Downsyndrome Virgin: a Do or a Don't?

From Jezebel.com:

" Brit Lucy Baxter, is a mother trying to help her son Otto — who has Down Syndrome — lose his virginity. In the June/July issue of Details, writer Jeff Gordinier joins Otto on a trip to Las Vegas, where his intention is to get laid.

When we posted the original piece, many commenters called Lucy Baxter's quest to help Otto an "epic parenting fail." But after learning more about Otto, you can't help but root for him. He's much like any other 21-year-old: He can quote Shakespeare. He likes burgers and boobs. He fantasizes about women. He likes strippers. And he's really obsessed with sex.

Here's Otto's stripper daydream:

"They pin me on the wall," he says. "They kiss me right on the neck. I unbutton my shirt. It feels very nice. I had a girl. She was on my willy. She jumped on my willy. It's wicked. It feels nice. I have a huge boner. Straight up. It feels lovely. Yep. I want to do it again. She also put her boobs in my face. One of the strippers grabbed my glasses and put them on her nipple. 'Are you naughty?' 'Oh, yes, I'm very naughty.' 'Come on, big boy! Let's take it down to your trousers! Unfasten your belt and let me pull it down and suck on it!'"

Otto sort of puts food and sexy women in the same category: "Burgers with boobs. Stick in an olive-it's like a nipple. And they have legs like bacon. And their bottom is like a steak. And they also have eyes like round biscuits. Actually, their whole body's like a biscuit. I'm hungry for a stripper."

Upon arriving in Vegas at the Hooters Casino Hotel, Otto says: "Lots of hot babes in here!" But then turns to his aide, Bill, and says: "Strip clubs. That's what I want to do."

Otto has had girlfriends (they had Down Syndrome, too) before, but the relationships always ended. The women's "carers" stopped Otto from dating them, and Jeff Gordinier points out, "The parents and caretakers of women with Down syndrome often cut off a relationship because they're afraid of where it might lead."

That's where the trip to Vegas with Bill comes in. Writes Gordinier:

The British government provides a generous stipend to families whose children have learning disabilities. In Lucy Baxter's case, she has used that money to bestow upon her son a privilege usually associated with CEOs and box-office stars: an aide-de-camp. This is Bill. He specializes in social work with the disabled. Bill's responsibilities run from helping Otto tidy up his room in the morning to providing counsel on matters of love and personal conduct. Past assistants, Otto's mother says, "have wanted to please me. And the job is not about that. It's about meeting Otto's needs and supporting him, and that's exactly what Bill does. Bill has it absolutely right. He'll guide Otto. He'll sit down and talk to him about issues. But he'll very much leave it for Otto to decide what he wants to do."

What Otto wants to do is party with pretty ladies. Bill and Otto go to a club, and, reports Gordinier,

"Otto acts as though he has died and gone to Sigma Chi heaven. Within seconds he is doing the bump on the dance floor with a curly-haired blonde. He vogues. He spins. He drops to his knees and weaves ribbons of air guitar. The jukebox advances to the Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" and a bartender shouts above the din, "I love this song!"

"So do I!" Otto shouts back.

It doesn't take long for Otto to own the room. He becomes, within minutes, a magnetic catalyst of debauchery.

Otto plays the Roulette tables aggressively; makes suggestive, sexual comments to women (he says of one waitress, "Hottie, hottie! I'm gonna pay her to strip!" ) and guzzles booze. On some level you have to wonder if he knows what he can get away with. Bill says: "For most guys, the hottest girl is intimidating. so they don't get approached that often. But Otto is not intimidated. He goes right for the jackpot."