American Savage

Sharing my learnings from the book, American Savage by Dan Savage

American Savage by Dan Savage

From the moment he began writing his syndicated sex-advice column, Savage Love, Dan Savage has never been shy about expressing his opinion on controversial topics—political or otherwise. Now, he addresses issues ranging from parenting and the gay agenda to the Catholic Church and health care. 

• During his long career as a gay rights activist, Dan Savage has inspired countless Americans to stand up to the hatred and discrimination that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community face on a daily basis in a country still plagued by intolerance and religious dogmatism.
• The Old Testament also advocates for slavery and the stoning of women who have premarital sex. Yet the majority of people are quick to discount these verses and say that the Old Testament isn’t considered a relevant text in modern Christianity. So there is a choice to be made: people can either accept they are being hypocritical when adhering to one part of the Bible while ignoring others, or we need to agree that the Old Testament is out of touch with the values of modern societies.
• a more common piece of advice for maintaining a healthy relationship is for partners to be GGG. This stands for good in bed, giving pleasure without expecting an immediate return and being game for anything (within reason). GGG partners are open about their sexual desires and are willing to put in the effort to meet each other’s desires.
• Many sex ed classes will simply promote an abstinence approach to sex, rather than teaching safe sex practices. But statistics show that this approach puts students at greater risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD) or having an unplanned pregnancy.
• People holds onto the belief that marriage exists solely for the purpose of uniting males and females so they can produce offspring. This concept is known as the natural law argument. But this argument doesn’t hold up very well to scrutiny: for example, what if a couple is infertile, unable to have children or doesn’t want children? Does this make their marriage illegal? Again, we run into hypocritical thinking that shows how illogical antigay bigotry is.
• Gay pride events and BDSM fairs are liberating and promote safe sex, and straight people can benefit from them as well.
• Contrary to what Christian conservatives argue, being gay isn’t a choice – but remaining in the closet is.
• Miller was an American writer and pioneer in the gay rights movement at a time when the gay community was first demanding equal rights. Miller was fed up, and in his essay he directed his anger toward those who were saying “such goddamn demeaning, degrading bullshit about me and my friends.” As we’ve seen, this bigotry has often come from Christian conservatives.
• The US health care system and gun control laws are in desperate need of repair. Looking at the bigger picture, it’s clear that there is still progress to be made, and as a start we should at least come together to admit that something has to be done, and that something has to be done now.