Comments on: Abstinence Only Goes Too Far

By: Seraph

Seraph — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:26:37 +0000

I’d say the relevance of this story is the fact that it is sometimes taught to young people, by groups such as the focus of Jill’s post on Feministe, the Goretti Group. While Maria Goretti herself may have allowed herself to be killed by her would-be rapist in order to escape from the “rape culture” of her time and place and avoid being forced to marry her rapist, modern religious groups seem to be twisting her act into a message that it’s better for people, especially young girls and women, to kill themselves than to not be virgins, even if the supposed loss of virginity happens through rape. It’s an unfair and damaging message, in my opinion; and though Goretti’s canonization is old news, what people do with that fact is still relevant.

By: Ames

Ames — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:44:41 +0000

Yeah, probably not timely; I just found it interesting…. but aberrational given the other stories frequently here.

By: Lanfranc

Lanfranc — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:34:29 +0000

I too must admit that I’m a little confused about the relevance of this story.

Before being too condemning, I would also suggest considering the actual context of this canonization – such as the fact that it took place in the pre-Vatican II church of the 1950′s, which is a world apart from the modern church, or that it may have been a response to what one could call a “rape culture” which apparently was widespread in rural Italy at the time.

By: John

John — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:05:34 +0000

Man, you know what you should do? You should totally start a blog where you got to have whatever conversations you wanted, rather than being subjected to the whims of the blog owner. That would rule.

Wait, what?

He what now?

Is it any good?

It is?

Ok, now I’m confused. What is he griping about?

~ John

By: Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:52:57 +0000

I’m talking about the road where we start discussing sins of the past. I’d love to talk about the Dems circa 1968 or so.

By: Ames

Ames — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:46:38 +0000

I just heard about it through the context of the more recent articles discussing it; it’s still interesting commentary on the craziness of some in the religious sphere, and the over-emphasis on purity, so I took it as either relevant today or a cautionary example out of the past.

As for “that road,” I have no idea what you’re talking about…

By: Progressive Conservative

Progressive Conservative — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:45:36 +0000

So you’re griping about a canonization that happened over 50 years ago and a ‘martyr’ whose shrine was last visited by a pope 30 years ago?

Is that the timeframe you’re referencing these days on the Left? Because I would LOVE to go down that road.