Tuesday, April 30, 2002

America the Repressive

At this instant the most e-mailed article at the NY Times concerns a 65 year old professor from Missouri who:

In 1999, published an article in an obscure academic journal likening the "moral panic" surrounding pedophilia to the outrage of previous generations over feminism and homosexuality.

In the article, an 18-page essay with 38 footnotes published in the Journal of Homosexuality, Dr. Mirkin argued that the notion of the innocent child was a social construct, that all intergenerational sex should not be lumped into one ugly pile and that the panic over pedophilia fit a pattern of public response to female sexuality and homosexuality, both of which were once considered deviant.

"Though Americans consider intergenerational sex to be evil, it has been permissible or obligatory in many cultures and periods of history," he wrote.

The good folk of Missouri are so outraged that their house and senate have voted to decrease the University's budget by 100k -- ostensibly Dr. Mirkin's yearly salary.

The University is standing by him:

The chancellor, Martha W. Gilliland, issued a strong statement supporting "the right to hold unpopular views," as did the president of the four-campus University of Missouri system. The faculty senate passed a resolution on his behalf, as did the American Association of University Professors.

All very topical when viewed in context with the pedophile priest scandals, the release of Harmful to Minors, and the recent report from Population Action International on how seven countries deal with child sex ed and the corresponding rates of teenage pregnancy and STDs.

From a Reuters article on the PAI study:

Well-meaning adults trying to protect children and teenagers from sexual activity are actually keeping vital knowledge from them, and this is true around the world, the report from the nonprofit family planning advocacy group says.

Our (the United States) HIV rate for young men is three times higher than in the Netherlands. Our rate for teen births is 11 times higher than in the Netherlands. Our teen gonorrhea rate is 74 times higher than in the Netherlands.

It is a battle between religious conservatives and the rest of the country and the rest of the world. We are holding young people hostage to... conservative Christian views and it really is an embarrassment.

A coherent Salon article on sex ed, teenagers, accidental pregnancy and condom use from a sex work professional is also on point:

There are those who insist that teenagers aren't "ready" for sex, but sometimes I wonder how many adults are truly ready for sex. There's a strange kind of hypocrisy surrounding teen sexuality that has nothing to do with religion or government spending -– it's based, rather, on the notion that adults are sexually mature by virtue of their chronological age.

We talk about the "epidemic" of teen pregnancy but why do we never hear about an "epidemic" of unplanned pregnancies among adult women?

Every mistake a teenager makes in the realm of sex is pathologized by conservatives and liberals alike, despite the fact that most of these mistakes are also made by women well into their 30s. In fact, adults above the age of consent must account for the majority of unplanned pregnancies, abortions and STD cases

A few tips from a professional: Promiscuity, done right, is an inherently nerdlike pursuit that requires discipline, practice and forethought.

No matter how you feel on the issue, stifling debate is never beneficial. So a big raspberry of disdain to the yahoos in the Missouri State House.

100k is a drop in the University's budget bucket, but demonstrates the narrow mindedness of the state's leadership.

posted by Bohica at 11:53 AM