Posts by fulltimestudent

31

Far fewer references to lesbians

by Doug Mason in

i notice that while a search of the wt library reveals many references to homosexuals, there are few references to lesbians.. does the wts include women when it uses the term homosexual?.

when discussing masturbation, does it mention both sexes?.

i am asking out of pure ignorance, seeking clarification.. my only comment is that religion of every shade has difficulty with the subject of sexual activity, as if it were something that is not part of nature.. doug.

fulltimestudent

Both in the general community and the JW community, there is more emphasis on male homosexuality than there is on female homosexuality. Why that discrepancy exists is not clear. It could be simply a numerical issue, but in the current situation of lingering community discrimination we are unlikely to know the relative percentages of same sex attracted males and females.

Within the JW congregations in which I had some knowledge of what was going on, I can only recall one disfellowshipping in which female/female sex was the issue, but quite a few disfellowshippings in which male/male sexual activity was the issue.

It is, of course, easier for a woman to hide her unexpressed same sex yearnings than it is for a man. A man who is same sex attracted and married to a woman (which I'm guessing is likely to be the situation for most same sex attracted male Jws. ) has a huge problem. He is expected to perform marriage dues with his wife, while not being sexually attracted to her, and somehow provide an explanation for his lack of performance.

In that situation something is going to give, both in the marriage and in his personal satisfaction with life. That may have something to do with the higher numbers of males who are disfellowshipped, compared to women.

5

Beyond comment: Violent child-sex crimes that are shocking India

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

two indian girls, aged two and five, raped in new delhi.

source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-17/manhunt-launched-after-two-indian-girls-raped-in-new-delhi/6863212.

reaction of the authorities (from the same report).

fulltimestudent

Two Indian girls, aged two and five, raped in New Delhi

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-17/manhunt-launched-after-two-indian-girls-raped-in-new-delhi/6863212

Reaction of the Authorities (From the same report)

"What are PM [and] his [lieutenant governor] doing?"
Mr Kejriwal and Mr Modi's administration are jostling for control of the capital's police department, with Delhi city authorities saying they are unable to improve security for women.
They have deflected the blame on to Mr Modi's central government which controls Delhi's 84,000 police, the largest metropolitan police force in the world.
The attacks add to a grim catalogue of sexual assaults in India, many of which have sparked domestic and international outrage.
The fatal gang rape of a young student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 led to an outpouring of anger over frightening levels of violence against women.
India recorded 36,735 rape cases in 2014, with 2,096 of them in Delhi.
Experts say those figures likely under-represent the true scale of the crimes

6

Are you a 老外 (laowei = foreigner) - where to go for a pub-crawl in Shanghai

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

when i was less experienced in chinese ways, i used to think that chinese people couldn't drink (low tolerance to alcohol).

not so, last trip i tagged along on a night out, a friend put on for his staff.

after a long dinner of many dishes, cooked specially by a 5 star hotel chef hired for the occasion, lubricated with many bottles of wine, we finished up at a nightclub on the edge of a lake, where they continued drinking shot after shot of tequila.

fulltimestudent

Bonsai: I'd love to visit Shanghai someday. Thanks for the travel tips.

I like Shanghai. I don't know your travel budgets, mine are rather low, so if you're's are like mine, you may like some shared tips.

I usually stay in a mid priced hotel in what could be called the centre of Shanghai. Its in Nanjing Lu, a long pedestrian street. Its good for transport as its 5 minutes walk from People square subway station, which is at the intersection of subway lines 1 and 2.

So if you travel in the low cost range, you can catch the Maglev train (about 400km/hr) from Pudong airport to its terminus at Longyang station on subway line 2 and then to People's Square. But if there are two of you, its not much cheaper than a taxi from the airport.

This hotel is the low end of 3 star. Its quite clean, secure and safe.

See it at: http://english.ctrip.com/hotels/shanghai-hotel-detail-668996/jinjiang-inn-nanjing-east-road-pedestrian-street/?city=2&checkin=2015-10-21&checkout=2015-10-22#ctm_ref=lst_n_1_10

Its also next door to Shanghai No 1 food store with a good mix of Chinese and western food. You can buy a variety of dried mushrooms, ginseng and sea cucumber, as well as more tempting snacks including fresh fruit, western cakes, asian cakes and sweets, sunflower seeds, nuts, dried fruit, moon cakes and tea, etc. There's a Macdonalds, if you fear asian food (which I'm sure you don't), and up higher there are all sorts of restaurants, and in the side streets you can still buy traditional breakfast foods very cheap.

