William & Mary Puts on a Show
A sex show, that is. On Monday night,
the College of William & Mary hosted something called the Sex Workers Art Show.
Sparkling nipple adornments, feather boas, bare bottoms, erotic dances, striptease music and sex toys entertained a crowd of more than 400 who were packed into the auditorium of the University Center. Another 300 were turned away. The show attempted to empower the actors by portraying the realities of their careers.
A worthy cause, no doubt.
Naturally, the show has caused some controversy, according to the Virginia Gazette.
Ken Petzinger, a physics professor, was outraged to learn that the college had permitted such an event. He found out about it last Friday, too late to stop it. "I think it's a totally inappropriate use of student funds," Petzinger said. "It's in conflict with other values the college has."
Mr. Petzinger, by the way, is a Christian bigot who, when he learned that William & Mary planned to extend health care to the partners of gay and lesbian staff, organized a successful crusade against the plan, and managed to beat back health insurance!
Meanwhile, senior Sean Barker, a black studies major who organized the art show, defended it.
"It serves to deconstruct some of the assumptions we may have about sex workers," he said.
That's hilarious.
Virginia Walters, another student who helped organize the show, agreed.
"A really important aspect of this particular show is that it's not pornography," she said. "People also confuse 'sex positivity' with sex all the time, and that's not what this is about. It's about making your own choices."
Don't you hate it when people confuse "sex positivity" with sex?
And, of course, a sensitive man got all huffy:
...John Foubert, a professor in the School of Ed and faculty sponsor of One in 4, a student organization devoted to battling sexual assault on college campuses, felt compelled to give people more information.
I swear to God, you can't make this stuff up—"a professor in the School of Ed and faculty sponsor of One in 4," a group which makes the ludicrous claim that one in four college women will be the victims of rape or attempted rape. (If you want to know more, you could purchase one of the videos they sell for $125 on their website.)
And finally, a 75-year-old guy went to the show.
He was bothered by what he saw. "It's shocking they had this type of event for impressionable young people," the man said.
But it's all right for creepy old men to check out naked strippers making performance art with dildos.
Isn't it amazing how all the stereotypical types play their parts in such trumped-up dramas? The students say they're just deconstructing, the physics professor/religious bigot gets outraged, the ed school professor cares deeply about women, and a righteous but possibly pervy citizen grimly mutters his concern.
I swear, it's just like the '80s all over again. Next, someone will actually give a damn about Karen Finley.
