Asexuality is normal, for some

Oops: Re-posted to add link.

I'm always surprised that people, particularly doctors, have a problem with the idea that there are people who don't have sex and are quite happy. They just don't want to have sex. Period.

I once wrote a post about a shrink I was seeing. (I can't find it at the moment.) This blowhard insisted that I have sex. While I'm celibate rather than asexual (I find it fun to Google "Alex Minsky" images, for instance), I have no interest in engaging in sex. It's been this way since I was 36, at which point I decided sex was too time-consuming and produced little in the way of rewards. I'm 64 now -- and quite happy with my celibacy, thank you.

This article at HuffPo about asexuality reminded me of many unpleasant experiences I had with doctors and shrinks who insisted that there must be something wrong with me if I wasn't sexually active. That is so weird. I find the doctors who profess this opinion to be strange critters. We have to do what you do? Why? (It's kind of like religious people telling atheists we can't be happy without god. Get real; we're happy.)

"We clashed with physicians who thought that what we were doing is dangerous,” he recalled. “They said that we were advocating that it was OK to not be sexual. There was this really strong ethos that sex is a vital part of the human experience and without it, there's something wrong.”

In 2005 Leonard Derogatis, director of the Maryland Center for Sexual Health at Johns Hopkins University, told The New York Times it was hard for him to see asexuals as "normal" human beings. 

That's the wall we celibate and asexual people face: disbelief. I don't get it. We're obviously happy. Ask our friends. Why is it so difficult to accept someone's statement that they're happy without sex? Aren't we the ones who would know if we're unhappy?

This oppressive, arrogant Vatican

Frank Bruni has a great opinion piece in the NYT this morning. The Roman Catholic church is on trial in the public square. An excerpt:

And this hubris also survives the crisis, manifest in the way that the Vatican, a gilded enclave so far removed and so frequently out of step with the rest of the world, clamps down on Catholics who challenge its rituals and rules. Much of what these dissenters raise questions about — the all-male priesthood, for example, or the commitment to celibacy that priests are required to make — aren’t indisputable edicts from God. They’re inventions of the mortals who took charge of the faith. 

The church's wall of indifference and high opinion of itself are destined to collapse. The church's arrogance and lack of accountability guarantee this outcome.

The Gospel of Jesus' Wife, Edna

Okay, I made up the "Edna" part. But according to HuffPo (so you really can't believe it), they've found a bit of papyrus from Jesus' day. And on the fragment, as clear as day, Jesus refers to his "wife". Appropriately, they're calling this "The Gospel of Jesus' Wife".

Isn't this a hoot? The pope must be apoplectic. First his cute butler turns on him, and now this. What's a pope to do? This is the extra-special fun part:

The idea that Jesus was unmarried and chaste is largely accepted by Christian denominations and forms the backbone of the practice of celibacy among Roman Catholic priests.

At the Vatican, I imagine they're hearing the immortal, "Dum Te Dum-Dum". Which either means they need an antacid fast, or their whole Jesus story is about to crash to Earth. Seriously: fun times at the Vatican. I wish I could listen in.

Update: I see it's at the NY Times, too. Welcome, Edna! 

Popey guy can't say "celibacy"

The popey guy is spreading cheer in Ireland this weekend.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has told Irish Catholics it's a mystery why clergy abused children entrusted in their care and undermined believers' faith in an appalling way. 

Benedict said Irish joy over their long history of faith was "shaken in an appalling way" by revelations of clergy abuse. He said the abuse damaged the credibility of the church's message. He added it "remains" a mystery why priests abused this trust. 

I can't imagine why it happened, can you? You don't think it could have anything to do with the vow of celibacy, do you?! No, I thought not.

I'll bet the popey guy has a regular nightmare about celibacy. In the dream, he lets priests marry -- and 90% marry men.