Our Young Pro reading list is designed for students and young professionals interested in talking about the most pressing topics affecting the dating and marriage culture. This reading list is customizable, so feel free to jump around and select the topics of most interest to your reading group. We recommend reviewing the Kickoff Meeting materials at the start of each year as a refresher and/or introduction to any new participants. If you have trouble accessing any essays or videos, please let us know. For participant access, please email youngpro-varsity@canavox.com.
Kickoff Meeting
The Basics
Screen at the Beginning of Meeting: CanaVox, Who We Are (5:30 video)
CanaVox, “What We Cheer For”
CanaVox, “For (Varsity) Reading Group Participants”
Ana Samuel, Messaging on Campus (10-min video; remarks to Love and Fidelity Network’s 2019 SIU Conference students at Princeton University)
Session 1
An Overview of Friendship
CanaVox, “C.S. Lewis on Friendship”
D.C. McAllister, “How to Stop Sexualizing Everything”
Elizabeth at I Believe In Love, “How Friendship Prepared Me for Marriage”
Session 2
Casual Dating
Screening of The Dating Project (movie) (This can be viewed during the scheduled meeting time. It is approximately 70 minutes, which leaves time for discussion after the viewing.)
Love & Fidelity Network, “Get It Right: ‘Dating’ and ‘Relationship’ Don’t Mean the Same Thing”
The Dating Project, “Rules of the First Date” (Leader can print this out as a visual aid to review during the reading group meeting)
Pick One:
Barbara Wilson, Psy.D., “The Five Levels of Intimacy” (Excerpts)
Mandy Len Catron, “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This.”
Session 3
On the Meaning of Sex
CanaVox, “On the Meaning of Sex”
Reggie Osborne, “She Only Said ‘Yes’ Once”
NYU, Let’s Talk about Consent (4-min video on the contemporary consent-based approach to sexual encounters)
Emily Wilson, Was Your Wedding Night Awkward as a Virgin? (10-min video)
For Further Study:
Timothy Hsiao, “The Limits of Consent” (A philosophical critique of consent-based sexual morality)
Mark Regnerus, “Naked Consent: Why Personal Speech Codes Won’t Curb a Problem Like Sexual Assault” (A sociological/ pragmatic critique of consent-based public policy)
Elizabeth Schlueter and Nathan Schlueter, “What #MeToo and Hooking Up Teach Us about the Meaning of Sex”
Session 4
(Slightly More Serious) Dating
Laura Chen, Dating: Don’t Waste Your Time (5-min video)
Meg T. McDonnell, “A Case for Casual Dating for the Marriage-Minded”
Monica Gabriel Marshall, “Casual Dating Doesn’t Deserve Its Bad Rap If You Follow These Ground Rules.”
The Dating Project, “Rules of the First Date” (Can print out to review during the session)
For Further Study:
The Atlantic, Why Dating is Hard for Millenials (This 4-minute video offers a “root cause explanation” for Millennials’ difficulties in dating. Good background information.)
Session 5
Hook-up Culture
The Austin Institute, The Economics of Sex (10-min video)
Jennifer Joyner, “I Thought Casual Sex Would be Empowering, but It was the Opposite.”
John Prather, “Waiting for Sex: An Honest Look at the Price of Patience” (website archive, will take longer to load)
Dear Katy, Know Your Worth (3-min video)
Pick One:
D.C. McAllister, “Stop Pretending Sex Never Hurts”
Anonymous, “Pregnant at Harvard?”
Session 6
Pornography
Morgan Bennett, “The New Narcotic” (Documents the addictive effects of pornography on the brain)
Ran Gavrieli, Why I Stopped Watching Porn (15-min TED talk video) Heads up: some of the material is explicit, especially from min 2:50-4:30.
Further Resources:
Fight The New Drug, “Get Help: Don’t Fight this Alone.” (General resource)
Kevin Majeres, “Purity is Possible” (For students interested in the advice of a psychiatrist on how to overcome pornography addiction)
Session 7
Sex, Gender and Identity
Dr. Ana Samuel, Sex, Gender and Identity (38-min video explaining what sex and gender mean, intersexuality vs. transgender identity, gender roles, personae, feminism, and masculinity; can be screened during a reading group and then have a discussion.)
