Jay Does Iowa

You know, I could make half a dozen odd cracks about this story just right off the top of my head, but somehow it just wouldn't sporting.

Jay Clarkson has had no trouble getting students at the University of Iowa to sign up for his fall class examining pornography in popular culture.

No bleep. Gosh, I can't imagine why, can you?

One person who isn't a fan, however, is Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants, who is questioning whether tax dollars should be spent on the elective class.

Oh, come on, Mr. Speaker, the American taxpayers paid Bill Clinton's salary for eight years. Doesn't that set some sort of precedent for such expenditures?

"Do they know that we're not done with their budget yet?" Rants, R-Sioux City, said. "I'm pretty sure we don't need to increase state funding by $40 million to teach critical pornography studies."

Indeed; it would be much cheaper to just hook up each student in the class with their choice of school-financed "escort" services and let nature take its course. Even providing camcorders would save the state money.

Clarkson, a graduate student, says students seeking a cheap thrill should look elsewhere.

"There are probably some students who will be titillated by the title," he said. "They will be disappointed."

Oh, really? Heck, I can remember my college days when the most popular course on campus was Psychology 230, "Human Sexuality." That didn't, as far as I know, include dabbling in porn, and even it was nicknamed "Dirty 230."

Clarkson said his goal is to get people to think about how pornography has moved from the adult bookstore to everyday advertising.

To a state-funded college course? Mr. Clarkson seems to be the answer to his own premise.

"It's not a class about enjoying or viewing pornography," Clarkson said. "We will certainly be talking and reading critics who are against pornography."

Ah, so it's going to be half smut, half Christophobia. And maybe an attempt to "wed" the two.

Still reminds me of the old joke about the purpose of high school sex ed classes: to teach kids what they've been doing wrong the past few years.

Maybe Clarkson can help assuage Speaker Rants (I'm not convinced that name isn't made up) by coming up with course (coarse?) logo, slap it on a line of rain slickers and moist towelettes, and help defray some of the costs.

Heck, cafepress.com has worse stuff.