when politicians try to police our sex lives
By Dr. Charlie Glickman • Sep 4th, 2007 • Category: PoliticsOK, so I’m sure that you’ve seen lots of posts about all of the politicians who get caught doing exactly the thing that they rail against and/or pass laws against. But here’s a quick review of a recent few (excerpted from the Blowfish Blog):
Senator Larry Craig; Republican from Idaho; massive anti-gay voting record; got caught trying to pick up a man in a public bathroom in the Minneapolis airport.
David Vitter, Republican senator from Louisiana, who built a career supporting abstinence-only sex education, opposing same-sex marriage, and generally trying to legislate sexual morality . . . and was recently identified as (and has admitted to being) a client of the D.C. Madam.
Right-wing evangelical preacher Ted Haggard, preaching about the evils of homosexuality and supporting a ban on same-sex marriage . . . having regular sex with a gay male prostitute.
Republican Congressman Mark Foley, pushing for laws to protect minors from sex predators on the Internet . . . sending sexually explicit and seductive emails and instant messages to underage pages.
Bob Allen, Republican representative in the Florida House and co-chair of McCain’s presidential campaign, sponsoring a bill to tighten Florida’s public sex laws . . . getting arrested for offering a male cop $20 to blow him in a public bathroom.
And this is just in the last year. Lots of other people have written about why they think this keeps happening. I’ve read theories about it being compensation. I’ve read articles suggesting that it’s the equivalent of a binge-purge. I’ve even heard some people suggest that these folks are turned on by the forbidden nature of what they want to do. But frankly, I don’t think we can ever know why someone does anything unless they tell us themselves. In my experience, human motivations for anything are always more complex than a soundbite or blog can encompass.
But having said that, I think that we need to do something about this pattern. So here’s my suggestion: Anytime anyone suggests a law against a consensual sexual act between adults, they need to start wearing one of those GPS ankle bracelets they use to keep track of folks after they get out of jail. And maybe we can track them online. (Google maps to the rescue!) I also think we could make all of their email and cellphone logs public records.
Why am I suggesting this (even in a tongue-in-cheek way)? Because I think that if politicians or preachers want to throw stones, they need to live in glass houses. I think it’s pretty reasonable to expect them to live up to the standards that they want to impose on the rest of us. It’s not a perfect solution by any means, but maybe it would keep some of these folks from trying to regulate our lives.
And yes, laws against non-consensual sex don’t fall into this category. But imagine, if you can, what it would be like if all of the folks who make the laws were also complying with them. What a wonderful word that would be.
Dr. Charlie Glickman >> Dr. Charlie Glickman has been working at Good Vibrations since 1996, when he joined the staff at our Berkeley store. Currently, he is our Education Program Manager and (among other things) runs our in-store After Hours workshop program, our Off-Site Sex Education Program, trains our Sex Educator-Sales Associates and writes copy for our website. In 2005, Charlie received his doctorate in Adult Sexuality Education from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he offers classes on sexuality for psychotherapists and workshops on teaching for sex educators.
All posts by Dr. Charlie Glickman
So true… Amazingly so.