Session 8
What is Marriage?
Marriage Equals.org, Making Sense of Marriage (9-min video)
CanaVox, “Handout on the Meaning of Marriage” (3-page summary)
Alliance Defending Freedom, Katy Faust’s Story (7-min video; option to watch video at beginning of meeting)
Optional:
Ryan Anderson for Focus, What is Marriage?
Session 9
Cohabitation
PrepMedia, Relationship DUI: Are you Sure You’re in Love? (4-min video)
Alysse Elhage, “Why I Never Considered Living With My Husband Before Marriage”
Meg Jay, “The Downside of Cohabiting Before Marriage”
Pick One:
Dear Katy, Sister’s Boyfriend Wants to Move In (3-min video)
W. Bradford Wilcox, Cohabitation ≠ Marriage (4-min video)
Session 10
Understanding Same-Sex Attraction
Katy Faust and Ana Samuel, “Understanding Same-Sex Attraction”
Reintegrative Therapy, Free to Love (37-min video; start at minute 2:50)
Optional: (for advanced groups)
CanaVox, “Expert Answers to the Hardest Questions about SSA”
Session 11
Loving Those with Same-Sex Attraction
Ron Belgau, “My Alternative Lifestyle”
Richard Evans, “Befriending Those With Same-Sex Attraction: One Celibate Man’s View”
Jordan Bunch, My Friendship with Brent Bailey (8-min video)
Dear Katy, Invited to a Same-Sex Wedding (3-min video)
Optional:
Katherine Adams, Voices of Hope (Story from a woman with a gay brother and gay husband in the LDS community; video)
Blackstone Films, The Third Way: Homosexuality and the Catholic Church (Personal stories of individuals with same-sex attraction who are Catholic; 38-min video)
Session 12
Egg/Sperm Donation (And The Better Alternatives!)
Alana Newman, “I Donated My Eggs, and I Regret It.”
Michael Linden, “Why I Regret Donating My Sperm”
Dear Katy, Risks of IVF (3-min video)
Grace Emily Stark, “An Infertility Treatment that may work Without Breaking the Bank”
Optional:
Sonia F. Epstein and Polina N. Whitehouse, “Inheriting the Ivy League”
Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos, “The Sobering Facts about Egg Freezing that Nobody’s Talking About”
Session 13
Donor Conception
California Cryobank, Kids of Donor 5114 (9-min video)
Katy Francisco, “Healing from Donor Conception: My Story”
Alana Newman, “What are the Rights of Donor-Conceived People?”
Katy Faust, “Third Party Reproduction vs. Adoption: There’s a Big Difference” (text) or Audio Recording (14-min podcast)
Dear Katy, Sperm Bank Daddy (3-min video)
General Resource:
Anonymous Us (Personal testimonies of donor-conceived kids)
For Further Study:
Institute for American Values, “My Daddy’s Name is Donor: 15 conclusions from the Social Sciences” Pp. 7-14.
Center for Bioethics and Culture, “Three Things You Should Know About Egg Donation” (Facts about risks to mother, costs to children, cost to society, all in one page with footnotes [like the fine print of a medical procedure])
Session 14
Surrogacy
Google Baby (3.5-min video) (Trailer shows the reality of the global surrogacy industry. India has since made its laws more restrictive, but this is a picture of how the industry operates in other poor countries.)
Adeline Allen, “Surrogacy, Love, and Flourishing”
Linzie Janis and Chris Murphy, “I felt Like Someone Who Sold My Child: When Women Regret Being Surrogates” (7-min video and text) Personal testimony of a surrogate with commentary
Optional:
Kajsa Ekis Ekman, “All surrogacy is exploitation – the world should follow Sweden’s ban.” (Explanation of the reasons why Sweden banned surrogacy and a discussion of so-called altruistic surrogacy)
For Further Study:
Center for Bioethics and Culture, State by State Surrogacy Laws (Inform yourself of your state’s position on surrogacy.)
