I found myself vexed last weekend after reading Dr. Sue Weitz's regular Bulletin advertisement "Ask Sue: Answers from the Student Life Vice President." In last week's ad, Dr. Weitz explained the meaning of the "Consent is Sexy" shirts that are being worn by members of MVP (Men's Violence Prevention) on the GU campus.
Although I had never seen one of these shirts, it was clear from Dr. Weitz's explanation that the "consent is sexy" message is intended to prevent violence against women by increasing, in young men, greater consciousness of the need to obtain consent from young women before having sex with them.
I would agree wholeheartedly that consent is a better entrée to sexual activity than force, and I sincerely applaud these young men for their courageous efforts in promoting the safety of the young women on campus. The more I ponder the implications of the "consent is sexy" message, though, the less convinced I am of its propriety as a means for achieving this admirable end. The operating assumption, "rape is categorically bad, consent is categorically good" fails to meet the test of common sense, and ignores a cosmos of moral considerations that may come into play in the matter of sex on a college campus.
There exists the possibility that a message promoting the idea that consent is "sexy" could become easily misconstrued both by young men and young women, who in seeking to be regarded as sexy may consent to sexual activities that may not be in their best interests. It seems very likely that this message could encourage, rather than discourage threats to the safety of students by unintentionally creating a climate in which pressure to consent replaces the simple right to say "no."
Leaving aside for the moment the fact that the Catholic Church's teachings on premarital sex are unambiguous, it seems risky at best for members of any university's faculty, administration or student body to make direct or indirect judgments on what is or isn't "sexy." I have great admiration and respect for Dr. Weitz, but I feel that in merely explaining the "consent is sexy" concept, and not taking the opportunity to challenge its wider ramifications, she missed what educators like to call a "teachable moment." We have an obligation to protect the safety of our students, and to help them preserve their own integrity in an often adverse environment. I respectfully submit that we fail in this obligation when we give tacit endorsement to any student club's characterization of "sexy", especially when that characterization is so unclear. As the father of boys and girls, I cringe at the idea of my son wearing a shirt that says "consent is sexy," and I can't imagine my daughters trying to figure out what it could mean. Turning to the issue of our Catholic identity and the obligations it presents, it is immediately clear that the slogan "consent is sexy" has no place anywhere at a Catholic university. Again, I applaud the good intentions of MVP, but its members, in their earnest desire to take a stand against sexual violence, seem to have overlooked not only the proscriptive teaching of the Church on this issue, but the abundance of positive representations of love and human sexuality that have been issued in recent pontificates. I could point to Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body, and Benedict XVI's encyclical God is Love as starting points.
To ignore the teachings of the Church in the formulation of any characterization of sexuality does injury to our historical mission and the ability to live our faith authentically. As the chairman of the Student Publications board, I consider myself a stakeholder in the university's Catholic identity, and a co-laborer in its mission work. I believe that we owe it to our students and their parents to give them a share in the Catholic intellectual life, with all that that entails. For the money our students pay for their educations here, they are entitled to clear Catholic teachings on controversial social issues.
They are entitled to inhabit a Catholic culture, they are entitled to know what the Church objectively teaches about sex, gender, the environment, economics, politics, globalism and every other matter that they are groping to understand. They are entitled to a dynamic support network of academics, ministry, mission and student life that clearly presents and explains the beliefs that we tell the world that we believe.
Our recently invested interim president, Dr. McCulloh, has made his commitment to Gonzaga's Catholic identity clear, and he has made fidelity to the Catholic mission a pillar of his administration. I am eager to offer him my full support in this, and I would ask my co-workers in the Oregon Province, the Offices of Mission, Ministry, Academics and Student Life to reaffirm their support by providing clear direction in matters of faith that will help our students understand the Church's position on the issues that affect them and their lives at Gonzaga.
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