[gardener]

"Evaluate what you read." And what you hear. And what you think you read somewhere that might possibly be true.

None of us wants our tombstones to have one-word epitaphs: "Gullible." Or "Sucker."

Our formal education ought to give us some acquaintance with logic, not so much the formal, syllogistic stuff, as the analysis of informal fallacies, like tu quoque.

This is a gentlemanly forum, so I will only allude, but --most human beings are at some point in their lives interested in sex. Their interest may lead them to read about it.

As the oldest participant here, let me just say that the supposedly correct stuff I read about sex in my late teens and early twenties was ... stupid. I'll just mention one item: climax. Every sexual encounter had to end with orgasm for both partners. It had to be simultaneous. Since we're dealing here only with marital sex, the doctrine goes further. Males have just one kind of climax. Females have two. One is inferior, to be scorned. The other is, when achieved, the proof of the male's prowess and knowledge.

Well....

But speaking of evaluating what you read, let me confess that when I occasionally pull up the MH board I sometimes click on the sex item. Not because I find it helpful. I just find it stupid, wrongheaded, and manipulative. Gals need to be manipulated. Guys need to be up on the latest tricks. Put a radish in your left ear, and watch her melt, says Phenelope Hardhouse, author of "All I know about sex I taught my kindergarten teacher."

Hey, sex ain't tricks.

I have yet to find there any suggestion that a terrific sexual experience, mutual, simultaneous, and worth writing about might present the two of you in nine months with a child.

But of course the things that have been written about how to raise your kids....

Also need to be evaluated.