Mona Charen

Majoring In Sex

IMAGINE A YOUNGSTER home from college circa 1976. Her father asks amiably, "How are your studies going?" The young lady responds, "Well, I'm majoring in sex." Depending upon the father's view of premarital sex, his response might range from horror to mild amusement. But never, never would a father in mid-'70s America have imagined that his daughter was speaking the literal truth.

Those were halcyon, innocent days compared to today's academy. Today, leading universities will take tens of thousands of your dollars to offer courses (and sometimes even majors) in such subjects as "Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Studies," "Queer Lives" and "Sexuality Today."

According to The New York Times, at the University of Virginia, co-educational pairs of students use Play-Doh to mold genitals. "If we can discuss the heart, stomach and elbow without embarrassment," explains Susan Tate, who teaches the Play-Doh course, "we should be able to talk about the penis, clitoris and vagina without laughing."

This is an academic subject? How are the students graded? one shudders to ask. Those who show the least embarrassment get A's?

At Brown University, an Ivy League school, students can major in something called "Sexuality and Society." Now, even if one could imagine a serious scientific study of sexuality within the context of psychology or physiology, it's difficult to imagine that there would be sufficient material to comprise a major. But the inclusion of the word "society" gives the game away. This is not an academic discipline. This is propaganda.

The New York Times reports that among the required courses in this field of study are the biology of gender (whatever that means), an introduction to gay and lesbian literary and cultural studies, the history of sexuality, and a course called Queers and Culture (which appears on the student's transcript as "Identities/ Communities," the better to bamboozle future employers).

One former student who majored in Sexuality and Society, and who now works for a gay health center in Boston, was lavish in his praise of his undergraduate training. "What I really like about queer theory is that rather than looking at minority or dissident sexuality vs. the mainstream, we question a lot of basic assumptions we have about sexuality," Marshall Miller told the Times.

Ordinary Americans, hearing about this perversion of higher education, must think that universities are off in some peculiar world of their own. But consider the case of the State University of New York. The New Paltz campus hosted a conference on women's sexuality titled "Revolting Behavior: The Challenge of Women's Sexual Freedom." Topics covered included sex toys and sadomasochism -- both of which were enthusiastically endorsed by the "scholars" involved. The title of the sadomasochism lecture was "Safe, Sane and Consensual S&M: An Alternative Way of Loving."

One of the members of the board of trustees of the State University of New York, Dr. Candace de Russy, appointed by Republican Gov. George Pataki (elections do matter), attended the conference and immediately called for the resignation of the president of the university, Roger Bowen, who gave opening remarks at the conference. De Russy called the conference "a travesty of academic standards" that had "absolutely nothing to do with the college's undergraduate mission."

Obvious, one would have thought. But de Russy was slapped down by the other trustees and by the ever-reliable New York Times editorial page. The conference on "women's sexuality" may have made some people uneasy, sniffed the Times, but it deserves protection "on grounds of free speech and academic freedom." De Russy, the voice of the establishment admonished, should halt her "destructive assaults on the institution she is supposed to be safeguarding."

Something queer is going on here, and it isn't just queer theory. America's elites have completely lost their judgment and common sense. College is a unique opportunity for students to revel in the riches of learning passed down through three millennia. There is more beauty, mystery and wonder in the world than any student can hope to taste even in four full years. To waste any of that precious (and expensive) time on nonsense is almost criminal.

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