Followup Showdown Roundup II

[vinnie_tesla]

Some months ago, my discussion of Evangelical sex-advice site The Marriage Bed provoked a visit from co-author Paul Byersley, who offered a legitimate criticisn of one of the points I'd made:

Comments

[fierceawakening]

I definitely agree with you. I have a vivid memory of making out with an ex-boyfriend in a hot tub, while he contentedly enjoyed the kissing and I whined "When can we go in to bed" while he protested that he wanted to linger in the moment for a while more, and while more, and... Until I finally practically dragged him inside.

[vinnie_tesla]

newsfuck has given me a lot of insight into how this gender-stereotyping crap works with pungent, fiercely smart pieces like this one.

Basically, the game goes like this:
1) Eliminate all all the women who don't fit your preconceptions. They are clearly broken or anomalous.
2) Boy, all the women left are remarkably similar to each other, aren't they? You must have discovered a Basic Biological Truth! That was easy, wasn't it?

[laurenpburka]

Ah, yes. Observer bias. I had to write a rejection letter to someone whose story stated that bonobos were the only animals other than humans to have sex for pleasure rather than reproduction. I knew this was wrong, but I wanted some hard data (or at least the half-hard stuff you get from WikiPedia.) I went to check out their article on Animal Sexuality. It's rather astonishing to see how thoroughly even the keenest observers of the animal world have got it all wrong because they couldn't get past their own assumptions about sex.

[vinnie_tesla]

I think it may have been you on an earlier occasion who pointed out what a fantastically ludicrous assertion that is, as if tree shrews (or what have you) kept their minds fixed on propagating the species throughout the act.

In fact, it occurs to me that you could make the opposite case--that the gods have endowed every living creature with the capacity to enjoy sex, but only humans are capable of investing it with duty and responsibility instead.

[rvandeuren]

"... if a woman isn't interested in sex, it's because her libido is low; if a man isn't interested in sex, it's because his wife is failing to attract him." --> Glad it isn't just me who notices this slant in society.
Kudos!