Last post, I shared the background and abstract of this paper, sent to me by the author in response to an article I wrote for The Curator. Here is the paper in full. I hope it will help people to wrestle with this issue not just on the basis of morality, but on the undeniable psychological findings of this professor and psychiatrist, treating a woman with a past in the porn industry and the effect her past has had on her teenage daughter.

 

Toward the bottom of the paper, there is an area for discussion. I enourage you to respond.

 

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SASHA GREY, SIGMUND FREUD AND JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOERTE
THE PRIMAL SCENE REVISITED:

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In May 2009, I wrote an article for The Curator, “The Dehumanization of Sasah Grey,” in response to an article I read in Rolling Stone about the reigning princess of porn (April, 2009). Some of you may recall that I reposted that article here on Ferry Dust recently. Part of what prompted me to repost it here was that, because of Google alerts, the article was getting some attention from people who came across it while researching the porn industry and, more specifically, Sasha Grey.

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I'm sure you've seen it.  It's been all over the news.  A new study claims "children of lesbian couples do well."  You can read the study for yourself.  I hadn't read the study but when I first heard about it, I was skeptical.  Why?  Because families are not socially constructed but divinely designed.  And when human beings function outside of God's design they don't do well, rather they break down.  Hurt, pain, and dysfunction follow. 

Today at the Acton University, I was able to sit in on Dr. Jennifer Roback-Morse's lecture, "Beyond Contracts:  Marriage and Sustainable Markets."  She addressed the study and has outlined "8 reasons why the study does not prove anything about the functioning of the children of lesbians": 

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The Twitterverse exploded Wednesday night when what should have been a perfect game thrown by the virtually unknown pitcher, Armando Galarraga, was inexplicably denied by a blown call from umpire Jim Joyce.

With only one out to go in his quest for a perfect game (that’s when you retire all 27 batters you face in a row), Galarraga induced a difficult grounder to his first baseman, Miguel Cabrera, who played the groundball nicely and threw it to Galarraga who was scrambling to cover first base. Although the play appeared to be close, it was obvious (even to the naked eye), that the throw had beaten the runner to the bag and Galarraga got his foot on the bag before the runner. However, umpire Joyce called the baserunner safe, taking away the perfect game, the no-hitter, and quickly stamping his identity as the umpire who stole a historic night from Galarraga, the Detroit Tigers and Major League Baseball.

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As I sit here and reflect on manhood and masculinity, I’m bothered once again by the double standard we still painfully have in our American society. What double standard you ask? Well, the one that says almost any man can have as much sex as he wants to and is considered a “stud;” shoot, there are even other men who might want to take classes from him. But when a woman has that same amount of sex or less, she is considered a “slut,” “whore,” and/or even a “bitch.” Even worse, that label sticks with her for almost a lifetime and unless she has a real integrated identity and knows herself well, that label can do disastrous things to the self-image, her social context, and even career.

Where might this even apply? Well, this week I watched Tiger Woods basically “come back.” He had his news conference seeming very contrite and open about what he had done. Woods appeared as though he had “learned” from his mistakes and was making a mense about the whole thing; while reports of his wife and pending divorce rumored around, Woods still seems confident about his game and life moving forward. Now, let me make it clear, I am not hating on Tiger, I think he has every right to be forgiven and “start over”…but so do women.

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Much has been made of the Tiger Woods’ scandal, his subsequent departure from and now return to golf, and the various cultural fallouts of the whole overplayed rigmarole. But nothing in the whole scandal has really interested me as much as this strangely mesmerizing ad from Nike, which aired a few times this week on ESPN and the Golf Channel and has since gone viral online (an advertiser’s dream scenario). Here’s the ad:

The 30-second spot features a silent, stoic, ashamed-looking Woods, accompanied by a decontextualized audio clip of his father Earl Woods from beyond the grave. Everything about the ad–the black and white, the slow zoom on Tiger’s face, the what-looks-like-a-golf-course setting, the strange audio clip, the minimalism and even the calculated light flashes at the end–works perfectly to create a strange half minute of arresting ambiguity that leaves people wondering: what was that??

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My recent debate with James Corbett on the topic, "Is God the Best Explanation for Moral Values?", has generated quite a stir. A number of people from various backgrounds and beliefs have chimed in with their thoughts, including a popular atheist blogger, a Christian science-fiction writer, a Christian postmodernist, the "Apologetics Junkie," and the Saddleback College paper (the debate was held at Saddleback College).

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Here is Part 1 of the debate between Sean McDowell and James Corbett on the question, "Is God the Best Explanation for Moral Values?" To view Part 2, click on "continue reading."

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Next month I will be debating James Corbett from Capistrano Valley High School on the topic: "Is God the Best Explanation for Moral Values." This promises to be an interesting and informative evening! Jim got his Ph.D from Ohio State University and has taught for 37 years. The debate will be held at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, on Friday, February 26 from 7 to 9:30 pm. If you're interested in attending, you can get more information from my website, where I've posted a pdf announcement of the event. If you can't attend in person, be sure to watch it live right here at ConversantLife.com.

 

Last night, my parents and I attended both of their church's Christmas Eve services, because my mom is the organist and my dad was reading Scripture. As I usually do when I visit my hometown, I brought my high school friend, Chris, to church with me. Chris has Cerebral Palsy, and the house where he lives does not have a ramp. He has to be carried down about eight steps every time he goes out, which is not very often at all. In fact, he tells me that sometimes the only time he goes out is when my dad picks him up for church.

After the second service, my dad and I planned to drive Chris home and then head home for a late dinner with my mom, who would be waiting for us, oyster stew ready to go. (Since we were bringing Chris and she had to be there early to rehearse with the musicians, we had driven separately to church). But something came up that was not part of our plan: a flat tire, just when we were nearing Chris's house. So, Dad pulled in to a well-lit shopping center in this rough section of town, and we both rolled up our sleeves and got busy changing the tire.

We pulled Chris's wheel chair out of the trunk in order to get to the spare, setting it behind the car. As we began to jack up the car, I noticed a steady stream of cars processing by us from the shopping center. At first, I was mystified at why there would be all these cars there on Christmas Eve night; the center was clearly closed for business. Then it dawned on me. "Dad, is there a church that meets back there?" "Yup," he replied, turning the jack.

I watched car after car drive right by us, having just been to their Christmas Eve service. From where they sat as they drove by, they would have seen a man, a woman and a wheelchair - and perhaps the other man sitting in the front seat. Yet not one person stopped or even slowed down for us. I guess, like us, they had some place to be. I guess that even though they had just heard the message of Christ's birth and sung about the desolation of there being no room at the inn, there was no urge to stop and offer a helping hand to these folks they saw in twenty-something degree weather.

Not that we needed the help. I'm sure if anyone had stopped, my dad would have thanked them and told them we had it under control, they could go on, "but God bless you and Merry Christmas." But the thing is, no one stopped, and as I watched these cars pass us by, not even acknowledging that we were there changing a tire late at night on Christmas Eve, my heart broke, not because we needed help, but because no one even offered.

Less than an hour before our Christmas Eve flat tire, I heard these words sung:

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.

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