Last week, my Public Speaking professor told me that I could not give a persuasive speech urging my class to have safe sex. (The topic of the speech was “a call to action” and all topics must be approved by the professor.) Professor X told me that she did not want to be “morally responsible” for anything my speech might lead to, and compared allowing my speech on safe sex to allowing a speech on how to find the best wines, given to a student who already drinks too much.
Figuring that this analogy was confusing as a result of my recent illness and fatigue, I agreed with her that yes, it was a hard position to be in. Yes, I could do another topic if necessary.
“Why don’t you give a speech on abstinence instead?” she suggested.
I felt defeated. She always told me my topics weren’t good or interesting enough. I didn’t have much time. I yielded. As I walked out of the classroom, it occured to me what had just happened. Instead of advocating safe sex to a classroom of college students, I was now advocating abstinence, for a professor who had implicitly made it clear through the past few months that she was a Christian. I grit my teeth. I had too many other things to do and not enough time to think of a new, acceptable topic. I decided to go with it, and spoke on Monday about the physical and emotional risks of sex, and the benefits of abstinence. I made a B-, which is acceptable, but I still felt upset that I hadn’t stood up for myself more.
(Stay with me here.)
I walked into class today, volunteered to time the speeches for the rest of my classmates, and after a few persuasive speeches on the danger of heart disease and the importance of good oral hygeine, there it was.
A speech about God.
It was a call to action-- to reconcile with God. Student X’s (required) three points were as follows:
[ol]
[li]God exists[/li][li]God gave us a moral code to follow[/li][li]You need to reconcile with God[/li][/ol]
In five minutes, Student X gave a decent speech that attempted to point out the logical reasons for believing in her three contentions. I learned something I had never learned in my entire Christian upbringing – that when we sin, we become “enemies of God.” That’s a new one on me.
The kicker, to me, was that one of her (required) visual aids was a target (like a bull-eye), which she used to discuss sin. (It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but that’s what she used.) Her closing sentence was “Do you want to be seen as a target by God, or clothed in his love?”
I suppose I should have seen it coming: that God is more appropriate and legitimate to discuss in class than safe sex. I still wasn’t expecting it though. I feel very frustrated that a topic I find to be perfectly valid to be discussed, a topic that impacts all of us (whether we are having sex currently or not) – was turned down while a personal testimony was considered acceptable.
[Note: I attend a college in a relatively liberal part of a conservative southern state. Public Speaking is a required course for my major/minor and it is too late to withdraw from the class without putting my scholarships in jeopardy. And no, my Professor is not an X-men character, unfortunately-- I chose the label for convenience.]
