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SF Gate: Some vision thing on the sex thingFrom: Cheri Van Hoover (cherivh@xdcr.com)Wed Mar 13 07:37:15 2002
I enjoyed this column when I read it. too. I fear we may see a plagiarism lausuit brewing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/03/08/DD68855.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, March 8, 2002 (SF Chronicle) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Some vision thing on the sex thing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jon Carroll I BELIEVE IN sexual abstinence. I do. I don't think people should have sex when they don't want to. I don't think people should have so much sex that they become chafed and irritable. I also think adolescents should be strongly encouraged to try sexual abstinence. I think boys should be taught that their bodies may be sending their brains bad data. I think girls should be taught that their brains may be sending their bodies bad data. I think everyone should be taught that "No" is a complete sentence. I also think that rattlesnakes should not bite people. I would not, however, base a campaign for National Rattlesnake Awareness Month on my opinion. I might allow for the notion that, however unwise it might be for their own survival (a rattlesnake that bites a human is often very quickly dead), rattlesnakes might continue to bite people. I might have a Plan B: a drug to counteract the effects of the venom; prophylactic measures that the bitten can take in the field; good thoughts about wearing boots in rattlesnake country. I am not comparing rattlesnake bites to sex, because sex takes longer and is more fun. (Candidly, we're not sure how much fun the biting is for the rattlesnake, but let's assume it's not as amusing as being stroked with a scented feather.) I am merely comparing the public policy options surrounding each event. So I think it's fine that the administration is talking about sexual abstinence. Abstinence is certainly a good way to lower the teen pregnancy rate and slow the spread of disease. But it's not sufficient. There needs to be a Plan B. THE NATURE OF Plan B is not a secret. Condoms are the first line of defense -- not foolproof, but close enough for government work. One quick statistic: About 3 million people die from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa every year. Big numbers are always hard, so let's go orders of magnitude: The Giants drew about 3 million to Pac Bell Park last year. So imagine filling up that stadium and then slaughtering every person in there, then stacking the bodies in Union Square and letting Pac Bell get full again, then slaughtering those people and stacking their bodies in Union Square, and so on for an 81-game season. The pile of bodies in Union Square would be taller than the surrounding buildings. Those are the stakes. We are suffering through a smallish AIDS epidemic here; now that the disease is pandemic and we are growing smug, it could get worse. It could mutate. Death seems a high price to pay for not sharing the Bush administration's opinion about sexual abstinence. THEN THERE ARE the babies, the byproducts of passion, the reason that the sexual urge is so strong in adolescents. "Make 'em now when you're young and healthy," urges Mother Nature. "Preserve the species." Mother Nature is, alas, slow to change. Birthrates are declining in many places, but the population is still growing. It is the law of the land that a woman should have the right to choose whether or not to keep the baby in her womb. The Bush administration is doing everything it can to thwart this law. It holds up sexual abstinence as the answer to the abortion question -- and so it is. But that's too late for the young mothers with the babies and no means to support them. You can pass a law making tougher penalties for deadbeat laws, but you can't pass a law forcing fathers to love their children. That's why you need a Plan B. That's why you allow citizens to make their own moral choices. The first plan is for us to act responsibly always. We need a backup. What do they do on a rainy night in Rio? What do they do when there is no jcarroll@sfchronicle.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 SF Chronicle ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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