Center for Bioethics and Culture, “Three Things You Should Know About Surrogacy” (Facts about risks to mother, costs to children, cost to society, all in one page with footnotes.)
Ross Douthat, “The Handmaids of Capitalism”
Session 15
Same-Sex Marriage
Humanum, Marriage, Culture and Civil Society (17-min video; choose English subtitles)
Ryan Anderson, “Marriage Matters, and Redefining It has Social Costs.”
Katy Faust, “Dear Justice Kennedy: An Open Letter from the Child of a Loving Gay Parent”
Session 16
Feminism and Motherhood
Christina Hoff Sommers, Feminism vs. Truth (6-min video)
Mona Charen and Ana Samuel, “On the Waves of Feminism with Mona Charen”
Lori Gottlieb, “Marry Him! The case for settling for Mr. Good Enough”
Erica Komisar, “Just Be There: Why Moms Should Stay with Children in Their Early Years” (web archive link; will take longer to load)
Optional:
Tammy Bruce, Feminism 2.0 (5-min video)
Martha Rampton, “Four Waves of Feminism”
Session 17
Masculinity and Fatherhood
Alyssa Elhage, “How Marriage Makes Men Better Fathers”
Jonathan Last, “A Dad’s Life”
Brett and Kate McKay, “The Importance of Fathers”
A.J. Harbinger, “The Crisis of Masculinity”
Optional:
Officer Calvin Williams, The Importance of Fathers (5-min video)
Dear Katy, Dad Hates My Boyfriend (3-min video)
Session 18
Divorce
Alyssa Elhage, “Love Lessons from My Parents’ Divorce – and from Married Couples who Made It”
Ashley McGuire, “The Feminist, Pro-Father, and Pro-Child Case against No-Fault Divorce”
Dear Katy, Breaking the Divorce Cycle (3-min video)
Pick One:
Ryan at The Marriage Ecosystem, “Divorce Never Ends For Children”
Doug Mainwaring, “Your Marriage: You Have No Idea of the Good You Are Doing”
Session 19
Serious Dating
Dr. Morgan Cutlip, “5 Dating Tips You Need to Know”
Kelsey Chun, “Learning Conflict Resolution While Dating Helps Build a Stronger Marriage”
Adam at I Believe In Love, “How Do I Know If She’s The One?”
Katie Lee, “I didn’t marry my soul mate.”
Dear Katy, Should We Get Married? (3-min video)
Session 20
Transgender Identity
Paradox Institute, Why Sex is Binary (5-min video)
Paul McHugh, “Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme” (A Johns Hopkins psychiatrist explains why it was a mistake to allow sex reassignment surgery at his hospital.)
Lindsay Leigh Bentley, “I am Ryland: The Story of a Male-Identifying little Girl who Didn’t Transition”
Pick One:
Walt Heyer, “The Transgender Matrix: It’s Time to Choose the Red Pill”
Abigail Shrier, “Gender Ideology Run Amok”
Optional:
American College of Pediatricians, “Gender Ideology Harms Children”
Session 21
Religious Freedom
Text of the First Amendment (For reading groups in the United States)
Text of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (For reading groups outside of the United States)
Ryan Anderson, What is Religious Freedom? (2-min video)
The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, “Religious Freedom: A Conversation with Rick Warren, Robert P. George and John DiIulio” (Excerpts)
Jonathan Lopez, Speech Impediments – Faith & Justice 7.3 (6-min video or text)
For Further Study:
The Heritage Foundation, “What You Need to Know About Religious Freedom: Questions & Answers Driving the Debate”
Raise Spirits! Start a Group
Want to invite certain marriage-supporters-in-hiding to your living room? CanaVox reading groups provide brain food for thought and encouragement to the weary, so you and your friends can support each other in the exquisite truth about marriage. Rekindle some hope in your neighborhood.
