October 24, 2004

Savaged

In a recent "Savage Love" column, Dan Savage gave sex advice to a young Saudi man who had just emigrated to Canada and was having trouble with his sex life due to the repression he'd dealt with in his homeland. Some smug bitch had a problem with this, and wrote it accordingly this week:

"While SAUDI is partially to blame for having the poor judgment to ask you about sexual ethics, your statement, 'Unlike the country you left behind, there are no morals police in the part of North America where you live' smacks of haughty, imperialistic condescension. You totally ignored the fact that the values he was taught as a Muslim have a deep and completely valid cultural context that needs to be considered when dispensing advice."
Ugh. It greatly pains me that anyone could see a crypto-theocratic, gay-bashing, woman-bashing terrorist nation like Saudi Arabia as a "completely valid cultural context"- and even worse, that such an attitude is "liberal." It's not- it's reactionary. And even the very liberal Savage agrees:
"Did I imply the superiority of morals in Canada to values taught in Saudi Arabia? Jesus H. Christ, SOS, I feel terrible about that. So let me set the record straight: I never meant to imply the superiority of morals in Canada over values taught in Saudi Arabia. I meant to state, loudly and clearly and for the record, the absolute superiority of morals in Canada over values taught in Saudi Arabia.

Let us count the ways in which Canada is superior: equality of the sexes, political and religious pluralism, a little thing called democracy, and, of course, the radical notion that consenting adults are free to have sex with other consenting adults without having to worry about being lashed or beheaded in public."

Yes, I think I can say with confidence at this point that my favorite liberal weekly columnist is Dan Savage.

Posted by Stephen Silver at October 24, 2004 03:12 AM
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