'Sex Worker' Art Shows Not Appropriate for Colleges, Says Activist

by Ed Thomas and Jody Brown
March 8, 2006

(AgapePress) - - A pro-family leader in Pennsylvania is condemning two art shows celebrating "sex workers" being held this month at college locations in her state. The shows, she explains, literally feature art related to professions glorifying sex.

The first show was held on March 1 at Swarthmore College. On its website, the art show promised to celebrate, among other things, prostitution. The second show takes place today (March 8) at Bucknell University in Lewisburg. Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, says she was appalled at the notion of such a show.

"The sex workers art show includes a 'wide range of perspectives on sex work' [including prostitution]," says the pro-family leader. "The last time I checked, prostitution was illegal in every state in the union except Nevada -- and the last time I checked, this was not Nevada."

Gramley says she tried to contact the presidents of both schools, asking them questions such as: Will the "art show" also include information about epidemic substance abuse among sex workers -- or the physical, sexual, and verbal abuse that they must endure? Will the participants be told of HPV, the most common sexually transmitted disease among sexually active young people and recognized as the major cause of cervical cancer? Will the dangers of homosexual sex be discussed?

Evidently her questions have fallen on dear ears. "I've faxed them -- I faxed Bucknell's president [Brian Mitchell] and I e-mailed the other president there at Swarthmore [Alfred Bloom], and I've heard nothing from any of them," she says. "But it's a concern that both [of the schools] see these as being appropriate fare for their student body."

Even more concerning, says Gramley, the art show at Swarthmore was a pre-event for a homosexual symposium of workshops being held there March 23-26, which will address the issue of homosexual sex. Topics advertised for the workshops include "Queering Love and Unqueering Sex" and "Queer Sex Now!"

In a press release about the art shows, Gramley notes that Swarthmore was founded in 1864 by the Quakers -- a historical fact also mentioned on the school's website. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania and a famous Quaker, recognized the danger of the sin of sodomy and set forth the state's sodomy laws, she says. "If William Penn could see the direction Swarthmore is taking, he would be rolling over in his grave," Gramley states.