This
is J writing. . . finally! It has been so long since I have written a post but
K told me that I have three book reports to write and they were all due
yesterday. Oops. Now that I am on
vacation I am trying to catch up on all the books that I put off reading while
I was in school. My next blog post will
be about “Gay, Straight and the Reason Why” by Simon LeVay which is a book that
explores a lot of the research that has been conducted into sexual
orientation. However, the first book
that I read this summer was “America’s War on Sex” by Marty Klein; it was
published in 2006, before “Sexual Intelligence.”
“America’s
War on Sex” was essentially a summary of the immense discomfort that our
culture experiences in regards to sex and how that discomfort manifests in an
attack on sex and sexual expression. He
covers a variety of topics relating to sex and sexuality such as: sex education
(with a focus on abstinence-only education programs), pornography, gay
marriage, swing clubs, abortion and reproductive rights, and mass media and
censoring. The book is a sort of A-Z of
every way in which the right is attempting to limit your sexual expression and
sexual freedom. Dr. Klein makes no
attempt to hide his disdain for right wing leaders like George W. Bush, Rick
Santorum, Jerry Falwell and others who he sees as responsible for attacking a
citizen’s right to freely express themselves sexually without interference from
the government.
The
main theme of the book seemed to be that regardless of what your own level of
comfort is with someone else’s sexuality, this is America and people should
have the right to express themselves freely and openly so long as they are not
harming others. This closely dovetails
with an important point in the book, which is that those who are not at ease
with their own sexuality see attacks on their way of life everywhere – in the
media, on billboards, in sex education programs, in the mere existence of
pornography, and in books like “Fifty Shades of Gray.” Because some people are so uncomfortable with
the fact that they are sexual beings, they are unable to simply recognize and
then dismiss those parts of the culture that are sexual; they must seek to
control and limit the sexual expression of others in an attempt to protect
themselves from what they see as a “sexual onslaught” in which they are being
constantly attacked. Dr. Klein sees this
need to control the sexuality of others by limiting their rights to free sexual
expression by watching pornography, going to strip clubs, et cetera as
distinctly “un-American.” After all,
part of living in a pluralistic society means tolerating those with different
views and expressions than you.
I
personally think that Dr. Klein did an excellent job of explaining how the law
and especially the U.S. Supreme Court shape our sexual culture through their
interpretation of the First Amendment.
The foreword to the book was written by the president of the ACLU and
specifically commended Dr. Klein for the excellent job that he did covering how
the law is involved in shaping what sort of sexual expression is permissible
and where it is permissible. One thing
that I think that he somewhat glossed over is the fact that while the Supreme
Court has been the most protective branch of government in terms of allowing
people the right to sexual expression (even if what they have done has been
pretty limited) they are essentially the last resort; these sorts of cases in
which a person is not being permitted to express themselves freely only make it
to the Supreme Court because of laws that were passed by legislatures and
signed into law by governors or presidents.
If we convince our elected officials to not give into the pressure
placed on them by those who are too fragile to handle other people’s sexual expression,
the Supreme Court would not have to “put it’s foot down” in order to protect
our First Amendment rights. For example,
there is currently a circuit-split (when two circuit courts rule on the same
issue in different ways) regarding whether a state may pass a law that makes it
illegal to sell sex toys. Texas and
Alabama have both passed laws making the sale of sex toys illegal. The 11th Circuit struck down the
Texas law finding that it was unconstitutional but the 5th Circuit
upheld Alabama’s law finding that it was reasonable. You can read more about this issue here if
you are interested: http://newyorklawschool.typepad.com/leonardlink/2008/02/a-circuit-split.html
The bottom-line is that this case only matters because states like Alabama and
Texas are bothering to pass these laws that then call into question whether or
not a person has a constitutionally protected right to buy sex toys or not; if
state’s would not pass these ridiculous laws then it wouldn’t matter whether
you had a constitutional right to buy a sex toy.
Another
important point from this book is the extreme misinformation that is proffered
by those uncomfortable with sex and sexuality in their attempt to limit the
sexual expression and freedom of others.
He discusses the immense quantity of evidence that has been put forward
against abstinence-only education and the fact that the right continues to tout
abstinence-only education as the only effective means of preventing pregnancy
and disease. Dr. Klein cites a figure that abstinence fails 88% of the time; he
gets this from the fact that 88% of those people making an
“abstinence-until-marriage pledge” will have sex before they are married. Furthermore, those breaking the pledge are
statistically less likely to use safe and effective forms of contraception
and/or to use the contraception properly.
Another interesting piece of misinformation that Dr. Klein refers to is
the idea that pornography causes violence or sexual assault; peer-reviewed
studies tend to show the exact opposite which is that access to pornography
reduces the number of sexual assaults in a community. The book is loaded with misinformation
commonly volunteered by the right as well as citations to peer-reviewed studies
that refute this misinformation.
The
last really important point that I got from the book is the way that the “war
on sex” has been framed by those warring against sex and sexual
expression. It is framed, according to
Dr. Klein, as an “us versus them” battle in which the “us” are the “righteous
crusaders” who are uncomfortable with sex set out to save the community from
the “them” who are perverts who do things like watch pornography, go to strip
clubs, swing with their neighbors, and teach their children about contraception
– you know who you are ;-) This framing
has the effect of making this small but vocal minority seem as if they have the
moral high-ground which makes those people who consume pornography, go to strip
clubs, swing, et cetera refuse to speak up and stand up for themselves since
they are afraid of being attacked and smeared by those in this small minority. One of my favorite examples from this section
of the book was about a populated place that had many residents as well as strip
clubs. When the area became incorporated
one of the first acts of the new city council was to pass zoning laws making it
illegal for the strip clubs to continue to operate in their city. In this decision the city council framed
those that went to the strip clubs as “them” – perverts coming from other
places to go to the strip clubs – but Dr. Klein asks the question “Who did this
city council think were keeping these strip clubs in business? Probably the
people who lived within a few miles of the clubs.”
While
the book was a bit disheartening because it reminded me of all of the ways in
which sexual expression is limited and about the constant attack that sexual
expression and freedom is under, I ultimately think it is a worthwhile
read. I think it is important to be
knowledgeable about the constant attack on sexuality and sexual expression so
that we can defend our right to express ourselves sexually in ways that are not
unfairly limited by the government.
