Greta Speaking in Salt Lake City at "Sextravaganza," Sat. 9/15

I’m speaking this Saturday in Salt Lake City, along with Dr. Darrel Ray and Dr. Lisa Diamond, at the Sextravaganza event put on by SHIFT (the University of Utah’s secular student group). My topic: “Atheism and Sexuality.” If you’re in the area, come by to hear me speak, buy my books, and say howdy!

SHIFT: Secular Humanism, Inquiry and Freethought logo

CITY: Salt Lake City, UT
DATE: Saturday, Sept. 15
TIME: Three-speaker Sextravaganza event starts at 3:00 pm
LOCATION: Orson Spencer Hall Auditorium, OSH 260 Central Campus Drive, on the University of Utah campus (the building just south of the Union Building), Salt Lake City, UT
EVENT/ HOSTS: Sextravaganza!, organized by SHIFT: Secular Humanism, Inquiry and Freethought, University of Utah
OTHER SPEAKERS/ PRESENTERS: Dr. Darrel Ray and Dr. Lisa Diamond.
TOPIC: Atheism and Sexuality
SUMMARY: The sexual morality of traditional religion tends to be based, not on solid ethical principles, but on a set of taboos about what kinds of sex God does and doesn’t want people to have. And while the sex-positive community offers a more thoughtful view of sexual morality, it still often frames sexuality as positive by seeing it as a spiritual experience. What are some atheist alternatives to these views? How can atheists view sexual ethics without a belief in God? And how can atheists view sexual transcendence without a belief in the supernatural?
COST: Free, and open to the public

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Greta Speaking in Salt Lake City at "Sextravaganza," Sat. 9/15
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5 thoughts on “Greta Speaking in Salt Lake City at "Sextravaganza," Sat. 9/15

  1. 1

    I hope you mention sexually-transmitted diseases as a problem with unrestricted sex, particularly prior the condom. Any group adopting as virtues–for whatever reason, logical or not–chastity prior marriage and fidelity within marriage, had to acquire an evolutionary edge in long-term reproductive survival.

    If it took nonsense to do this, then we’ve acquired a predilection to believe nonsense as well.

  2. 2

    “And how can atheists view sexual transcendence without a belief in the supernatural?”

    You can’t. Not unless by transcendence you mean objective. Otherwise transcendent is just a synonym for supernatural.

    “The sexual morality of traditional religion tends to be based, not on solid ethical principles, but on a set of taboos about what kinds of sex God does and doesn’t want people to have.”

    I’m going to guess that by “solid ethical principles” you mean “ethical principles I agree with. In fact, Catholicism, which is certainly a traditional religion by any definition, does base it’s sexual mores on solid ethical grounds. They may not be what you and I would choose but they are “solid” nonetheless.

    “And while the sex-positive community offers a more thoughtful view of sexual morality, it still often frames sexuality as positive by seeing it as a spiritual experience.”

    This is where the other meaning of transcendence comes into play. “Spiritual” or transcendent in this context simply means allowing one to have an experience beyond one’s own narrow self interest and petty concerns. Sex can be one means to transcend one’s self but it’s hardly the only means. So can celibacy. Any repeated pattern of behavior can probably serve this function for the individual.

  3. 3

    *foaming at mouth*

    I’m finding out that Greta Christina is coming to my city, a long time dream of mine, 6pm the night before, and I already have plans for a different meetup. Someone’s butt is getting kicked for this, HARD.

  4. 5

    Given that two years ago, prominent skeptics went a little irrational over giving the name “Skepticon” to an event they perceived as primarily about atheism, is anyone freaking out over how Sextravaganza is going to “conflate” atheism with sex, thus diluting atheism and destroying sex? I think consistency would demand that someone should at least be complaining that this event indicates that atheists are trying to “take over” sex.

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