Online Comment of the Week

4/12/12 7:00pm

In response to "Ask the Thresher"(April 6, 2012)

I do not understand why all of a sudden people decide to intensely hate on Ares and here is why: First, Ares has traditionally given stupid advice about pretty much everything. This is like watching an episode of South Park and being insulted, considering the fact that you should know what South Park is. Am I defending him? No. The decision to write such unabashedly ignorant garbage was a poor call from an editor and they should have known better. But getting all fired up and resorting to insulting the writer with "you probably haven't had sex" comments doesn't do anything much for anyone. In the end, the Thresher is probably getting more publicity than it's had in a while, at least the most I recall since the freshman-writes-about-silly-opinions-on-NOD debacle two years ago.

Second, people seem to be forgetting that, this being Rice, the really pathetic and insulting aspect is not Ares's response, which is merely a classic mishap of someone trying offensive humor and failing, but the fact that a reader presumably sent such a question to a Thresher advice column. I want to believe it was a question sent as a joke, by a friend of the writers or someone in the Thresher when they simply needed to fill a space and more ads would look awkward because the alternative is that someone thought that this was an issue to be discussed in a public space instead of with a sexual partner. Heck, if you need a third-party perspective, at least go to the Women's Resource Center or get advice from a close friend.

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Mostly though, aside from this being a stupid medium for the issue, it also intensely bothers me that this implies that people at Rice are incredibly immature when it comes to sexuality. Clearly, the anger at this article implies there are at least a number of girls who deservedly find the claim of a period being considered "impure" wrong. This is a great thing given it's complete bullsh!t, but if this is really considered an issue by someone on campus then there are clearly people out there who feel a sense of inappropriateness about these issues enough to be afraid of discussing them with a sexual partner. And I guess I should have seen this considering how awkward Rice normally is when it comes to dating, but it is still bothersome. Seriously? Being afraid your sexual partner might find your body disgusting and having sex with you revolting is "Living on the edge?"

And why am I the only one bothered by this? Screw Ares, there's nothing surprising in his response. It's consistent with his inanity and as such, it is essentially a non-issue. But why, in this day and age, do we still have women who feel inappropriate about their body and sexuality? And at a place like Rice which prides itself in housing intelligent, independent, strong and mature individuals?

Anonymous

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