Sex, Religion, Hempstead
JRNL80
Mo KrochmalDecember 18, 2007
By Khnuma Simmonds
Interview Transcripts
Laura GianuzziCampus Minister/Long Island Teen Freedom Representative (Hempstead)/Catholic Perspective
Hi. My name is Laura Gianuzzi and I am a campus minister here at Hofstra in the Catholic office. Just addressing how sex is dealt, the issue of sex is dealt with from the church’s perspective. The church’s teaching for all time has been no sex outside of marriage and certainly in more recent times the whole idea of marriage and what sex is all about has kind of just changed, the society has definitely changed, but the church has never changed its teachings. But the church decided to respond to these challenges that are kind of present in a culture like ours today. The way the church is currently responding-for a long time they didn’t really say a lot. It was kind of expected that you knew you weren’t supposed to have sex before you got married - this and that. But over the last thirty, forty years after the sexual revolution the lack of information, the lack of talking about it was actually becoming more detrimental to Catholics and many Christians, than even just talking about it. Now it’s kind of been trying to find the language that you could talk about these issues with other Christians. And the way the church has really responded has been by helping to support the abstinence programs-supporting the programs that talk about no sex before marriage and being faithful once you’re in marriage. And in the Catholic circles the theology of the body has been a really um-has been a really important teaching. John Paul II, Pope John Paul II, who passed away couple years ago, he wrote intensely about the meaning of what it means to be male and female. What is marriage? Why do we believe certain things? He just really-It was kind of the churches response to the Catholic-I’m sorry- to the sexual revolution. Actually I just started a theology of the body study group here at Hofstra to try to get a better understanding of what it really means to be male and female because we can’t really wrap our brains around premarital sex and what we should be doing with our bodies if we don’t understand what it means to be male and female. So, is it still applicable today that waiting for marriage like in today’s society? Sure. We’ve definitely seen the breakdown of society- particularly the family unit-diseases. I when my parents were growing up there were only two diseases. Now there are more than 25. That’s like not an accident. So we’re definitely reaping some of the consequences of this breakdown of marriage and the breakdown of the idea that you wait to have sexual relations until to you are married. So, I don’t think it’s unrealistic at all but it’s been more challenging than ever to almost sell that idea to a society that says that sex sells. And deep down I feel that people really do kind of want to understand what their body is all about. They want companionship. They need some better tools to figure out how to have relationships and better than just like if it feels good, do it. And if you care about the person make sure you don’t get an STD from them or give them an STD. That kinds of attitude of “just do what you feel like” and just be careful um- I feel like has really gotten us into a lot of trouble. And as a 25-year-old I can speak to the fact that I am a product of safe sex education in public school and um and then I went to Catholic School so I didn’t have that anymore and um, I can totally see how it was rather damaging to my friends who are 25 and basically not married. None of them are married and have been managing their sex lives for ten years now. Some of them have STD’s-Others have gone through abortion experiences. It’s rather- rather been kind of dramatic for a lot of them so um-was the sexual revolution all promised to be? I don’t think so. But I think it’s we can really respond as a church to this issue-this issue. And it’s really important that we are speaking about it and we’re not silent about it because it affects all of us. All of us here are products of somebody having sex with somebody else. So just by nature of our existence sex is rather important. So the church has to stand up and figure out how to respond.
Rabbi Meir Mitelman/Campus Minister/Jewish Perspective
Hi. My name is Rabbi Meir Mitelman. I am the Executive Director of Hofstra Hillel, the Jewish student organization on campus and I’m also the Jewish University Chaplain. The traditional viewpoint on sex is uh- sex needs to be a context of a committed relationship-A commitment that is acknowledged both by civil law as well as by Jewish law. The concern is that um-is that because sex is such a powerful force is that it has to be in the context of a commitment-a sacred commitment with responsibility. Otherwise, people can get very easily hurt in terms of casual sex ruining the relationship or long term and then someone just walking out. So that’s the traditional approach. There are more liberal Jewish approaches in the more liberal (mumble) of Judaism which would probably be more liberal. But in traditional Judaism the basic attitude is that sexual relationships would have to wait until marriage. I think there is sex education in schools and in synagogues. I’m not first-hand familiar with it because I’ve been working on campus all these years but I’m sure those issues are addressed. With regards to how feasible it is to save sex for marriage in today’s world. I would say certainly in the society we live in-it’s certainly the whole culture of the society we live in makes that challenging and makes that difficult. However, I think it’s possible and there’s lots and lots of people, certainly in the Jewish world and I’m sure in the non-Jewish world who are willing to make that commitment in terms of honoring the value system.