If you want to just explore Shanghai, the subway network is not quite as large as Tokyo's. but its extensive and getting bigger all the time. And if you want to, you can easily do day train trips to other cities like Suzhou (26 minutes by VFT) and Hangzhou (about 1 hour by VFT) and come back the same day, if you want.

Train timetable Shanghai to Hangzhou - as you can see at certain peak times there is a VFT about every 5-10 minutes that will whisk you the 150 km distance in about 1 hour.

http://www.chinatrainguide.com/shanghai-railway-station/hangzhou.html

Personally, I think HZ is worth a few days, just sitting around West lake - a very large lake that is now almost surrounded by parklands - and 'people watching is entertaining.' When Marco Polo visited HZ, he described it as the most beautiful city in the world. It suffered during the 100 year Chinese decline, but is now surging back. And Suzhou has many beautiful gardens and a great museum, that includes a palace used by the Taiping Christians during their nearly successful rebellion against the Qing.

Nanjing is a 2 hour trip by VFT, so stay there a couple of nights, if you want to see it

If you decide to make that trip, hope you have a great time!

6

Are you a 老外 (laowei = foreigner) - where to go for a pub-crawl in Shanghai

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

when i was less experienced in chinese ways, i used to think that chinese people couldn't drink (low tolerance to alcohol).

not so, last trip i tagged along on a night out, a friend put on for his staff.

after a long dinner of many dishes, cooked specially by a 5 star hotel chef hired for the occasion, lubricated with many bottles of wine, we finished up at a nightclub on the edge of a lake, where they continued drinking shot after shot of tequila.

fulltimestudent

Village Idiot: Very colorful fulltimestudent but they could use a bit more of yellow.

Not sure why there's a the lack of yellow, in a color experience that's somewhat overwhelming.

Yellow is an important color in Chinese traditions, and was a key color in Imperial color schemes.

Maybe it has something to do with Chinese ideas on color matching.

Maybe I'll find out sometime.

6

Are you a 老外 (laowei = foreigner) - where to go for a pub-crawl in Shanghai

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

when i was less experienced in chinese ways, i used to think that chinese people couldn't drink (low tolerance to alcohol).

not so, last trip i tagged along on a night out, a friend put on for his staff.

after a long dinner of many dishes, cooked specially by a 5 star hotel chef hired for the occasion, lubricated with many bottles of wine, we finished up at a nightclub on the edge of a lake, where they continued drinking shot after shot of tequila.

fulltimestudent

And for gay XJWs, you'll be happy to know that there are quite a few gay bars also in Shanghai.

Here's the latest (courtesy of my gay xjw friend):

6

Are you a 老外 (laowei = foreigner) - where to go for a pub-crawl in Shanghai

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

when i was less experienced in chinese ways, i used to think that chinese people couldn't drink (low tolerance to alcohol).

not so, last trip i tagged along on a night out, a friend put on for his staff.

after a long dinner of many dishes, cooked specially by a 5 star hotel chef hired for the occasion, lubricated with many bottles of wine, we finished up at a nightclub on the edge of a lake, where they continued drinking shot after shot of tequila.

fulltimestudent

When I was less experienced in Chinese ways, I used to think that Chinese people couldn't drink (low tolerance to alcohol). Not so, last trip I tagged along on a night out, a friend put on for his staff. After a long dinner of many dishes, cooked specially by a 5 star hotel chef hired for the occasion, lubricated with many bottles of wine, we finished up at a nightclub on the edge of a lake, where they continued drinking shot after shot of tequila. I'd withdrawn (mentally) by that stage - knowing what's good for me-grin, and soon withdrew physically and left for my hotel. But they continued on at some other bar.

So if you visit Shanghai, here's some recommendations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlJImJhmQYw

11

Not for unthinking Christians. The OUP blog looks at the question, How Did Life Begin on Earth?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

oxford university press daily offers thoughts on many serious topics.

in this life it examines the possibilities of a 'non-created' beginning of life.. the blog post commences:.

quote,"news broke in july 2015 that the rosetta missions philae lander had discovered 16 carbon and nitrogen-rich organic compounds on comet 67p/churyumov-gerasimenko.

fulltimestudent

Oxford University Press daily offers thoughts on many serious topics. In this life it examines the possibilities of a 'non-created' beginning of life.

