Money is the root of all evil.
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A recent survey revealed that 55% of adults believe that today’s youth will not achieve the same standard of living that the prior generation did. 55% of adults must have never stepped foot on one of today’s college campuses. Equipped with digital tools, brilliance, a luminous outlook on the world, and a disregard for the system we were born into millennials have the potential to be the most remarkable generation in America’s history.
We're all are familiar with the images of burning crosses, fire hoses, police dogs, and night sticks that are the images of an ancient past America where racism not only thrived, but was the law of the land. Today, as my sociology TA would say, that kind of "old fashioned racism" is dead and gone (I hope you hate the term "old fashioned racism" as much as I do). Because we no longer see aggressively overt racism on prime time tv many people are under the impression that racism no longer exists in the country: I mean hey the president is black, that says it all, right? What people don't realize is that racism is alive and well in the country, and just like any living thing racism has had to evolve so it could survive in the changing world.
Since I've been in college the most shocking thing I have experienced culturally is the openness in which sex is discussed. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't enjoying the arousing discussions (I'm sorry but I had to do it). I've learned more about sexual desire, health and wellness, contraceptive, and its effects socially in these three months than in the first 18 and a half months of my life. Before I got here most of what I had known - or really thought I had known - about sex was mostly from urban myth, social media, and mainstream media. When I got to the university of Iowa the first exposure I had was a course on sexual assault. I was shocked to learn over 1 in every 3 women experience sexual assault on campus: it's an epidemic. This lead to questions that led to answers that led to more questions and so on. Soon the thought came to me; why hadn't I learned all of this before?
We've all had that awkward moment when a sex scene comes on as we are watching a movie with our parents. Sex is most definitely one of, if not the most, hardest things to talk about with parents, and authority in general. I remember when my parents found a condom of mine I was embarrassed as hell, almost ashamed. Little did my parents know that I didn't really know the first thing about sex, I'd never even opened a condom at that point, and probably wouldn't have even been sure how to put it on. Now I know that seems hilarious, (and it is), but the point is that I was terrified of the subject. This is a large problem that adolescents are having in this country. How can we seriously expect to discuss problems such as abortion, women's reproductive health, and shoot, even marriage equality if we can't even teach young teenage boys how to use condoms. Right now there is a portion of American culture that shames sex. They say that sex before marriage is wrong, they shame "sluts", push to deny womens' rights to abortion and contraceptive, and preach against teaching about sex in school. The thing that this school of thought ignores is that sex is a basic human drive. It isn't something we invented and is hardly something that we have much control over. The more we keep kids in the dark the more we expose them to bad information. It also ignores the fact that the best way to learn is through experience (yes I am implying what you think I am implying). Studies show that schools that teach abstinence have higher teen pregnancy and std rates in their schools. Sex is a core human characteristic, and everybody should have the right information on it. I'm going to end with what concerns me most: the stereotypes and double standards that come with sex. We hold beliefs today that women who have sex a lot are sluts and are devalued and that men who have a lot of sex are of higher value. The negative effects of this double standard is obvious; it pressures boys into participating in sex before they are ready and prevents girls who are ready from exploring their sexuality in a safe way. It also leads to the idea that we can regulate a woman's body. Were I a woman today I would be infuriated at society, and the fact that what I am allowed to do with my body is up for national debate -it shouldn't be any of your business! It's also created an epidemic of sexual assault at college campuses. It's time we pull sex out of the taboo category. There, I said it -515 |
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October 2018
Matt BruceViva DSM!! |