Worthiness Was Based On Preexisting Religious And Work Related Values That Had Been In Place For Centuries

Katy Perry's new song, "I kissed a girl" is getting a good bit of flack from critics. Both religious leaders and child psychologists have criticized Perry for a host of reasons which include, but are not limited to, encouraging promiscuity and homosexuality. When are the closed minded souls of this country going to learn? I'm not attempting to be rhetorical here (well, maybe), but still, I would like to know how many unintentional teen-pregnancies and STD epidemics it will take before this pompous group of self-righteous thinkers accept that denial, discouragement, and namely abstinence only education DOESN'T WORK.

I'm not going to pummel you with the research (it's very easy to find, (http://www.guttmacher.org), because the evidence is overwhelming, and it strongly supports that talking and teaching about sexuality doesn't encourage sexual experimentation. It merely encourages responsibility and protects individuals from harm. Sexual experimentation is driven by something inevitable, human nature. Frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of society passing judgments and handing out labels.

Not that anyone actually reads my writing, but let's fantasize that I am a famous columnist and you are reading my column in a prestigious paper. How many hateful e-mails would I receive following the print of a piece like this? I imagine most of them would likely use my favorite insults, like slut and whore. Because if I'm an independent thinker and believe that young women should be emotionally free to experiment with their curiosities, obviously I'm a free-willed hooker.

Culture is learned. Every bit of structure within our society is built on a previously planted seed which bolsters what we accept as normal. Even our policies towards poverty relief and pan-handling can be traced to the English Poor Law of 1601, which is very persuasively attached to Protestant ethics which identify the deserving poor from the undeserving poor.

Religion plays a major role in culture norms. Let's return to sexuality. In the 1960's Margaret Mead conducted an ethnographic study of Samoan women, and their acquisition of sexual knowledge. In her ethnography, Mead reports that young adolescent women learn through experimentation. Unfortunately for Mead, between the writing and print of the ethnography, the island was infiltrated by Christian missionaries. Not surprisingly, the women Mead wrote about later recanted their testimonies as storytelling, which was later published by Derek Freeman. How tragic that this once isolated island was tarnished and forever changed by the we-know-better-do-gooders of the west.

I'm not saying that there isn't room to criticize Katy Perry. From the interviews I've seen, I don't buy the sexuality she's selling as genuine. Personally though, I'm not concerned if the song is a gimmick or not. In my opinion, Perry sends a much better message than that being sent by the alternative who is preoccupied with teaching young women to turn their backs on their own curiosities, and rather than explore the unique world around them and find out who they are, to sit tight with their legs crossed and wait for Prince Charming.