gooseberryhigh | After the assembly

Not really? I'm really really confused and I feel guilty.

Confusion is understandable, but I don't think you need to feel guilty. You haven't done anything wrong.

I'm not Christian, exactly, but my mother's side of the family are Baptists. My father raised me on [...] some flavor of Paganism but I've been to my grandparents' church enough to understand the culture and belief system.

I know that the assembly felt like it was promoting premarital sex, but they have such a large audience and I think they just want to make sure everyone is safe if they do choose to engage in that. It's better to be informed and prepared, I think? For if or when it does happen? But it's still your choice to make. The choice to abstain is a valid one and nobody will think less of you for sticking by your beliefs.

I don't think it should have been mandatory, but I understand why they made us attend.

We don't talk about that stuff, at all. ~~I'm ashamed~~ I'm not used to it, I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about it. I'm mad, I'm uncomfortable and I feel [...] bad. For thinking other people are bad for not abstaining.

I know, I just didn't see it that way at first. It is good information for people who don't believe the things I do, and I guess I can't [...] really blame them for wanting to know more or needing the information no matter how I feel about it. People here seem like they might judge me. Or call me a prude. Or try and reason as to why what I believe is wrong. ~~Is it wrong?~~ Then again I am ALSO being judgmental. It's just all awful.

Everyone should at least learn about consent, so I see why it was mandatory. I just wish the other content was optional.

Sometimes you can't help feeling a certain way, but you're self-aware about it. If you respect people, they'll usually respect you back.

I think [...] sometimes fears are overblown in our minds. I used to worry that people would tease me for never having a date, or wearing androgynous clothing, or not being athletic but [...] either they don't notice or they don't care. I don't think many people here are going to hassle you for your religious beliefs and moral code. If they do then they're not worth your time.

There are a lot of us who are abstinent or just not interested in hooking up. You're not alone.

Yeah but if someone respectfully told me I was an immoral sinner, I probably wouldn't be too happy about it. I don't think people will understand. I don't want to be put in that situation ~~again~~ whether it's my religion or my friendships, you know? People tend to ask those kinds of questions. "Well because you think ____ does that mean I'm ____?"

~~It's different than style or~~ They might, though. Catholicism also says it's a sin to be homosexual. When I first went to Ilvermorny I still thought that way. I was barely accepting myself as who I am by the time I got to Gooseberry, but do you really think they'd be so kind to my beliefs if that's what I still thought? And if I can look at my religion and see that it was wrong there and if this changes my opinion on premarital intimacy or whatever, the am I just abandoning my beliefs? How will I go to Heaven if I only believe what's convenient? What if my beliefs are wrong? What if everything I learned in my religions is wrong and I've been praying to a God that doesn't care about se intimacy or orientation or whatever? ~~I don't know where to go from here~~ [...] I'm sorry, es demasiado, it's too much. I just need to think.

I know. ~~Not having interest and feeling it's morally damning to are~~ Maybe we can start a support group or something.

After the assembly

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