I just watched the most recent episode of the Amazing Race (CBS). The big tense ending came when each of the 5 teams had to succeed in 3 tasks: shooting a bow and arrow, shooting a blowdart, and throwing a spear. They had to hit the targets before they could move on.
It was hilarious: the team of 2 professional clowns did medium well. They were persistent, though, and that was what won them first place. The gay married men also did medium-well, and were more persistant than the clowns. Then there were the Christian couple from Chattanooga who have been dating for 12 years and are still virgins. They did horrible. The man, of course, did the manly task, and the more his woman pressured him to perform, the worse he got. He finally did made the target.
There were 2 more teams: 2 straight friends who did medium-well, and the engaged/cohabitating couple--and the woman was the one who did the shooting and she was AWESOME! The whole thing was so transparently phallic: the stupid virgin man did a horrible job with the arrows and the javelin, while the best performer was the experienced woman who had made a comment at the beginning of the show about 'living in sin.'
It was really funny! At the same time, though, it was also disturbing. They are making the gay husbands to be a normal couple who communicate well, honor one another, and accept others no matter what, while the virgin Christians are bickerers who are poorly matched and kinda callow and dumb. It's food for thought. It is so subtle that it's hard to catch, but there is an agenda there. 'Desensitize people to the unusualness of seeing gay couples. Show everyone how intolerant the Christians are.'
Hmm.
Posted by at July 20, 2003 01:27 AM | TrackBackActually, given the exceptionally bizarre pressures placed upon young singles in Christian circles, there may be something to the "agenda" you imply.
Posted by: ryan at July 24, 2003 06:23 PMI don't really think there is that explicit of an agenda. Personally, I think the media doesn't have a clue what Christian circles are really like. They're up there in the high energy Northeast urban snake that follows I-95 from NY to DC, and they haven't got a clue. Gay couples have been part of their normal life for years, so it probably doesn't occur to them that it is unusual. And they probably think the Christian couple is as anomalous as we find the Amish.
I don't know the "Chattavegas virgins" personally but the brother of the female in this duo is my manager at UnumProvident. He is also a member and, as I understand it, sometimes worship leader at First Presbyterian Church downtown. He is a very cool guy. He has told me some about his sister but I have never met her. As a side note: he knows who wins this whole Amazing Race thing but is not allowed to tell because of the 10 million dollar non-disclosure agreement he signed.
Posted by: bhuffine at July 21, 2003 09:02 AMDoes anybody in the blogosphere know these ChattaVegas virgins?
Posted by: mesh at July 21, 2003 01:15 AMHey, That is so great! :)
Posted by: april at July 20, 2003 09:24 AM