October 15th / 17th
"Sex, Duke, Donna, John, and Brett"
It was one of those weeks where a whole bunch of weird stories made news,
none of which seemed to have anything in common. Until you start to connect
the dots.
First up (no pun intended),the Trojan company released its 5th annual
Sexual Health Report Card. In it, the condom maker rated colleges based on such
factors as availability of contraceptives, accessibility of health
resources, and commitment to STD testing. Schools like Columbia, Michigan State,
Ohio State, and Brown scored high, but Duke University didn't fare too well.
That's OK, though, because that same day, another kind of sex rating
report surfaced from the Durham campus.
This one came from coed Karen Owen, and it was titled, "An Education
Beyond the Classroom: Excelling in the Realm of Horizontal Academics". In common
vernacular it is being referred to as "The Duke F*** List". You guessed
it. Owens penned a 40 page report of her sexual exploits with 13 different
men during her Sophomore, Junior and Senior years. Most of the young men were
members of the Lacrosse squad, whose team lineage included trouble with a
stripper. Now the tables have turned as Owen stripped the basket bearers
bare for all to see. Her "thesis" includes a detailed ranking of each man,
taking into consideration such factors as: personality, love making skills,
and size of his athletic equipment. To be fair, Owen says she only meant for
the report to be read by three close friends. Unfortunately, one of those
friends made sure the sex study went viral, complete with photos and names
of the bakers dozen. Owen also admits that her sexcapades were fueled by
alcohol, which should make her parents proud that they invested a quarter
million dollars for their daughter to drink and fornicate.
OK, so the next morning, NBC's Today Show featured a report from Duke,
then Meredith Vieira was back in studio for an interview with Donna Rice
Hughes, President of "Enough is Enough", a company that fights against porn and
advocates for internet safety. Among Rice's pronouncements were, "Kids
today are doing things that my generation would never have imagined". And,
"There seems to be a lack of modesty these days".
What makes this interview particularly ironic and hypocritical is that
Vieira failed to disclose exactly who her guest was. Over 20 years ago,
compromising photos of Hughes and a married man were splashed across the front
pages, resulting in the derailment of her lover's career. Back then her name was simply Donna
Rice, and the man's name was Gary Hart, Democratic frontrunner for the 1988
Presidential nomination.
But while Rice was preaching about morality and failing to disclose her
place in political history, a grand jury was issuing subpoenas for an
investigation into another former Presidential candidate, John Edwards, and
whether campaign funds were spent to support his mistress, Rielle Hunter. The
symmetry of all this is mind boggling, including the fact that Rice's affair
was revealed by the National Enquirer, and so was Hunter's two decades
later.
And while Rice was telling Vieira's audience that nothing posted on the
web is private, Vikings QB Brett Favre's privates were being projected all
over the internet. It seems that while Favre was a NY Jet, he pursued Jet
staffer Jenn Sterger, including leaving desperate phone messages and emailing
her photos of his genitalia. Strangely, on the day that Rice was advising
us about internet privacy rights, someone was violating Favre's, similar to
the way the Duke lacrosse men were violated.
So there you have it. Within one 48 hour period the following occurred: a
condom company reported on college sex; a Duke coed rated her college
lovers; a woman who had bedded a presidential candidate preached about modesty and
privacy; a football star showed his privates; and, another Presidential
candidate was under investigation for using his privates.
It seems that everything these days is about numbers. How many passes
did you throw? How many people did you sleep with? How far ahead are you in
the polls?
Because of that, I advise today's athletes, politicians, and college
students to be careful how they score, and with whom.
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