Posted on February 10 at 10:58 p.m.Suggest removal

I too find this offensive. Regardless of whether Mr. Crabtree promotes the use of the laundry room for sexual escapades, consensual or otherwise, I would have hoped that a student newspaper (which, in the same issue, ran an article on raising awareness of sexually abusive relationships) would have the good sense to stay away from even the potential interpretation of rape. 1 out of every 4 women is sexually assaulted on a college campus. Wouldn't the Daily's time and efforts be better spent on promoting the value of OU's female students and encouraging them to protect themselves from danger? As a female student myself, it disturbs me to think that I don't have the right to perform routine activities on campus without the risk of male students objectifying my body.

(As an aside, I'd also like to point out to "SeamusMcCallahan" that most rapists probably wouldn't stop to pick up a condom en route to sexual assualt, regardless of its purchase price.)

On

Posted on November 5 at 7:46 p.m.Suggest removal

Since it seems that your article derives several of its arguments from your inexperience with abstinence and those who practice it, you may want to reconsider your premise in light of certain facts. Though you fail to mention it in any significant way, many people have been scarred and broken by mistakes they wish they hadn't made. I am one of those people. I used to be sexually active, but no longer. Wounded by men who treated me like trash and used my feelings for them to take advantage of me, I voluntarily gave up "the most basic bliss of the human condition" in favor of my self-esteem. Now, I too am in a committed long-distance relationship with someone I love (who also has a sexual past that has left deep scars. We have never had sex. And we won't, unless we get married, because we believe, in light of having experienced sex in the wrong way, that some things are worth waiting for.

Before you judge me, realize that just because I'm not currently having sex doesn't mean I'm prudish and sexually dead inside. On the contrary, I can't wait to experience that moment with someone I truly care about. But it won't be happening without a serious commitment. You may pity those who are virgins on their wedding night, but I am envious of them. They will have the joy of belonging exclusively to the love of their life, of giving all of themselves to the only person who will know them on that level, and (if they're very lucky) receiving that same gift in return. Talk about trust.

So before you write sex off as unemotional and purely physical, before you assume that whatever feels good is the right decision, consider those who thought the same thing, until they got their heart broken. And consider how some people, upon discovering that sex is actually something precious, found redemption in abstinence.

On