Famed former rock journalist to speak about ‘The Philosophy of Sex’ March 19

By Mayé Agama, El Pueblo Católico

Dawn Eden, a former rock journalist turned dynamic Catholic apologist, is coming to the Auraria campus in downtown Denver March 19, to speak about human sexuality.

Born into a Jewish family and later experiencing a successful career as a rock journalist and headline writer, Eden eventually moved from Judaism to agnosticism to Catholicism.

The title of her upcoming talk, set for 6 p.m. March 19 at the Tivoli Student Union, 906 Curtis St., is “The Philosophy of Sex: A Look Into Human Sexuality.” Eden has published two
books on human sexuality: The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, and My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds With the Help of the
Saints.

She spoke with El Pueblo Católico last week, sharing how her conversion to Catholicism was due in large part to the Church’s teachings on human sexuality.

Q: You are coming to Denver to speak about chastity. The wider culture would have people believe chastity is impossible today.
A: Yes, there are people who think chastity is impossible. But I find that human beings are not the robots that politicians and the media would like to have us think they are. We are not predetermined to be ruled by our hormones. Rather, we are gifted with reason that enables us to pursue what will make us truly happy—even when attaining our goal requires us to make personal sacrifice.

Q: How does one live chastity in the hypersexualized culture that we live in?
A: For starters, become aware of what you are taking in via the media, remembering the old maxim, “Garbage in, garbage out.” There have been studies showing that people who listen to music with sexually graphic lyrics are more likely to engage in sex outside of marriage. Likewise, if you’re watching TV shows or visiting websites that have sexually graphic content, don’t be surprised if you are assaulted by lustful fantasies. It takes effort to resist media that objectifies people, but it’s worth it.

Q: What would you say about the consequences of our hypersexualized culture on children?
A: From my own experience, I personally believe that the emergence of the divorce culture, which started back in the 1950s and exploded during the 1960s and ’70s, lowered the bar in terms of what psychologists thought was an acceptable environment for children.
Before then, it was understood that children should be insulated from having to witness certain kinds of sexual behavior that are de rigueur now. I’m thinking, for example, of the child of divorce who sees his mother bring home a new sex partner—a man the child has never seen before, who then spends the night in the mother’s bedroom. Even if the man is not abusive, it’s still psychologically unsettling for the child to see a stranger enter into mom’s most private space and then show up at the breakfast table.
I realize single parents may not want to hear that, but it’s worth asking people who grew up in that kind of environment how it affected them. Certainly, when a child’s mother has a man stay over who is not the child’s father, the child is at greater risk of abuse, statistically speaking. In this respect, it’s important to note that childhood sexual abuse does not only include physical abuse. It also includes sex talk and sexual inappropriateness—intentionally causing the child to take in something that he or she is too young to process, like social nudity or films with sexual content.

Q: What is the influence of feminism in how women understand or misunderstand their sexuality today?
A: It is profoundly damaging for feminists to claim, as many do, that women have to switch off their desires for marriage and motherhood in order to be fully human. One does not have to be a wife and mother to be happy, but the desire to be a wife and mother is a desire that works toward women’s’ thriving, not against it.

Q: What was it that made you convert from being a follower of the sexual revolution to promoting chastity, and in the end converting to Catholicism?
A: I encountered the love of Jesus Christ, and it made me want to change my life so as to live in his love.