campus.
Again, not classes. JMJ, I don't like these people anymore than you do. I don't recognize their "right" to use my money for their causes, just as I have no right to use their money for my causes. I live my life based on moral absolutes regardless of my current surroundings, and suggest that there are plenty of people at every location who do the same. I further suggest that the people like me greatly outnumber the people described in this article. The largest organization at Penn State is the Newmans (Catholic Community).
Again, NittanyLion--then why do you not stand up if you don't like the actions of these people. Stand up and tell them their behavior is inappropriate for an educational environment where young skulls full of mush are *trying* to learn how to be adults. If the moral people far outnumber the amoral nitwits at Penn State, then why don't you guys do something about it?
I think this generation is going to surprise you, Don. Based on personal observation, I suspect it will be far more conservative than the last.
You're free to judge PSU as you see fit. I suggested you may hold a mistaken perception based on what gets reported in the media. While I see nothing but coverage of homicides and fires on the local Philly news each night, I don't hold the view that the overwhelming majority of Philadelphians are murderers or arsonists. The media doesn't report the 15,000 students that attend Palm Sunday Mass each year, but insists on reporting the 50 students at these ridiculous events.
If the moral people far outnumber the amoral nitwits at Penn State, then why don't you guys do something about it?
These people are not worth my time. I would sooner invest time in efforts to better myself than waste it dealing with 50 immoral twits whose minds will never be changed.
The decline of our college campuses is well documented in the archives here at FR. They need reform desperately--Penn State is no exception.
It would be a surprise. I mean that honestly. I work at a home for troubled boys. I have seen the young girls chasing them. I have had to break up these young couples, ages 15 or 16, up in our parking lot when they couldn't find a convenient lover's lane. Designer drugs are popular now amongst the young. I could go on, but the point is immorality is now no longer anything but having fun. And this now starts at a very early age, and continues up into the college years, and beyond.
i guess the thing that makes the greatest impression on me is how normal things are around here 99% of the time. the kids look normal, act normal (mostly -- when they are not throwing burning furniture out of the dorm rooms on to cops...) so what gives with the voice and power of this 0.5% as you call it (btw it seems that they are mostly womens groups that sponsor such things)?? have they been wronged by the school in the past or are they the garden variety infantile 'we invented sex and then made it better' folks who think they actually have something valid or unique to contribute to their surroundings?
I don't disagree with you, but I'd add college campuses are a representative sample of the US population as a whole. You may want to direct your efforts at a wider population than just that of universities. I'm curious to know what you suggest. In my mind, there are only two possible remedies:
-Cut off university/state funding to all student organizations - just remember that would mean conservative clubs get their dollars cut as well
-Protest against and shout down groups with whom you disagree
If a group such as this one raised their own money to hold these events, they do have a right to follow through with them. This is, of course, only the case on a campus that receives state or federal dollars. A private campus clearly can allow whatever events they choose.
Yep. The vast majority of students are conservative (particularly as a university campus goes), and the town is very conservative. The problem is when you have 45,000 people in one place you'll inevitably have a fringe element that makes a bad name for the rest. The media deems them newsworthy and so people's perceptions are skewed (they don't see the good folks). My theory on this particular fringe is that they crave the need to feel intellectual and better than the "normal folks", so they make up causes to rally around. Doesn't matter what the cause, so long as it's anti-mainstream.
As far as the administration goes, they are pathetically weak. But the problem they face is either defund all organizations or leave them all in place. Personally, I'd defund them all and let each organization collect fees from members in order to operate. Incidentally, there was a lawsuit (Oklahoma State?) last year that went to the US Supremes, students wanted to prohibit their student fees from being allocated to causes in which they didn't believe. The Supremes found against them.
I'm familiar with a similar place. You must have incredible patience.
What I see is a lot of young people who are products of a divorced family or who are disgusted by the protests against Vietnam. They generally see the mistakes of their parents' generation and are determined not to repeat them. I hear them talk about staying home with their kids instead of working, making sure their marriage lasts, etc. I think there's still hope :-)
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