Professors and “Erotica”: Part of Your Child’s College Education

Professors and “Erotica”: Part of Your Child’s College Education

Professors and “Erotica”: Part of Your Child’s College Education

I am convinced that “required reading” in college classes is not only required reading because it augments a student’s understanding of the curriculum but it also ummm, strokes the “ego” of the professor.

Take this story from Campus Reform. In a class at Roger Williams University, Stephan Brigidi, adjunct professor, teaches the class entitled “Aesthetics in Context: The Artistic Impulse”. The required textbook for which is his novel Afraid of the Dark: A Venetian Story. Seems harmless, right? A professor highlighting his own literary work in a class full of young minds for the sake of “aesthetics”. But when several students came forward anonymously, they mentioned that the novel itself is crude with in-depth drawings of naked women and explicit descriptions of sexual encounters. The following would make a housewife reading 50 Shades of Grey blush (WARNING: NSFW):

A “baton”? Sure, I guess the implied symbolism can account for “aesthetics”. Keep in mind this class is NOT an elective. It is a required class at Roger Williams University, where a full year undergrad tuition, according to their website, is close to $15 grand. Brigdi himself describes his work as this:

Afraid of the dark is a book containing my photographs and stories based upon my many sojourns to Venice, comprising forty years. It is a book that explores the mystery that is uniquely Venice, supported by a series of stories speaking of some unusual encounters. The photographs reflect the darkness that is Venice, along with a portfolio of the capricious, whimsical, and somewhat bizarre figurative images from the festival known as Carnevale di Venezia.

Afraid of the Dark speaks of a personal spiritual quest propelled by some discovered family mystery with ties to the freemason secret society known as P2. It is about coming to terms with darkness and fear, exploring those sensation, and accessing the powers of fear.

The book is set up as a series of four stories with accompanying photographs. This is preceded by a prologue that establishes the tone of the book. Afraid of the Dark is intended as a hard cover coffee-table style book with an unconventional format. In addition to the stories and photographs, I have illustrated the book with all kinds of markings: drawings, collages, and historical symbols all related to the Venetian theme. It contains approximately 130 pages with a physical size of 12” X 12”.

You see? It’s just a harmless coffee table book! Now, if a professor requiring students to read about his sexual exploits and fantasies is not enough to make a student feel a bit awkward or the parents of said student a bit peeved, take this excerpt from Stephan Brigdi from The Providence Journal in 2014:

Our American capitalist system, based simply upon greed and hoarding, has gotten us into a mess that looks irreversible.

Am I such an oddball to think that pursuing wealth in a more shared and equitable process of cooperation could achieve prosperity? I dare say that greed, in the name of the American capitalist, free-enterprise system is the root of all problems in this country.

Collective enrichment, rather than self-enrichment, must become our new goal for the greatest success.-Stephan Brigdi

You can read the entire op-ed here. My guess is that he’s feeling the bern but that is beside the point. Brigdi also goes as far to explain “Liberalism” in his own Credo:

Liberals do not intend to dictate to anyone and that’s the whole point: to listen and learn from, and then act in the most understanding and respectful ways, in ways that always reinforce the dignity of the people, the dignity of the planet.

Brigdi in one breath, disparages the Capitalist system. The very system which allows him to work and call soft-porn (let’s call it what it is) and his sexual exploits “Aesthetics” in a college classroom today. The very system that allows him to profit from his artwork. In another breath, he speaks of “liberalism” as the reinforcement of dignity and respect. I wonder how much “respect for dignity” students who opposed to reading erotica that they personally deem as having no educational value would get from Brigdi and the administration of Roger Williams University should they decide to close the book walk out of said “Core” course? Utopian Liberalism would indicate that the student should get an “A” no matter what but my guess is that the tables would be turned.

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4 Comments
  • GWB says:

    I always wonder how these folks get hired. Did this guy start out by teaching conventional classes until the secret society really running the college (the Illuminaughty) elevated him in some mysterious ceremony to Onanistic Onanism? Was he introduced by some capo to the dean, to whom it was suggested “Find him a spot; nice college heah, hate to see sumthin happen to it”? Is he related to the sister of his mother-in-law (I won’t even get into the circumlocutions possibly involved in that stick and carrot interaction)? What did this professor ever bring to the college as an asset, except his unrepentant socialism?

  • GWB says:

    BTW, on top of everything else, the writing sucks. It’s passable as erotica on a website, but really doesn’t pass muster as something you would buy. (Of course, 50 Shades Of Grey isn’t a terribly good book, or erotica, either. That’s the opinion of people involved in that sort of thing.)

  • Rebecca says:

    The writing is abysmal. The photos seem rather nice, if a bit too reminiscent of _Eyes Wide Shut_.

    Can’t even buy the book on amazon.com. Sticker price is $79.99 for students. Regular folks can pay $140.
    https://www.bvtstudents.com/3224

    • GWB says:

      Oy vey! I can find better writing online! For free!
      Umm… well, I’m sure I could, if, you know, I looked.

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