If you believe in abstinence until marriage, I think you’re scared and repressed.

Honestly, you abstainers, why knock something you haven’t tried? Sex is wonderful.

I see it this way: if I’m going to sit for hours in the library and study for midterms, spend an hour on the elliptical because I sat for hours, and eat food in the dining halls because my parents wanted me to have a meal plan, I should at least allot myself thirty minutes of intimacy.

If the prudes and fanatics prefer not to masturbate or orgasm, that’s on them. Not only are they missing out, but they’re fighting a losing battle. Biology is hard to beat. We are programmed to want sex. And honestly, I’m tired of religion denying people their basic, biological rights.

Still, I understand their pleas of “The media is so evil. We’re rebelling against society’s horrible standards. We believe a woman is worth more than her sexuality.”

Yeah, I agree, but the facts are clear - pledges of abstinence are empty promises.

Sex abstainers are six times as likely to engage in oral sex (head = STDs) than sex enjoyers, and they are less likely to use a condom when they finally have sex (on average just 18 months later than non-pledgers.) Oh, and rates of sexual transmitted diseases are equal in abstainers and enjoyers alike.

(Plus, didn’t Jamie-Lynn Spears shun premarital sex?)

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In an article in the DP today, the Penn Christian Association’s Reverend Beverly Dale was quoted as she discussed Christianity, sexuality, and Penn. I don’t hear those three words together especially often, but I definitely have seen them grouped together before.

I had the good fortune to wander, by way of random listserve, into a Queer Christian Fellowship discussion last semester. RevBev herself sat at the head of the table and, over a hearty homemade QCF-sponsored dinner, led attendees in a talk about the Bible and homosexuality. Equipped with Bibles and multiple texts presenting different interpretations of key passages, she explained exactly how faith, gay identity, and the Bible all fit together.

RevBev serves as an example to other leaders on campus. If there’s any way to reach Penn students, it’s certainly through food and good, solid arguments.
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