Family Foundation of Kentucky Calls Me Out

I spoke at the University of Kentucky a few days ago as part of their Sex Week. The Family Foundation of Kentucky was terribly upset about the Week’s various activities, insulting the faculty organizer and demanding the school repudiate the whole thing.

FFK says it is astonished and confused by the Week’s goal, which is to increase sexual literacy. Sarcastically, they wonder “That’s right. Today’s college students apparently don’t know enough about sex. If you didn’t get that memo, don’t worry, neither did we.”

What would make FFK think college students know enough about sex? Like most “family” oriented morality groups, they constantly decry our youth’s high rates of STDs, unplanned pregnancy, and abortion. And like most of these anti-sex organizations, they apparently believe that information about sex creates problems, rather than preventing or solving them.

Ironically, on the very day they were criticizing the idea of increasing college students’ sexual knowledge, they were advertising Honeymoon for Life marriage enrichment seminars. They promise to teach about how communication really works; conflict resolution skills; and the real selling point, how to “keep sex and romance alive.”

These are GREAT goals, and I agree that the lack of this information is often the source of problems in marriage. In fact, the lack of this information often destroys relationships that could have worked.

And it’s exactly this information that Sex Week provides students on college campuses across America. Programs attacked by social conservatives and religious fundamentalists.

My only question is, why does FFK want to withhold this precious information from young people until AFTER they marry and run into trouble? If you claim to believe that marriage is important and special, why make marital success unnecessarily difficult, and then sell people the solution—via marriage seminars and advice on getting more involved with their church?

Oh wait…now I get it.

Those hypocritical, entrepreneurial bastards.

 

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Dr Marty Klein
October 11th, 2009
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Sexual Intelligence is republished with permission.

Dr. Marty Klein is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Certified Sex Therapist, and sociologist with a special interest in public policy and sexuality. He has written 6 books and over 100 articles about sexuality. Each year he trains thousands of professionals in North America and abroad in clinical skills, human sexuality, and policy issues.

Award-Winning Books by Dr. Klein
Ask Me Anything
Beyond Orgasm: Dare to be Honest About the Sex You Really Want
America's War on Sex
Sexual Intelligence: Politics, Culture, the Media, and Sex

Dr Klein also publishes award-winning audios for professionals and lay people.