The blog post commences:

Quote,"News broke in July 2015 that the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander had discovered 16 ‘carbon and nitrogen-rich’ organic compounds on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The news sparked renewed debates about whether the ‘prebiotic’ chemicals required for producing amino acids and nucleotides – the essential building blocks of all life forms – may have been delivered to Earth by cometary impacts. The argument goes that the shock of an impact may be sufficient to produce these essential life chemicals, so seeding the young Earth with the ingredients required to get life kick-started."

7

Kara- An ethical dilemma that's closer than you may be thinking

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7we1op7d4

fulltimestudent

Yeah, OrphanCrow, I thought Simon was talking about me as a JW.

13

Same sex attraction, as a behaviour can be predicted.

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

being ever ready to note information that demonstrates christian idiocy in general and jw idiocy in particular, i was interested in news of this particular research that has been doing the rounds of science oriented news sources this week.. christianity in general and jwism in particular, have viciously persecuted same sex attracted people, thus demonstrating their peculiar hypocrisy.

most christians (the jw brand and other brands) squeal like a speared pig when they suffer any treatment that they call persecution, but are always willing to persecute same sex attracted people (and anyone else that stands outside their narrow-minded vision of the world).. most same sex attracted people will testify that their romantic attraction to the same sex was not a clear cut choice, but was something they grew up with.

(gay by nature).

fulltimestudent

rebel8: I thought the term "same sex attraction" was invented by fundamentalists to emphasize their belief that it's just an attraction (feeling) and you don't have to act on it (sin).

haha! I'm afraid rebel, that whatever word is used the funny old fundies, or whatever explanation for the phenomenon or behaviour is used, the fundies will attempt to offer a reason not to act on it.

I know that some gay activists do not like the expression, "same sex attraction." I use it because I feel its the most descriptive expression to describe what is occurring.

Whatever the cause, the fact is that a person (male of female) can feel an attraction to the same sex, and that's irrespective of whether or not they act on that feeling.

-------------

On the same thought, does a genetic reason for same sex attraction mean that only people with that differential, have sex with people of the same sex? That's sort of the thinking today, is it not?

And, it is also argued that the percentage of people who have that attraction is a minority of maybe 5 to 20%. And, using that concept then, how do we explain bisexuals.

And what does explains cultures where most of the population have sex with the other people of the same sex. For example, in some Melanesian cultures, every boy on coming to maturity is penetrated by a more senior male.

In ancient Greece, men got married to have a family, but to have an in-depth love affair, they would seek out another man for romance and love.

In East Asia, the same thing. Professor Gary Leupp (Tufts U) in his exploring early modern Japanese archives, says he found so many cases of man-man sex that he describes it as normative.

Maybe then there is a possibility that recreational same-sex sexual activity is the norm, and breeding opposite-sex sexual activity is the aberration. One thing is sure - most sexual acts between consenting adults are recreational (for fun) and not procreational. (for breeding)

We have no way of knowing what ancient man, 10,000 years ago to 500,000 years ago did for sex. I very much doubt that the JW perception is anywhere near the truth.

I'm sort of coming to the conclusion that its possible that without cultural taboos that steer our behaviour, people would feel free to have sex with anyone they liked and who returned the interest.

1

If you live in Australia or the north island of NZ, you may be interested in the Russian Film festical

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

its named as the russian resurrection, and here's the cities and dates:.

auckland nz 21 - 26 oct. sydney george st 23 oct - 4 nov. sydney burwood 23 oct - 4 nov. brisbane 28 oct - 4 nov. canberra 4 - 11 nov. melbourne 5 - 15 nov. perth 12 - 18 nov. details of what's showing and when on p2 of this link:.

http://russianresurrection.com/2015.

fulltimestudent

I've been asked, (elsewhere) to recommend a film. I can't, havn't seen any of them! But based on what I can learn and if your sort of thinking that what we know about and are used to is the standard, then maybe this one:

http://russianresurrection.com/2015/films/soulless-2

Soulless is a sequel to a film popular at a previous festival. Here's the story line;

Max rejects everything that he once believed in: a glamorous lifestyle, a successful career and stunning penthouse apartment. Three years later and he is living the beachcomber’s life. He roams the warm seas surrounding Bali. He embraces nature and is surrounded by new friends. But it is impossible to forget the crazy rhythms of the big city. A chance meeting leads him right back into the heart of the capital pulsing with high tech, insane deals, deadly risk and his former love… but he conjures new deals and new ideas… Max is the hero of our time. This is a rare example of a sequel that works. Set three years after the 2012 box office hit, the new adventure once again stars the charismatic Danila Kozlovsky who was mobbed by audiences last time he was in Australia.