To The Editor:

What is our society coming to that we are now forced into submission, listening to people talk about actions which should remain fundamentally private? I am writing this because of my true disgust at the notion of the so called “Sex Week”. While I do believe that everyone has the right to engage in activities of their own choosing, this is not a topic which needs to be publicly aired. Racy shirts reading “Sex Week Instant Gratification” do not reflect well upon anyone’s character or sense of decency. Nor will they aid in gaining of a person’s respect. Women today so often comment on the need to be treated as equals, yet the same women also allow themselves to be so easily demeaned through slogans such as the one on the “Sex Week” t-shirts (it was a woman, not a man who came up with the slogan for the tee-shirts). Portraying degrading messages, such as desire for instant gratification, signals the necessitation of being reduced to animalistic tendencies. While I understand it is a marketing tactic, it is one that I cannot respect. I once again would like to reiterate that I am not judging any private behaviors because frankly that is not my business, but rather objecting to the public and degraded notion of sex which is presented through “Sex Week”. Wendy Shalit makes a good point in her book A Return to Modesty in citing that cases of harassment have increased since the sexual revolution. In abstaining from “sex education” as a child she was able to avoid much of this harassment. Perhaps, instead of spending your week attending these lectures and activities, your time would be better spent reading Wendy Shalit’s book. Gaining insight into sexual activity and understanding the unintended consequences of actions such as those taken on during Sex Week.

Kelly McKallagat ’05