Flutterby™! : QOTD 2004-05-20 16:25:40.634737+00

QOTD

2004-05-20 16:25:40.634737+00 by Dan Lyke 7 comments

Proof, once again, that Republicans just don't get it. I've got no problems with gun shows at government owned facilities, but I have to pass along this little exchange from the debate resulting in gun shows being banned and the Exotic Erotic ball being allowed at San Francisco's Cow Palace:

"You are voting to keep live sex acts in a state facility going on," Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside (San Diego County), told his colleagues. Morrow also passed out advertisements for the event, which takes place in October, on the Senate floor.

In response, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, deadpanned: "I've never heard of any kids on a playground killed by a live sex act."

Excellent riposte, thanks for highlighting it! Wonder if Morrow's ads encouraged anyone to attend...

This fall will be my 4th EE Ball - anyone wanna tag along? (I could use some creative help coming up with costumes over the summer, by the way. I'd like to use more of that flashing wire stuff in creative ways, and that needs some lead-time for ordering.)

#Comment Re: made: 2004-05-20 23:54:40.839456+00 by: crasch [edit history]

Hmm...I'm all for allowing both the gun show and EE to be hosted there. However, although kids may not have been killed on a playground by a live sex act, I think it could be reasonably argued that AIDS, herpes (and the other STD's), and teen pregnancies result, in part, from a casual attitude toward sex that is promulgated by cultural events like the EE ball. Now, I happen to think that the joys of sex outweigh the risks, just as I think the benefits of gun ownership outweight the risks. But I don't think that the Republican senator is being entirely unreasonable in pointing out the discrepancy in the government's treatment of the two kinds of risks.

I think you'll find it difficult to come up with a legitimate study that shows that students who've been exposed to safer sex education have higher unplanned pregnancy rates or sexually transmitted disease rates than those who've had sex ed which is based around abstinence.

#Comment Re: made: 2004-05-21 01:27:19.72569+00 by: crasch [edit history]

I agree with you regarding safer sex education. However, I think that there is a causal link between an an increased risk of disease and a large number of sexual partners, drug use (including alcohol), and certain sexual practices (anal sex, sex involving blood, etc.) My perception is that many of the participants in EE ball encourage many of those risky behaviors. It would be interesting to do an age/ income/race matched study comparing the STD disease rates in the EE ball crowd and the general population.

Note that I don't think it would be "bad" if it turned out that the EE crowd had a higher incidence of STD/death than a control population. The fun of sex may well make it worth the increased risk. And like a I said, I would prefer both gun shows and the EE ball to be allowed. However, I do think that the bureaucrats controlling the Cow Palace apply different, stricter standards to gun shows.

While pro-sex activism is my thing, I can also see crasch's point - very clearly, in fact. I'm not a gun nut (you'll have to look to my uncle for that), but I'll admit that I like guns - and that I believe gun safety awareness/instruction would provide similar benefits to safer sex ed education.

My perception is that many of the participants in EE ball encourage many of those risky behaviors.

well, let's see, I guess I'm appointed the resident expert, having attended for the last several years; let's see... Did I see people both naked and in outlandish sexually-explicit costumes? Yes. Did I see performers writhing and costume contest participants rubbing their hands on themselves and others in suggestive ways? Yes. Did I see people watching others be spanked or lightly smacked in the booths in the "Fetish Room"? Yes. Did I see people hugging in groups, and kissing multiple others? Yes. Did I see anyone engaging in (or encouraging?) risky sexual behaviors? No, I don't think so. In fact, they gave out condoms at the drop of a hat: performers would toss handsful from the stage, in special commemorative wrappers. No one groped me (without asking first, anyway).

From what I've seen, it's a costume party for adults: raucous, suggestive, and explicit within elastic boundaries. What you might see as people encouraging risky behaviors, I might see as "staid, normally unadventurous folks cutting loose and playing poseur, trying on what it might feel like to be wild and crazy, yet in a safe and supportive environment". While I wouldn't take my 14-year-old son to attend, I wouldn't mind my 17-year-old attending, if there weren't age restrictions.

I hope that was more light than heat. And I could still use some costuming help and ideas this summer. :-)

I haven't been to the Exotic Erotic Ball, and I know that there's less and less overlap with the portion of the San Francisco "sex positive" folks that I hang out with, but in my experience getting large groups of people together is an opportunity for education, and San Franciscans take any opportunity they can to push safer sex.

However, I can accept that crasch's argument may be true, because either way no stronger case can be made for banning the Exotic Erotic Ball than for banning gun shows, and the lesson remains: Don't respond to one stupid argument with another stupid argument.

(Grrr... Sorry if I seem testy in this, I've been having an email exchange with one of those people who thinks it's their moral duty to bait the child-free. That's fine, and I should just learn to ignore them and they'll go away, but when they're starry-eyed 20 year olds with a pocket full of bad statistics I keep thinking I can do a little right in the world. Sigh.)