I’ve been trying to be restrained, folks, but as Krusty the Clown once said, explaining why he endorsed faulty products, “They drove a dump truck full of money up to my house! I’m not made of stone!” Well, readers drove a dump truck full of Dreherbait up to my inbox. I’m not (yadda yadda yadda)!

A reader at Washington University in St. Louis writes that by virtue of being on that super-woke campus, they are

subjected to a pretty strong dose of Social Justice absurdity. But this, from our student paper today, struck me as some next-level stuff. It’s a nearly unreadable smorgasboard of woke language and buzzwords with little meaning, and reads like satire (it’s not).

Here’s the headline:

So you know this story is bound to be good. Below are excerpts from the paid lecture delivered by Ericka Hart, a black Myrna Minkoff, whose appearance was under the aegis of an annual lecture devoted to the memory of Masters & Johnson, the pervy academics who studied the stiffened giblets of mid-century Americans right there at Washington U. More:

Before Hart took the stage, Interim Provost Marion Crain briefly discussed the legacy of Masters and Johnson’s seminal sex studies. Crain, a law professor who once taught feminist legal theory, said Masters and Johnson’s work “fueled gynocentric sex-education and sexual equality among all people.”

According to Crain, their work exposed the double standard of women not being able to initiate sexual intercourse, a standard she said concentrated patriarchal power.

“How often do I get to say that in the provost’s office?” Crain said.

Oh, my valve! More:

Hart asserted throughout the talk that radical sex positivity cannot be achieved without a sex-postive framework which requires the absence of all forms of bigotry and academic inaccessibility.

Hart also posited that the word “radical” has become watered down, pointing to the work of Masters and Johnson as an example. Hart alluded to the fact that St. Louis, and thus the University, is built on land taken from indigenous people and mentioned that the University’s founder was a gradual emancipationist who, rather than lobbying for abolition, believed slave owners should voluntarily release slaves.

“There’s nothing—I repeat nothing—radical about a sex researcher working at a school founded on stolen land and chattel slavery,” Hart said.

Hart often recycled her opening tactic of call-and-response, prompting the audience to yell “Tear that down” when referring to white settler colonialism and having them repeat “redlining” when discussing discriminatory housing practices.

Hart showed a map illustrating redlining in St. Louis before highlighting a recent University study examining its effects on Black residents.

“How can people focus on pleasure or bodily autonomy when it has been stripped from you by the state?” Hart asked. “What is a sex educator’s role in tearing down systems of oppression?”

If Ta-Nehisi Coates ever writes a dirty book, I’ve got a heroine for him. Hart, a professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work, concluded thus:

Hart ended her talk by showing 11 rules for sex positivity, having the audience read each one out loud.

“Sex positivity is very Black, queer, indigenous, pro slut, sex work, asexual, trans femmes thriving, reparations from the state for Black people,” one of them read. “Sex positivity is always radical, not optional,” the last rule read.

Read the whole thing. 

It costs $72,000 per year to study at Washington University in St. Louis. But look at all the benefits!

In other news from the world of the crackpot left, while I was overseas recently, Katherine Ragsdale, a lesbian Episcopal priestess, was named head of the National Abortion Federation. From the NAF’s own announcement:

Throughout her career, Rev. Ragsdale has been outspoken about abortion rights, LGBTQ equality, and public policy issues affecting women and families. She has testified before the U.S. Congress as well as numerous state legislatures about the importance of abortion access and was a featured speaker at the 2004 March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC. Rev. Ragsdale served for 17 years (9 of them as chair) on the national board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. As Chair, she led the Coalition through a change of its name, mission, and organizational structure. During that time the Coalition’s budget, staff, and office space more than doubled in size.

“The work that NAF and their members do to secure and expand abortion access every day is at the heart of my own values and commitments,” said Rev. Ragsdale. “Throughout my career, I have preached that abortion is a blessing and that providers are modern-day saints and heroes, and I have seen firsthand how access to abortion can improve the lives and health of women and their families. It is an honor to join an organization I have long admired and to be able to support abortion providers during such a critical time.”

Emphasis mine. Really, the thing speaks for itself.

In our last item this morning, an ex-Episcopalian reader sends news of a new hymnal making the rounds in progressive circles: Songs For The Holy Other: Hymns Affirming the LGBTQIA2S+ Community. You can’t read the Alphabet People songbook unless you register, but I did find this hymn from the collection on another website:

Well. Like our fabulous-and-full-of-Lucky-Dogs spiritual father St. Ignatius of Constantinople Street hath said:

“A firm rule must be imposed upon our nation before it destroys itself. The United States needs some theology and geometry, some taste and decency. I suspect that we are teetering on the edge of the abyss.”