Follow the science? UNT’s COVID sex advice clashes with social-distancing message
In October, when health experts were warning the public that trick-or-treating was a potentially perilous activity that should be avoided, I wondered why instead of forbidding it altogether, public health officials were not just suggesting ways to do it safely.
Perhaps it was this philosophy — helping people do safely what they’re going to do anyway — that prompted the University of North Texas’ Student Health and Wellness Center to issue a series of tweets (at least one of which has since been deleted) offering guidance for sexual encounters with people outside their household.
Recommendations include picking a large, well-ventilated space for sex; experimenting with sexual positions that avoid face-to-face contact; avoiding kissing; and, of course, wearing a mask during the encounter. An info-graphic even advised students to “mask-urbate.”
A gracious UNT public affairs representative acknowledged that “the safest option would be to avoid sexual encounters outside one’s household until the pandemic is over,” but the university understands that “individuals will still make decisions based on their own opinions and risk tolerance.”
And in the hierarchy of risky activities, sex has got to rank at the top (especially when compared to, say, trick-or-treating).
The spokeswoman, Leigh Anne Gullett, said that the tweets came in response to “increased student interest in sexual health and wellness” and that they “were carefully developed using expert resources in the interest of giving students the tools to make healthy, informed decisions in their daily lives.”
It’s good that the health and wellness folks at UNT want to empower students to make healthy and informed decisions about their lives and accept that different people have different appetites for risk.
But empowerment for healthy decision-making should not apply only to sex.
It should apply to the education of our children, our social activities, and everything in between — all of which have been forcibly restricted this past year, with little appreciation for individual risk tolerance.
This kind of cognitive dissonance has been a hallmark of the pandemic. From the beginning, public-health advice has been inconsistent, contradictory and ideological.
Protests against job-killing, despair-inducing lockdowns were condemned as dangerous, virus-spreading events. But mass demonstrations for racial justice were somehow not dangerous because their cause (however justified) was seen as too important.
Super Bowl celebrations in the streets caused apoplexy among public-health experts. Celebrating President Joe Biden’s election, though, was patriotic.
Watching public-health officials contort their words to align with the ethos of the moment might be entertaining if it wasn’t so blatantly cynical.
The problem is that their advice always purports to “follow the science” — except when it doesn’t. That phrase is just a way of vindicating the priorities of whatever health authority is in question.
Health officials at a large public university are guiding students on how to have sex with acquaintances during the pandemic. (I’m sure their parents are relieved.) The complete absence of any moral conscience behind the UNT guidelines aside, there is nothing coherent about a school doing all it can to keep students away from each other for the good of public health (virtual classes, limits on activities, distancing, distancing, distancing!) while practically encouraging sex with an uncommitted partner.
By all means, go ahead. Just be sure to mask-up.
While contemplating the abject absurdity of these tweets, another achingly depressing thought occurred: All the things that build up our souls have been greatly restricted.
The things that give life meaning: gathering with friends, holidays with family, attending a wedding or funeral, sitting at the bedside of a sick relative.
Religious services. Singing. Hugging.
Handshakes (Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should be done with those for good!).
Seeing a person’s entire face.
But the things that satisfy our anger or fulfill our base desires — those things are fine. Just wear a mask.
There’s a lot more sickness in our culture than the coronavirus could ever unleash.
Where’s the vaccine for that?
