You know what? I’m a Rough Rider also.

We’re a group of kinky gay/lesbian/bisexual men and women.

Just sayin….

Do you sidehug also? You know, for the sake of modesty?

We’re a group of kinky gay/lesbian/bisexual men and women.

Just sayin….

While criticizing oppressive legislation and other oppressive behavior of some Christians and large, powerful Christian groups is certainly valid and necessary, putting up a post on a progressive feminist blog (where a lot of Christian feminists read and comment) for the sole purpose of making fun of a religious practice and group seems quite contradictory and inflammatory.

I second everything William said. I’ll also add that I identify as a Christian. I only go to church on the “big” holidays now, but the identity and the beliefs remain. So it’s also a bit of an outsider-insider thing. I’m not making fun of a religous practice and all Christians. I’m making fun of a really ridiculous video put out by a Christian group which promotes a super conservative, inane vision of Christianity and morality.

If a politician had put out this video and called it the “GOP Side-Hug,” we would have mocked it just as mercilessly. Why should a church group get a pass just because they name-check Jesus?

That said, another commenter was right – it’s not about the crotches touching, it’s about the boobs. I remember when I started college I had a close guy friend who was a serious Christian, and he’d give me big awesome front hugs all the time. Then I went on birth control and definitely wasn’t an AA size any more, so he kinda started into the ‘awkward leaning in’ hugs or the side-hugs. Fortunately, he’s gotten over that now, and a lot of other things (by now, he’s one of the few Christians I know who are actually tolerant of different belief systems and lifestyles).

This is harmless.

Given the context of the damage that fundamentalist Christianity has done, and continues to do, to our society I have to disagree. Farce or not, this is part of a broader orientation that fundamentalist Christians have against an entire range of human behaviors which are related (sometimes only tangentially) to sex and sexuality. They have shown, as a group, that they are unwilling to merely follow their own precepts but instead demand that others follow them as well and attempt to use the law in order to force others into compliance. Becoming ever more extreme, and satire needs reality, necessarily means that the growing extremism will influence the evil old men who hold power in their community. Hell, you don’t even have to look to far to find high school which have banned <a href="http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7321841" title="hugging". This isn't some theoretical objection, this kind of garbage has real world consequences.

And I’m not a Christian, William. Not 100% sure you were under that impression, but your response implied it.

Looking back, you’re right, my post did seem to imply that. I apologize.

but rather that this post is unabashedly making a joke at the expense of Christians, and that would never happen if the group in question were of any other religion.

I understand that thats your objection, I just don’t really have much sympathy for your point. Christians are the power base in the west, they are historically the oppressors not the oppressed. They hold such a hegemony (almost solely through tyranny and genocide) in the west that there really haven’t been “other” religions even in the picture until recently (the only exceptions being Jews and Muslims, both of whom have been treated to repeated extermination attempts by Christians). To me, that kind of history makes a group lose the ability to call foul when ridiculed. They can go cry about it in their tax-exempt, cash-flush mega-churches for all I care.

One of the reasons religion is a touchy subject to make fun of is because of what has historically gone on in the west. Up until very recently (and, I’d argue, this is still largely true today) if someone makes fun of a Jew or a Muslim it is as a member of a group which has historically oppressed and murdered Jews and Muslims. Its the same reason no one really flinches when a black comic says “cracker” but why all hell would brake loose if a white comic dropped the n-word. A black person calling a white person a cracker is different because it doesn’t carry the weight of centuries of oppression and abuse, it doesn’t mean the same thing, it doesn’t have the same power. The same is true of Christianity.

If it’s not acceptable to poke fun at one group of people for decision they make (religion is a choice you make, there is no getting around that)

I wouldn’t agree with that premise, no. Some choices are fundamentally ridiculous and ought to be made fun of. Still, even without that, I think you’re missing two important factors. First, when oppressed people make fun of their oppressors I believe they ought to be given some leeway. Coping is hard and sometimes only humor can really get you through. Second, this isn’t just making fun of some Christians for making a choice to “side hug.” This video doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Christianity, especially of the American Fundamentalist strain, has displayed it’s absolute unwillingness to keep it’s increasingly severe precepts to itself. This is a culture which is still actively engaged in oppression, a culture which is becoming more strident and aggressive as it begins to lose the social power it once enjoyed. The “Christian side-hug” rap (complete with the charming additions of gun shots, sirens, and silent black men) would be less offensive if it didn’t exist in the context of a community that has consistently fought to inflict their neuroses on others.

then you can’t possibly revoke that consideration with other groups of a similar nature. That’s like saying that instead of men and women being treated equally, we just transfer the power that men have to women. Obviously that just gives the problem a new name, instead of solving it.

