"I Have Sex"

March 11, 2011 12:08 PM

"I Have Sex" is a video made by student group Weslyan Uncut to protest federal cuts to Planned Parenthood funding. via @heathercorinna
posted by DarlingBri (47 comments total)

At work so I can't watch the vid right now...but a question. Even though the House voted to cut funding to PP, it didn't actually become law right? Right??

Hoping the Senate and a Presidential veto stop the madness.
posted by dry white toast at 12:15 PM on March 11, 2011

Yes, telling evangelical christian political groups that young people have sex will totally change their minds about abortion.
posted by The World Famous at 12:20 PM on March 11, 2011 [4 favorites]

congratulations?
posted by nathancaswell at 12:20 PM on March 11, 2011

Yeah, seriously. Even if they changed their minds they'd still be like 'ok so why should the govt pay for you having sex??'
posted by spicynuts at 12:21 PM on March 11, 2011

Well, this is pretty nice, even though I bet 99% of the kids who go to Wesleyan don't need Planned Parenthood's services.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:22 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is pretty clearly an "energize the base" / "make young people realize that cutting Planned Parenthood funding affects them and their friends" video, not a "convince evangelical christian political groups to be pro-choice" video.

My primary complaints: it was stupid to include the guy saying "fuck" at the beginning, and the comparison to oil company subsidies was fine to give a sense of scale but following it up with "end corporate welfare" started to drift off message.
posted by jedicus at 12:24 PM on March 11, 2011 [3 favorites]

Even though the House voted to cut funding to PP, it didn't actually become law right? Right??

Right--it was just the House, and no one really expect those cuts to make it into the final appropriations bill. However, it does send a strong signal about the House leadership's priorities. The final cuts won't likely be as massive, but there could be big reductions.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:24 PM on March 11, 2011

I heard "I Have Sex" by Weslyan Cut lasts even longer.
posted by nathancaswell at 12:25 PM on March 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

following it up with "end corporate welfare" started to drift off message.

I disagree. The fact that services to people are being cut in the name of fiscal responsibility while tax breaks are given to corporations left and right adds context to what's going on right now.

This is what the class war looks like.
posted by entropone at 12:28 PM on March 11, 2011 [7 favorites]

by "services being cut," well, I do refer to proposals and actual cuts.
posted by entropone at 12:29 PM on March 11, 2011

roomthreeseventeen: "Well, this is pretty nice, even though I bet 99% of the kids who go to Wesleyan don't need Planned Parenthood's services."

?
posted by roll truck roll at 12:29 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, I thought your comment had to do with Wesleyan being (ostensibly, sort of) religious. But it might have been one of those "your favorite college sucks" things. I don't know.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:32 PM on March 11, 2011

Wesleyan doesn't have a particularly religious student body. Don't get fooled by its hundred-fifty-year-old Methodist inception.
posted by entropone at 12:33 PM on March 11, 2011

I liked it. I liked that they not only included the kids who have sex (which, true to the statistics, is most of them) but they also include people planning to have sex- one who is wearing an engagement ring- and people who don't have sex, but have friends who are having sex, and a woman who doesn't have sex but menstruates. Good message- Planned Parenthood is useful to everyone. Now, I agree that it isn't going to do much for the Christian Right-to-Lifers, but I could see this getting a college-age person- and they don't vote nearly enough- to register.
posted by jenlovesponies at 12:37 PM on March 11, 2011 [6 favorites]

Planned Parenthood isn't just about abortions. They provide a lot of birth control advice and supplies to people who can't or won't buy them.

I liked the video a lot. It says a lot more than I thought it would when I first clicked through. Thanks!
posted by hippybear at 12:43 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

Birth control to people who won't buy them? Huh? I don't think PP chases people down and forces condom into their pockets.

Wesleyan has a health service, right on campus. While I'm glad that the students are taking an interest in the outside world, I sincerely doubt that this video is going to do anything but make the participants feel good about their actions.
posted by Ideefixe at 12:49 PM on March 11, 2011

I bet 99% of the kids who go to Wesleyan don't need Planned Parenthood's services

Seriously, in what sense? Do you mean college kids aren't broke? Or don't have sex? Or don't come from conservative families that wouldn't pay for birth control? Or don't need emergency services without having to involve their parents?

