Into the Void

Dysfunction and Censorship

March 21st, 2009

Letter to a good Christian woman:

I think we can all agree that consistantly objectifying women is not just wrong, it is dysfunctional. By “objectifying” I mean that the viewer isn’t concerned with the woman’s needs and desires but only with his own. This lack of empathy, when taken to extremes, is the hallmark of a sociopath or a narcissistic personality.

In Muslim cultures this objectification is so ubiquitous that the women must wear burqas to protect themselves from being attacked. Displaying the female form, the clerics claim, incites sexual excitement in men and invites rape.

We heard this same argument when miniskirts were popular in the US.

The United States actually has a great deal more censorship than most European countries. It started with the Comstock Laws, laws that were intended to oppress women by denying them healthcare information. In Europe, casual nudity is unremarkable and nobody is inappropriately aroused by it, while in the U.S. a little too much neck or leg on TV provokes a great outcry.

If I’m understanding you correctly, you are telling us that Americans are incapable of appreciating the human form, male or female, without being sexually overwhelmed. Does your minister also promote rape? I hope not.

Prehistoric fertility totems, ancient Greek statues, and Renoir’s nudes: if you have your way they will be censored along with the sleazy garbage that you and I don’t care to look at.

Tags: Burqua, censorship, Comstock laws, Oppression, Reproductive rights, Women's studies
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Stone Him With Stones

March 19th, 2009

Just in case anyone is still complaining that Islamists are violent, here’s something from the KJV bible. It’s pretty clear what a good Christian is supposed to do to non-Christians.

Deuteronomy 13

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth;
8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:
9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.