Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  Exploring the Problem of Sexual Self-Control and the Suffering of their Victims   I Googled Ravi Z and before I typed his surname, 2,930,000 results appeared. The first two dealt with his problems of sexual self-control. His organization made a public statement following an investigation. In paragraph four they wrote:   To be victimized by unwanted sexual contact, advances, and behavior is horrendous. It is diametrically opposed to everything we believe about the value and dignity of every single person. We believe not only the women who made their allegations public but also additional women who had not previously made public allegations against Ravi but whose identities and stories were uncovered during the investigation. Tragically, witnesses described encounters including sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape. We are devastated by what the investigation has shown and are filled with sorrow for the women who were hurt by this terrible abuse....

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife /Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Called Guercino, 1649 National Gallery of Art In an experimental study, people reading accounts of sexual assault performed worse than chance (45.3%) when judging whether a report was true or false. The more confident the judgment, the lower the rate of accuracy (Peace et al., 2012). Charges of sexual assault are clearly a serious matter. Many people are sexually assaulted each year. Most of the victims are women. Yet many innocent people have been imprisoned on false charges and lost years of their lives, which cannot be recovered. The story of Picking Cotton is a powerful reminder of a bright woman who appeared quite credible but was sadly mistaken. Jennifer Thompson was convinced it was Ronald Cotton who raped her. But it turned out she was wrong. Her story was presented in a 60-minutes special in 2011. The point is, when an accused person claims innocence, the person may be telling the truth. In ...

How Sex and Death Anxiety Link to Christianity How would you feel if you learned a friend or close relative decided to have sex to help with expenses? Earlier today, a headline news story reported on the low rates Greek women get for sex-- some just get enough to buy a meal.  Christians often show an interest in rescuing people from sex trafficking. But not all sex workers are trafficked. And not all sex work is illegal. But sex work has a long history of condemnation and in many places sex workers are at high risk of harm. Sex work is just one example of the sex-linked issues confronting Christians who want to show compassion but may be put off by some aspects of the lives of the people they wish to help. For many Christians, sex evokes disgust. The leaders of a group I attend on Sundays decided to study Richard Beck ’s book, Unclean . Beck takes readers on a journey through the psychology of disgust and shows how we emotionally respond to disgusting experie...