Two good posts by Hugo

Posted on October 27, 2004 by Ampersand

Two posts by Hugo Schwyzer I found particularly interesting.

First, a post on abstinence and gay marriage, in which Hugo laments that those folks who favor both generally go unheard. Good disucssion in the comments, too. (What I love about Hugo’s comments is that they’re practically the only place on the internet in which you can find both feminists and right-wing Christians but not a flame war.)

The other recent Hugo post I wanted to point out is “Feminism, Food and Pleasure.” Here’s a sample:

I am a great believer that one of the most important narratives in feminist history is that of women’s struggle to gain the right to pleasure. Broadly speaking, patriarchal culture tells women that their only source of permissable pleasure and happiness is centered on others: one can derive joy from feeding one’s child, but not from feeding oneself; one can derive joy from pleasing one’s husband in bed, but not from masturbation; one can derive joy from putting one’s husband through law school, but not for putting oneself through. And so on. This is what feminists call the “doctrine of contingent happiness” — the old fancy that virtuous women only derive real, enduring joy solely through sharing with others.

As a Christian, I am a profound believer in the importance of self-sacrifice. There are times and places where self-denial is indeed virtuous, particularly when self-indulgence would cause obvious harm to others. But traditional culture makes the mistake of turning self-sacrifice into an idol. Self-denial is blessed when it draws us closer to God or when it benefits others — but it is not blessed in and of itself. Dieting for the sake of beauty is a form of destructive self-denial that follows an old pattern: “good women” repress and control their base, physical desires.

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One Response to Two good posts by Hugo

  1. Hugo says:
    October 27, 2004 at 7:56 am

    Amp, to use a common expression from sports that touches on an earlier theme of ours “you da man.” (Sorry.) Thanks for the kind words and the links — and yes, I am trying to keep things civil in my corner of the blogosphere.

    Good luck with the gay marriage referendum next week in your home state… I’ll be pullin’ for ya.

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