Quotes
Heather Simonson/Planned ParenthoodDirector, Training and Education
Question: Would sex education be more successful with the church’s involvement?
Answer: “Yes because a lot of people base their sexual decisions on values and if the church sends positive and comprehensive messages to their listeners then it will help them to make safe decisions.
”Question: Are the ancient principles of “waiting for marriage” realistic in today’s society?
Answer: “Definitely Not. It is not realistic. If people are looking for guidance and support from the church and they are going to make them feel shameful for the decisions that they have made then that will only lead to a lack of honesty. Besides, waiting for marriage is no longer common.
A Religious Approach to Sex Education:
Realistic for Hempstead?
By Khnuma Simmonds
Story Video: http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=3904FBB2AB6711DC8C32000423CEF5F6
“Teen Sex? It’s okay to say no way!” is a slogan used by Planned Parenthood (http://www.plannedparenthood.org/sexual-health/teens-health/teensex-its-okay-to-say-no.htm) to urge teens to make smarter choices about sex. “There are many reasons to wait to have sex: What’s Yours?” is the slogan for the “No Sex, No Problems” campaign by the Washington State Department of Health-an initiative to decrease the pregnancy and STD rates of teens in the state. ( www.nosexnoproblems.com/campaign)
Why are these campaigns relative to the Village of Hempstead? Teen pregnancies in Nassau County, according to the Nassau County 1996 Health Assessment (http://www.health.state.ny.us/statistics/chac/docs/nassau.pdf) had a rate of 46.4 per 1000- Hempstead being one of the top four communities in the county with the highest pregnancy rates.
Are existing sex education campaigns that support sex after marriage going to alleviate these statistics in the Hempstead community or will teenagers ignore them and continue to follow the teachings of a “sex sells” community? It is a question for which an answer is not easily determined but some religious leaders in the Hempstead community are convinced that “saving it” is the only way.
According to Laura Giannuzzi, a Catholic representative for the Long Island Teen Freedom group in Hempstead, the Catholic Church began responding to the sexual revolution by supporting abstinence campaigns, teaching theology of the body, and maintaining the faith in the traditional beliefs of sex after marriage. Giannuzzi also believes that this approach to sex is very realistic and very beneficial.
Jewish Campus Minister, Rabbi Meir Mitelman stated that Judaism, likewise Catholicism, practices sex after marriage but acknowledges that there are liberal forms of Judaism that have approached sex differently overtime. (See Video for Details) When asked about the effectiveness of this belief today, Rabbi Mitelman said that he could not respond to that question but acknowledged that society makes such traditional practices quite a challenge.
Despite the increased response that some religious leaders have had in regards to sex education today, some churches including Church of St.Ladislaus and Jackson Memorial Ame Zion Church (both located in Hempstead) declined the invitation to provide perspective on this story. On the other hand, however, Heather Simonson, Planned Parenthood Director of Training and Education, didn’t hesitate.
Simonson, whose office in Hempstead caters to over 1,100 women, men, and teens each month, agrees that the church is a vital resource center for teens. She doesn’t agree, however, that its teachings of sex after marriage are realistic. (See Interview Transcript for Details)
Simonson is not the only one who feels this way. According to the article “Abstinence-Only ‘Sex Education’ Prevalent, Failing New York State, NYCLU Report Finds,” Executive Director Donna Lieberman said “It’s time to stop wasting taxpayer money on ideologically driven programs that don’t work.” See Full Article
As of October 2007, New York State (Spitzer Administration) has cancelled all programs that fund abstinence-only-until-marriage programs - which will make the traditional approach to sex taught by Hempstead religious leaders all the more challenging.
