We ought to be really proud of what we have done to our young girls in America.
At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens, according to the first study of its kind in this age group.
A virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19, while the highest overall prevalence is among black girls – nearly half the blacks studied had at least one STD. That rate compared with 20 percent among both whites and Mexican-American teens, the study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
Twenty-five percent of all girls in America have an STD. That number simply staggers me and I have no problem at all believing that it’s because we adults have, to one degree or another, sexualized our teen aged girls to a shameful degree. We seem glad to throw sex at them at nearly every turn, to the point where there’s nearly no escape for them. We don’t give them a safe place in their youth to simple be girls and we demand that they continue to make adult choices even though it’s obvious they are just not ready to do so.
I’m not saying the answer is that we toss girls into the convent or lock them away at home. But would it be too much to ask that we stop this “well, kids are just going to have sex” nonsense to excuse us from being responsible adults? Yes, it is true that some kids will have sex. Not most kids. Not all kids. Some kids. That number will drop the more involved we are with the kids around us. The more kids see that we are not willing to consign them to the dictates of their hormones and that we are willing to spend our quality time with them because they are important to us, the fewer of them will seek out the affection they crave from destructive sources.
UPDATE: Ed Morrissey has a post worth reading on this as well. He says:
The size of the sample seems rather small. Using 838 cases for a study gives enough information for a theory about the prevalence of the disease in the general population, but the CDC should widen its study to see if the numbers hold up — and they should start testing boys as well. If confirmed, it shows that we have failed to educate our children about the risks of sexual activity. Making condoms as available as Chap-Stick obviously hasn’t made them any safer or wiser.
I think that’s tough to argue against.
Ed M: “Making condoms as available as Chap-Stick obviously hasn’t made them any safer or wiser.”
Advocates of abstinence-only sex-ed must take some portion of the blame, as well, I daresay.
I’m not quite sure I follow, since we know that abstinence is the only thing that is assured to prevent STDs.
There are over 100 different HPV strains causing all kinds of different, nasty conditions….most of which are treatable & not life threatening. Only 2 strains have been linked to cancer. And it is important to note that they do not “CAUSE cancer” as it is often stated that way by the people who are trying to push mandatory vaccines for pre-teen girls….against the wishes of parents.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an anti-vaccine crusader or anything. But the vaccine being pushed right now only protects against 4 (out of 100’s) of HPV strains. Only 2 of those strains have been linked to cervical cancer. Not all cervical cancer is a result of these viruses and these viruses don’t always lead to cervical cancer. In my opinion, neither the risk nor the consequences are strong enough to warrant allowing the state to take (by force) one more decision out of the hands of the people who care most & are the most responsible for the actions of the children…the parents.
I would hope most people would wonder why both liberal politicians & the anti-abstinence crowd are pushing this vaccine so much. Keeping in mind that there are at least 40 different HPV STD’s that only require skin to skin intimate contact, of which condoms only prevent a minimum of transmissions. So clearly, their goal isn’t to keep kids safe. I do believe the goal is to keep chipping away at parents rights to train their children up according to their own moral beliefs and force an extremely permissive and nanny-state mentality on this young generation.
J: “I’m not quite sure I follow, since we know that abstinence is the only thing that is assured to prevent STDs”
You’re so charming when you play dumb. What about the kids who have sex anyway, and all they know about it ab-only? They don’t tend to protect themselves, leading to disease and pregnancy.