The mind boggles

As an undergraduate, I decided not to pursue an academic career. At the time I had a perception that some academics were cloistered souls who spent their days making abstract and at times wild speculations in their areas of expertise, far detached from the real world, and far removed from the reality of everyday life for ordinary people, and sometimes with questionable people skills. 

My perception was confirmed when I read an opinion piece in today's Age by Liz Conor of Monash University. She thinks that monogamy is unnatural and is therefore not feasible for our society to impose it, even in marriage, and advocating for polyamory as well. This is what I wrote in response:

How depressing. Are we supposed to condone infidelity because monagamy is allegedly unnatural?

"Mummy, why did Daddy go and live with another lady?"


"Don't be angry at him. He was only following his instincts."


To my mind, this sort of thinking is abhorrent and puts a sword of Damocles over anyone who wants to get married one day and make it work.

Not only that, she makes her version of sexual ethics sound so benign and harmless. Nowhere does she account for the devastation that results from marital infidelity, the health impacts of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, or the emotional damage that people experience when their sexual partners treat them as objects to be used and discarded afterwards, particularly women.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/the-disaster-of-monogamy--we-should-acknowledge-that-it-rarely-works-20111031-1ms42.html#ixzz1cRsVcLWq