Being subject to ridicule is being treated equally. We have a long history in our society of making fun of people who do ridiculous things. Michael Moore has sprinkled his documentaries with ridicule, Lewis Black shouts ridicule with a red face and bugged-out eyes, Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce made acerbic wit an American specialty, Livejournal built a business on essentially creating a forum for people to ridicule one another and then complain about being ridiculed in an endless cycle, and this is far from the only post on feministe that makes fun of someone (I seem to recall a picture of Sean Hannity with the caption “douchebag” not too long ago). As a society, we ridicule people.

I would ask you why Christians, or religious beliefs in general, ought to be special. If someone joins the John Birch Society I don’t think they’d be out of bounds, if they joined the Klan I’d certainly think they’d be open for ridicule, I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t have a problem making fun of someone who went to Westboro Baptist, why is it that religion (or rather, some sects of some mainstream religions) get a special pass?

I can think of lots of reasons to be freaked out by evangelical youth group culture, but seriously? This is pretty harmless.

Also, yeah, good idea to send a girl to be put in a coma by her psychopath born-again mom. God save us. (not really).

While criticizing oppressive legislation and other oppressive behavior of some Christians and large, powerful Christian groups is certainly valid and necessary, putting up a post on a progressive feminist blog (where a lot of Christian feminists read and comment) for the sole purpose of making fun of a religious practice and group seems quite contradictory and inflammatory.

One is kind of necessary for the other. I’ll be honest, if you’re the kind of person who goes to a church with white kids rapping about side hugs and all but doing a minstrel show to gun shots and sirens then you’re part of the problem. You’re contributing to a strain of Christianity that has contributed nothing but moralism, repression, shame, and foolishness to society. You’re probably financially contributing to a church which actively supports politicians and groups who seek to restrict the basic human rights of others. If you don’t attend the kind of church advocating something as utterly ridiculous as the Christian side hug, then really the criticisms about fundamentalism that have been tossed around on here aren’t leveled at you.

Also, you need to accept that you are part of the group in power. Maybe some of the things that other Christians do piss you off, maybe you don’t agree with Jerry Fallwell, maybe the idea of Liberty University makes you as physically ill as it makes me, but you are still part of the dominant group. I’m white, I’m not a member of the KKK, and white people do a lot of things that piss me off. I call it out when I see it, I do my part to change the views of people close to me, I try to give up as much privilege as I can and I do my best to be aware of (and mitigate) what I can’t. Still, when I turn on the TV and I see a black comic making fun of white people I shut the fuck up and remember that oppressed peoples need to do whatever they can to get by, that it isn’t really about me, that as a member of the privileged group humor directed at my group is fundamentally different than it would be if it was the other way around.

Perhaps more importantly, its worth noting that part of what the kind of humor you seem to be objecting to does is that it takes away some of the deference the dominant group has come to expect. A tyrant is always a little less powerful when they’re being laughed at. Criticizing oppressive regulations and behaviors go hand in hand with criticizing the fundamental assumptions that lead to them. Often times it goes with criticizing the groups putting those behaviors forwards and engaging in those behaviors. Damn right its inflammatory, it ought to be, thats the point. Christians, especially in America, have been trying to play the victim and demanding the they be treated better for too damned long. Its become a tool of oppression, this masquerading as an oppressed group in order to silence those they oppress.

I’ve had enough and I’m sick of pretending that somehow Christians are special and fragile and need to be protected. You’ll get no sympathy from me because oppressed people pointed and laughed at their oppressors.

I guarantee you, no one doing that song feels like full frontal hugs are truly “sinful.” There’s nothing in Scripture to bear that out. But, with hormones running wild, liability issues, and character to consider, it’s better safe than sued. This was just a humorous way of communicating the rules. You come down, list off the rules, no one wants to follow them. You do it in a creative–albeit funky and left-of-center–manner, and students are more likely to follow along.

Just my two cents.

C.E. Moore
The Christian Manifesto
http://www.thechristianmanifesto.com/