What the heck are you talking about? Planned Parenthood on college campuses is probably second in effectiveness only to state-sponsored free clinics.
posted by zvs at 12:52 PM on March 11, 2011 [6 favorites]

I think it was a comment on the financial status of Wesleyan students. Because of course they have no scholarships or students who might not be able to ask their parents for help in this area.
posted by kmz at 12:53 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was not religious in college, but my college was, and they would not prescribe birth control or hand out condoms at the student health center. I marched myself to the Planned Parenthood for that. I have no idea if Wesleyan is the same, but it always lovely to have more options.
posted by jenlovesponies at 12:54 PM on March 11, 2011

Birth control to people who won't buy them? Huh? I don't think PP chases people down and forces condom into their pockets.

There are plenty of people that I know or have known who stop by PP offices to grab condoms when they have plenty of money in their pocket to go to the corner market and buy them.

That's pretty much the definition of "won't buy them" if you ask me.

What were you thinking I meant?
posted by hippybear at 1:00 PM on March 11, 2011

Please do not confuse Methodist Universities with fundy colleges. As entropone points out above, we (mostly moderate to liberal) Methodists can't even agree amongst ourselves about doctrine and polity, much less enforce it on students at (nominally) Methodist universities.
posted by tippiedog at 1:01 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

The most recent Glee episode shows that the writers are surprisingly topical, if a bit meandering and unclear in their treatment. Anyway, I'm not sure how ignorance can be considered as anything but ultimately harmful to our kids. On the other hand, given that "knowledge is power" and the Republicans seem hellbent on taking power away from any non-corporate interest, and in particular women lately, I guess it makes some sort of tragic sense.
posted by Godspeed.You!Black.Emperor.Penguin at 1:04 PM on March 11, 2011

I like that student groups celebrate the fact that their foreskins are intact these days though.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:05 PM on March 11, 2011

When I was in college I depended on PP for my annual exams and birth control -- not because it was the only place I could afford them (I had insurance), but because it was the only place I could actually get an appointment without waiting for months, and the caregivers were compassionate AND super-competent. I had friends in high school and college who depended on them for birth control.

It's not about whether someone can afford condoms, it's that if they're free people are more likely to take and use them. Anything that makes that easier, anything that results in the use of more condoms is a good thing. Planned Parenthood is for people in all sorts of situations -- even anti-abortion people -- not just poor people or pro-choice people or college students or whatever.

Reproductive health care and birth control should be considered a basic human right, and anything that makes those more accessible, I'm for.
posted by fiercecupcake at 1:11 PM on March 11, 2011 [14 favorites]

Seriously, in what sense? Do you mean college kids aren't broke? Or don't have sex? Or don't come from conservative families that wouldn't pay for birth control? Or don't need emergency services without having to involve their parents?

Or have to live in a society with a lot of other people who DO need those things, and whose lack of those things has a cost on society which impacts us all.

Even if those kids don't need the services and none of their friends and contemporaries who see it don't need the services that doesn't mean that it doesn't accomplish something for them to support the cause. Education and outreach isn't only for the people who need the actual education.
posted by phearlez at 1:48 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

While I'm glad that the students are taking an interest in the outside world, I sincerely doubt that this video is going to do anything but make the participants feel good about their actions.

Well we certainly don't want that to happen!
posted by odinsdream at 1:57 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

You guys, Wesleyan is one of the most lefty schools out there. I can pretty much promise that people there are (a) boning like bunny rabbits and (b) getting free condoms etc. handed to them like candy. But (c) I don't see how it's relevant whether these particular individuals frequent Planned Parenthood anyway.
posted by dixiecupdrinking at 2:38 PM on March 11, 2011

College students who want to feel good about themselves have ample opportunity, and that's swell. I decline to join in the applause for these hollow gestures. I'm sure they had fun making the video.
posted by Ideefixe at 2:49 PM on March 11, 2011

I like picking sides, and doing clever things to discredit the other side. A great life lesson best learned in college.
posted by Senator at 3:11 PM on March 11, 2011 [1 favorite]

I thought they did a very good job on the video.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:40 PM on March 11, 2011

"I Have Sex"

pics or it didn't happen
posted by found missing at 3:41 PM on March 11, 2011

College students who want to feel good about themselves have ample opportunity, and that's swell. I decline to join in the applause for these hollow gestures. I'm sure they had fun making the video.

