Sarah Palin Sex Ed “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
My most recent tadfad post (and artistic endeavour) takes a direct shot at the Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. Some (including Barack Obama) want to take the high road and keep Palin’s family out of the debate. I’m not ready to be the good guy.
And here’s why. For years, self righteous socially conservative Republican religious extremists have advocated abstinence only sex education (or as I call it, “don’t ask, don’t tell”). This unique flavor of [non]education tells kids to “just say no” to sex until marriage. Because if we’ve learned nothing else from the last few thousand years of human civilization, it’s that teenagers raging with hormones are just not that interested in sex.
This is lunacy. Sheer and utter lunacy. A complete abdication of our moral duty as adults in equipping our children with the knowledge required to safely navigate the world they live in. Teenagers need to comprehend safe sex and need easy access to contraceptives. There is no morally acceptable alternative. And that is why I’m not ready to be the nice guy with Sarah Palin.
She has demonstrated in a very personal way exactly what her “don’t ask, don’t tell” sex education approach creates : teenage mothers. And frankly, this infuriates me. We can do better. Our children deserve better. We owe it to our future generations.
In closing, a brief plea to Sarah Palin (and the) : WAKE THE FUCK UP AND START TALKING TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT SEX. Thank you.
Filed under culture, politics : Comments (1) : Sep 3rd, 2008 by tadfad
September 6th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
On the issue itself, I think tadfad is right about this one. Moreover, what enrages me surrounding the entire issue is the way in which it has been cast as “a family, personal affair” in which the media should not mingle. This seems to be a contradiction in terms.
First, most of us are old enough to remember the impeachment vote and complete stall of governmental procedures of Prez. Clinton. Now, personally, I believe that infidelity is also a personal issue. In the late 90s, it certainly was not.
Second, one might hope that the people we put in office could possibly some sort of role model. I think Palin fails to be a hockey mom role model on two counts. A. she failed to teach her daughter the religio-conservative view that sex is amoral before marriage. B. she upheld the anti-Enlightenment idea vis-a-vis contraception. The result is a 17 year old mother. Do you remember how mature you were at 17?
Lets be logical and transparent in the way we think about sexual health here. And having played hockey before, I sure know that I wouldn’t want mother to be the vice president.