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Mood: Sleepy ]
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Currently: Eating Breakfast ]
So let me clarify my issues with this article cause clearly when I wrote the first entry, I was seething.
1. The methodology.
Nowhere in these stories does it state that the researchers factored in/out factors like drug/alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, witness to violence, etc. as other causes for the risky sexual behaviour, coercion or masochistic sex. So how do we know that the behaviours that are sited as a result of spanking don’t come from another source? Note: I am not advocating for spanking your children. I am annoyed with what may be bad science if those factors haven’t been accounted for.
2. The moral judgment the researchers applied to sexual practice.
Let’s be blunt. What happens between two consenting adults in their bedroom is no one’s business. It is clear from the comments made by the researchers that they feel that "spanking" during sex is deviant behaviour. Clearly they have applied their moral values to what is supposed to be an unbiased study. Is there a conservative agenda behind it, I wonder?
Think I am over reacting? Remember that homosexuality used to be considered "deviant" behaviour, was blamed on parents’ actions (or lack of actions) and was a psychiatric disorder. Remember that there were cases of white women being institutionalized by their families for marrying outside their race at late as the 1960s. Their behaviour was considered deviant by scientists who used science to justify their own racist attitudes. To me, this study shows more about the puritanical leanings of the researchers than it does about spanking.
3. The media not asking the hard questions.
Once again, the media has jumped on a story about sex and violence without asking any hard questions. Our modern media has turned into a joke. They simply print up press releases, rather than actually do some leg work, investigate and ask hard questions. My background is not in science, yet as you can see above, I asked some pretty tough questions. Why can’t the media do this? Two reasons: 1) Because sex sells and 2) Because this story fits their publishers’ political agenda/spin. It disgusts me.