"Priest Argues Against Contraception"

[Boltingmadonna]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/us/pr ... .html?_r=1

An obnoxious celibate telling people (and by "people," yes I do mean women) what to do with our bodies is nothing new. This article pushes one of my particular buttons, however. Has anyone else ever noticed how much fundie religion seems to have in common with BDSM? It's all about submission and domination, and giving your power over to someone else. Except there's no safeword.

This quote, for example:

“That God has made us fundamentally for love,†Father Landry said, “and that marriage is supposed to help us to love for real. In order for that to happen, we need to totally give ourselves over to someone else in love, and receive the other’s total self in love.

Bolding mine. Wait just a fracking minute--so it's not love unless I totally surrender my whole self to someone else? What does that even mean? It seems the husband's version of "self-giving" means that he magnanimously dumps his sperm into his wife whenever he wants to. And her "self-giving" means that she passively accepts being impregnated as often as he finds it necessary, while relinquishing all control over her life. Ya know, when I look up "love" in my personal dictionary, that was not found in my definition!

I'm not an expert on BDSM by any means, but I'm pretty sure that it is a personal choice that is not imposed on a whole class of people. And it's often referred to as "play" or a "scene"--with carefully negotiated limits. People who devote themselves to being a slave 24/7 are rare birds. The Catholic Church seems like one giant role-playing BDSM scene, with fancy costumes and ALL women cast as 24/7 subs.

Just a couple more quotes from "Fr." Landry:

“I just had the little insight as a 4-year-old that the priest must be the luckiest man ever, to be holding God in his hand and giving him to others.â€

Father Landry aimed his cellphone camera at one of the men and “snapped a photo of his derriere,†he said.

Uhh . . . I don't think I can add anything to make that more snarkworthy.

[Kishiria]

No, not whenever the husband wants. If you read towards the end of "Humanae Vitae" it says clearly that NFP is wonderful because it provides women with a respite from their big, horny husbands. See? Catholicism is pro-woman. :angry-cussingblack:

[Marian the Librarian]

Father Landry argues that contraception can be the gateway to exploitation: “When that petition is made for contraception, it’s going to make pleasure the point of the act, and any time pleasure becomes the point rather than the fruit of the act, the other person becomes the means to that end. And we’re actually going to hurt the people we love.â€

And God forbid anyone should have any pleasure. If a know-it-all, never-married celibate priest can't have any sexual pleasure, why should anyone else?? It's all about remembering that life should be miserable, y'know. And misery loves miserable company.

(Boldfacing mine)

[Guest Anonymous]

And God forbid anyone should have any pleasure. If a know-it-all, never-married celibate priest can't have any sexual pleasure, why should anyone else?? It's all about remembering that life should be miserable, y'know. And misery loves miserable company.

(Boldfacing mine)

If he gotta suffer, WE gotta suffer.

[debrand]

And God forbid anyone should have any pleasure. If a know-it-all, never-married celibate priest can't have any sexual pleasure, why should anyone else?? It's all about remembering that life should be miserable, y'know. And misery loves miserable company.

(Boldfacing mine)

I keep reading that having sex just for the sake of sex somehow makes the other person an object or dehumanizes them. Where did they come up with this idea that seeking to give and receive pleasure is automatically a way to objectify another person? What is their reasoning for such a statement?

To dehumanize another person, I have to not care about their feelings or needs at all. Just because you have a one night stand, doesn't mean that you don't care about the other individual as a human being. It isn't as though I view strangers as not being human or deserving respect and consideration. Why would my ability to extend basic decency to a person end because I had sex with them?

[holierthanyou]

For some reason my eyes first read this subject line as "Pirates Argue Against Contraception". Way funnier than the original, imho.

[BlackHawk]

For some reason my eyes first read this subject line as "Pirates Argue Against Contraception". Way funnier than the original, imho.

Yeup, that's why I clicked. I would have sworn it said Pirate... and I wanted to figure out what the hell pirates had to do with BC.

Men should not decide what women do with their bodies... just like women should not decide what men do with their bodies. My body, my choice.

[Austin]

I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone with this discussion in 2012.

To Catholic priests: I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK. GO hear a confession or give communion or whatever it is you do; get the hell out of women's business! You are IRRELEVANT to the majority of women - get over it.