Dirty Girls Ministries - wtf???

[Witsec1]

So, the Pharyngula had a post about an article that originally appeared in Bust magazine, about a program to help Christian women overcome obsession with masturbation and porn. http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/ ... /#comments

I don't want to belittle anyone who has struggled with a porn addiction to the point that it jeopardized their career and relationships. But really, these people think that any masturbation is sinful and wrong, how does that help you keep it in perspective?

Mainly, though I can't get past the name: Dirty Girls Ministries. it sounds like a title of a porn film.

Being interested in sex does not make you dirty. If you are interested in helping women overcome real, serious problems with addiction, why would you call the people you are trying to help "Dirty Girls"?

Here is the original article:

http://www.utne.com/Mind-Body/Dirty-Gir ... ation.aspx

I agree with the commenter on pharyngula who said:

I’m sorry, but Dirty Girl Ministries sounds like pedophilia waiting to happen. Roller derby jokes aside, you’re getting a bunch of sex-obsessed teens confessing their masturbatory habits to a bunch of adults – a bunch of adults who are so sex-obsessed themselves that they had to create a “ministry†around listening to teen girls talk about masturbating.

This is going to end well.

[Guest Anonymous]

Although some married women participate in Dirty Girls Ministries, Renaud’s crusade is largely for single women like herself. The majority of Dirty Girls’ members are in their 20s and 30s, but many teenagers and preteen girls, some as young as 11, have also joined. Technically speaking, most are virgins, but because of their below-the-belt explorations, they report feeling tainted, undesirable, and perverted.

Those aren't earthquake aftershocks, it's just my head repeatedly slamming into my desk. FFS, the thing to do here is to tell girls that there's nothing wrong with masturbating - not make them feel like damaged goods because they engage in a harmless activity that feels nice.

But even according to some Christian sex educators, the line between normal human experimentation and a dangerous addiction can be a simple matter of perspective. “To feel that they’re addicted only means that they enjoy doing it and they don’t want to,†says William R. Stayton, a human-sexuality professor and Baptist minister in Smyrna, Georgia, who believes masturbation is a healthy way to develop one’s sexual identity. “Real sexual addiction is when someone has no control over it. Things that get blamed for addiction are often just things that people don’t like.â€

Holy cow, one of the most reasonable people quoted in the article is a Baptist dude! I feel like I'm in topsy turvy land.

[doggie]

more screwing up human sexuality.

[CanadianHippie]

Seriously, my guess is the people who started this "ministry" just want, either consciously or unconsciously, to listen to women and teen girls talk about their masturbation habits. But yeah, you don't help a person who feels " undesirable, tainted and perverted" by telling them what they are doing is dirty and perverse.

[Kitty]

This sounds like some sort of massively fucked-up porno.

I can't imagine what this sort of thing will do to the young girls who join this sick ministry. eeeewwwww.

[Antigone]

I can see some people having the need/desire for religion based counseling for sex addiction but this "dirty girl ministries" sounds a bit...iffy. Not quite this side of legit, but what do I know, I certainly would not join a group called that, never mind if they actually shared my beliefs (which they don't really but just saying for the sake of argument...lol).

I'd advise anyone to stay away and not poke this hornets' nest waiting to happen :) lol

[slh12280]

Way to make women feel worse about themselves, and it's extremely creepy anyway.

[OddLittleBird]

Niiiiiice. And while I'm not a fan of books like "Every Man's Battle", that title at least is far more flattering than "Dirty Girls". :shock: :evil: Seriously? I'd not be able to read a word without feeling, well, raped.

[Guest Anonymous]

I heard about these nut jobs a while ago, long before I found the serenity that FJ provides for me....

Anyhoo, as a parent of a daughter (who is now 26) I thought it was incumbent upon me to let her know masturbation was ok, and to encourage it. I also addressed mutual masturbation as an acceptable means of being intimate with a boy without the risk factors of pregnancy and stds. Besides, if you don't know what gets you off how the heck are ya gonna teach your partner ???

Eh prudes. I'm sick of prudes, I thought that by this point in my life they would be extinct by now. The year is 2011 isn't it???

You young folk will need to fight this battle, I'm just gonna jeer from the sidelines.

[OddLittleBird]

Good on you, experienced, for teaching your daughter personal freedom. I'm hoping to be able to do the same for my kids, when they're the age. I wish my mom had.