Northwestern professor apologizes for live sex demonstration

latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-sex-demo-20110306,0,2101807.story

latimes.com

Northwestern professor apologizes for live sex demonstration

J. Michael Bailey says he regrets upsetting so many people but defends the demonstration as relevant to his human sexuality course.

By Jodi S. Cohen and Liam Ford, Chicago Tribune

March 6, 2011

Reporting from Chicago

A Northwestern University professor who allowed a live sex demonstration on campus last month issued a tepid, slightly defensive apology Saturday, saying that while he wouldn't make the same decision again, he would give those who disapprove of what he did an F for their arguments.

"Those who believe that there was, in fact, a serious problem have had considerable opportunity to explain why in the numerous media stories on the controversy, or in their various correspondences with me," J. Michael Bailey, a psychology professor, wrote in a statement.

"But they have failed to do so. Saying that the demonstration 'crossed the line,' 'went too far,' 'was inappropriate,' or 'was troubling' convey disapproval but do not illuminate reasoning," he wrote.

Bailey has been under fire since news of the Feb. 21 demonstration became public.

More than 100 students from Bailey's human sexuality class watched the optional, after-class demonstration, during which a woman got undressed, lay down on a towel and allowed her fiance to penetrate her with a device that looks like a machine-powered saw, but with a phallic object attached instead of a blade. The demonstration followed a discussion about kinky sex and female orgasm.

In his statement, Bailey said he regretted "the effect that this has had on Northwestern University's reputation."

"I regret upsetting so many people in this particular manner," he added. "I apologize."

"In the 18 years I have taught the course, nothing like the demonstration at issue has occurred, and I will allow nothing like it to happen again," he said.

But a large portion of the statement defended the demonstration, saying it was relevant to a topic in his course.

Bailey also noted that the observers were students older than 18 who were "legally capable of voting, enlisting in the military, and consuming pornography."

Bailey said he was working with students to organize a discussion of the demonstration and the issues it raised, and he invited Northwestern President Morton Schapiro to work with them to make sure the event "is as intellectually valuable as it should be."

Contacted about Bailey's new statement, university spokesman Alan Cubbage, in an e-mail, referred to the statement Schapiro had made earlier in the week, in which Schapiro called for an investigation into the incident and said he was "troubled and disappointed by what occurred."