Thank you for your words of inspiration. In recognition thereof, I present you with

a) a rolling doughnut, and
b) the moon.
posted by Kinbote at 3:56 PM on March 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

Wesleyan is not Methodist, by any stretch of imagination. It was once upon a time, yes, hence the name, but the days of mandatory chapel were well over by the time I got there, off in the hoary distant past. It has a very well-deserved reputation for liberal student activism.

I'm glad to see the students at my alma mater putting their creativity and politics to work on something like this.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:43 PM on March 11, 2011 [2 favorites]

Thank you for your words of inspiration. In recognition thereof, I present you with

a) a rolling doughnut, and
b) the moon.

Nothing like an ad hominen attack to make the weekend seem more appealing.
And if takes 4 years @ $ $41,814 to produce this work of art, well, consider it money well spent.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:21 PM on March 11, 2011

I admire your simultaneous criticism and use of logical fallacies. Kudos.
posted by found missing at 5:35 PM on March 11, 2011

rolling donut: This was not an ad hominem attack. It was a simple insult. To be ad hominem it would have had to specifically attack the character of the person who was receiving the rolling donut invitation.
posted by localroger at 6:33 PM on March 11, 2011

@Localroger
Close enough for government work, which very well might be the station to which all these young people aspire, as it beats working for a living.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:24 PM on March 11, 2011

Yeah, Ideefixe, because government workers are loosers, amirite?
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:50 PM on March 11, 2011

Loosers? Sad, really.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:49 PM on March 11, 2011

Rhythm Methodist! Hey-oh!
posted by klangklangston at 12:11 AM on March 12, 2011

I used Planned Parenthood for my ob-gyn until I was well into my 30s because they are competent and you can get an appointment there, unlike most providers who take 6 months to get you in (Kaiser and Blue Cross). And you know what? Every time I go there there are heavily pregnant women in the waiting room. Men. Couples. Teenagers and working adults like me. They provide abortions and birth control sure, but they also provide women's health, prenatal care and men's health and free testing and all kinds of good stuff.

I am very happy to support them with my health care dollars because I know that they are a solid outfit with competent staff who will provide excellent care at a reasonable price. How many places in the US do that?
posted by fshgrl at 12:41 AM on March 12, 2011 [3 favorites]

rolling donut: This was not an ad hominem attack. It was a simple insult. To be ad hominem it would have had to specifically attack the character of the person who was receiving the rolling donut invitation.

Actually it would have to NOT ONLY attack the character of the person who was receiving the rolling donut invitation, BUT ALSO imply or state that in so impugning said person's character, the speaker has also invalidated their argument. Ad hominem fallacy fallacy.
posted by solotoro at 4:08 AM on March 12, 2011

Loosers? Sad, really.

You really don't get this place, do you?
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:52 PM on March 12, 2011 [2 favorites]

Just chiming in here to stand up for Wes grads and government workers. I know a lot of both, and most are lovely, intelligent people.
posted by turducken at 2:22 PM on March 12, 2011

The ironic thing is, in the places where they need it most (like where my girlfriend teaches for Teach For America in southwest Mississippi), even if they had these resources they wouldn't use them for religious reasons.

We've got a lot of problems friends, and we don't need to be taking away what few resources are available because the people who support the positive change are socialist upper middle-class college students.

I agree with the video, but it was somewhat poorly/lazily executed.
posted by codybaldwin at 9:10 AM on March 13, 2011

So much cynicism for somethin that's fun and important and brave. Even if this is liberal preach-to-the-choir wankery, I don't know if you've noticed but all the preaching to the choir that the anti-sex conservatives are doing is working pretty well for their cause.

One reason why this is important is because the media has accepted the basically conservative framing that PP funding is all abou pro-life versus pro-choice, which, from my point of view is BS. There's another culture war that's going on and it's pro-sex versus anti-sex and the headline there is that pro-sex is winning. And pro-sex is winning because safe sex is awesome, natural fun that's way safer than driving your car, smoking a cigarette or cleaning the gutters. They'd have better luck and better moral ground if they tried to bring back prohibition.
posted by Skwirl at 9:48 AM on March 13, 2011

Loosers? Sad, really.

You mispelled and misused the term 'ad hominem'. What were you saying, again?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:31 PM on March 13, 2011