December's What The F#%*!

Sunday AM for most folks is a time to sleep in, brew a full pot of coffee and just ease into the day. So you can imagine my shock as I moved from the New York Times to the Grand Rapids Press and stumble upon a new face in the Advice section.

There it was the serenity now breaker in big black type, "Pushing condoms wrong for teens" by James Dobson of Focus On The Family. WTF?

On first observation I was shocked but not surprised to read this right wing rant about the sharing of condom knowledge with teens is the same thing as giving them permission. But in reality as I look over my friend's who have adopted an open forum of discussion with their kids, there were gaping holes in his argument and issues to be raised.

In a culture increasingly targeting hormonal teens it is important to note that if I had kids I would be very forth coming with all the options to save their lives from everything from STD's to pregnancies. In fact many of my close friends have spent time with their kids talking about sex and not one of their kids is pregnant or carrying a killer in their veins.

The very fact the GR Press allows such a right wing speaker is further proof that the newspaper is so far out of touch with this region. To continually serve this side is to ignore the true facts of this regions changing landscape.

Case in point, last year a friend of mine hosted what was billed as a "Passion Party" in East Grand Rapids. Think of this as a Tupperware party for sex toys and lotions for motion. At first even I was a bit shocked but what was even more revealing besides the first view of the famed "Rabbit" is the amount of sales this saleswoman is pulling down in this area. She even quit her day job because the demand is so high. Her best sales are coming from the areas outside the Grand Rapids city limits.

So how does one help counter this misconception of our region and how we are being served? We can start by calling the GR Press and demand that they start by becoming increasingly metropolitan, comfortable and willing to have dialogue on topics that really are representative of this region, even talking about sex in a healthy, intelligent and adult manner. Might I suggest we see Savage Love by Dan Savage as part of our line up to counter balance and serve this region. ( I doubt this would happen but everyone has a fantasy or two or four.)

As to Mr. Dobson's assertions on insertion may I counter with an article from the LA Weekly which exposes the mess the CDC has become under W's reign.

They wrote, "These new regs require the censoring of any “content” — including “pamphlets, brochures, fliers, curricula,” “audiovisual materials” and “pictorials (for example, posters and similar educational materials using photographs, slides, drawings or paintings),” as well as “advertising” and Web-based info. They require all such “content” to eliminate anything even vaguely “sexually suggestive” or “obscene” — like teaching how to use a condom correctly by putting it on a dildo, or even a cucumber. And they demand that all such materials include information on the “lack of effectiveness of condom use” in preventing the spread of HIV and other STDs — in other words, the Bush administration wants AIDS fighters to tell people: Condoms don’t work. This demented exigency flies in the face of every competent medical body’s judgment that, in the absence of an HIV-preventing vaccine, the condom is the single most effective tool available to protect someone from getting or spreading the AIDS virus."

So I think it is pretty clear what a Faith Based Initiative can provide to our country's teens. It is not the A, B, C's that are often used by organizations committed to preventing the advance of disease and pregnancies but they rather employ a messed up A, B, D.

Abstinence
Be Faithful
Dunk Head In Sand

Condoms do save teens lives on so many levels that it is worth talking about with them. Knowledge is power!

One last point, why is it that everyone else in their column BOLD the "name/location" of the person asking the question while Dodson has nothing? It makes one consider his journalist integrity in his forum and has this reader wondering if these questions are actually made up to serve his own end.

Further Reading
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=54598
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove