[Editor’s Note: The following letter is in response to Eric Scheske’s “Appetites Run Amok.”]
Dear Catholic Exchange:
CatholicExchange.com is running more and more sexually explicit/alluring articles. What's going on?
Maybe you think you're hip, but that would be a male thing. Families don't want this.
Today's “Appetites” is just one more offense.
The author wrote: “While out with a group of guys the other week, I heard an interesting conversation. One guy (in his forties) mentioned that a couple of local high school girls in the junior and senior classes are very good-looking. The other guys mocked him for being a pervert.”
Perhaps these men were wrong to call him a pervert, but I assure you, young women and women don't want to be “checked out” by older men. Also, the eyes are the gateway to so much more. Why is this guy checking them out? The article went on to say:
“That, the guy said, wasn't what he meant at all. He objected, 'I also think my 16-year-old niece is extremely pretty. Does that mean I find her sexy?'
But the protests didn't get far. The other guys in the group essentially said good-looking and sexy are the same thing. If you find a girl good-looking, you must sexually desire her.
Whatta sad state of affairs.
Our culture has become so sexually charged that everything has become sexually charged.”
You owe your readers an apology. We don't want to read this. I thought this would be an interesting article. It's not; it's offensive. Why are you talking about sexual desire so much? Is this a wanna-be Playboy site?
The difference between finding your niece pretty and a stranger is the relationship. I am tempted to call you “stupid” and “moronic.” To be looking at young women with sexual desire is one step away from illegality.
So why entertain the thoughts here?
A man “noting a woman's (or girl's, as the case may be) looks,” is examining her, checking her out, wondering about her, etc etc. For this reason, most women do not like this when it's done to them, or in front of them. But for heaven's sake, stop trying to be Playboy.
Dear Reader,
This article wasn't explicit. The editor (ME!) is a faithful and somewhat prudish Catholic grandma with no “male thing” attempts to be hip on her agenda.
And the whole point of the article was that it is a sick society that can make no distinction between a man noticing that a young girl is pretty and desiring her sexually. You have misread and misunderstood the article, as this forum response from another reader clearly indicates:
“Base hit, Eric! Way to keep your eye on the ball, make contact, and get one through!
“In our porno-saturated culture, we have many (most?) who can not even see beauty except through the dark prism of their disordered passions. We are so far gone that those who can see beauty without lust are looked upon as aberrations. Please, Lord, help us!
“I'll be sharing this one with the parish men's group.”
The author, as well as every editor on CE, deserves an apology for your unfounded and frankly, nasty, suggestion that we are “trying to be Playboy.”
Grace to you,
Mrs. Mary Kochan
Senior Editor, Catholic Exchange
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