greenie_breizh (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greenie_breizh) wrote2009-02-05 03:30 pm
greenie_breizh) wrote2009-02-05 03:30 pm
Entry tags:
Savage, sex and abstinence ed
Helping me procrastinate these past couple of days has been Dan Savage's column. I don't agree with everything he says but as far as sexual stuff is concerned he's a pretty amazing (and amazingly honest) sex columnist. I really enjoy some of his more political rant, too, so here are a couple. Read them through - they're hoot and he's painfully right. (Both are related to abstinence ed.)
First one:
And, hey, here's another interesting study: While straight kids are busily boning each other's butts—the better to preserve their virginities!—gay teenagers are knocking each other up. According to a study out of the University of British Columbia, lesbian and gay teenagers are seven times likelier to get knocked up than their straight peers. How the hell does that happen? Well, gay teens are having straight sex in order "to prove they are heterosexual to avoid harassment and discrimination" by their parents and peers. In other words, gay kids are still having heterosexual sex under duress. This is where abstinence education and homophobia have gotten us: Gay kids are having vaginal intercourse and straight kids are having anal intercourse. Good work, sexphobes!
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And the second one, longer but worth every word:
The 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, the GOP's vice-presidential nominee, is pregnant. The news was released by the McCain camp during a busy week—a hurricane, the Republican National Convention, Dick Cheney getting us into a war with Russia—so it didn't receive the coverage it deserved. To recap:
Seventeen-year-old Bristol Palin got her ass knocked up five or so months ago by 18-year-old Levi Johnston. Among the hobbies listed on Levi's since-yanked MySpace page—"fishing, shoot some shit, and just fuckin' chillin'"—was this revealing tidbit: "I don't want kids." But Bristol, says her mom, "made the decision on her own to keep the baby," and is now engaged to Levi "Shootin' Shit" Johnston.
As the adoptive parent of a child born to a pair of unwed teenagers, I'm certainly not in favor of abortion in all circumstances. But I believe that it's a choice teenagers should be able to make for themselves—with input from their families whenever possible—and, so it seems, does the GOP's VP nominee. Sarah Palin is pleased that her daughter made the decision—on her own—to keep the baby.
But Sarah Palin doesn't believe that other girls should be able to make their own decisions. Sarah Palin believes abortion should be illegal in almost every instance—including rape and incest. So Bristol Palin is being celebrated for making a choice that Sarah Palin would like to take away from all other American women. Apparently, today's GOP believes that choice is a special right reserved for the wayward daughters of Republican elected officials.
Oh, and Sarah Palin also believes that birth control shouldn't be made available to teenagers, she opposes medically accurate sex education, and she backs abstinence-until- marriage sex "education."
Sigh.
The GOP has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into abstinence "education" programs during the Bush years. I believe this enormous investment of public funds begs the obvious question: Is our children abstaining? Sarah Palin's aren't. Despite this massive outlay on the part of the American taxpayer and the example set by her Christian parents, Bristol Palin became sexually active while still in high school. Excuse me, but if abstinence education can't keep the daughter of the evangelical governor of Alaska off the cock, what hope is there for the daughters—and some of the sons—of average Americans?
I'm a cad for writing this, of course, because shortly before Bristol and Levi were paraded before cheering throngs at the Republican National Convention, the Palins asked the media to respect their daughter's privacy.
Another special right: When it comes to respecting your family's privacy, Palin and the GOP see no need. They want to micromanage the most intimate aspects of your private life. And if their own kids fail to live up to the standards that Palin and the GOP seek to impose on your family, well, that's a private matter between the Palins, their daughter, their God, and the thousands of screaming imbeciles in elephant hats waving McCain/Palin signs on the floor of the Republican National Convention.
First one:
And, hey, here's another interesting study: While straight kids are busily boning each other's butts—the better to preserve their virginities!—gay teenagers are knocking each other up. According to a study out of the University of British Columbia, lesbian and gay teenagers are seven times likelier to get knocked up than their straight peers. How the hell does that happen? Well, gay teens are having straight sex in order "to prove they are heterosexual to avoid harassment and discrimination" by their parents and peers. In other words, gay kids are still having heterosexual sex under duress. This is where abstinence education and homophobia have gotten us: Gay kids are having vaginal intercourse and straight kids are having anal intercourse. Good work, sexphobes!
--
And the second one, longer but worth every word:
The 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, the GOP's vice-presidential nominee, is pregnant. The news was released by the McCain camp during a busy week—a hurricane, the Republican National Convention, Dick Cheney getting us into a war with Russia—so it didn't receive the coverage it deserved. To recap:
Seventeen-year-old Bristol Palin got her ass knocked up five or so months ago by 18-year-old Levi Johnston. Among the hobbies listed on Levi's since-yanked MySpace page—"fishing, shoot some shit, and just fuckin' chillin'"—was this revealing tidbit: "I don't want kids." But Bristol, says her mom, "made the decision on her own to keep the baby," and is now engaged to Levi "Shootin' Shit" Johnston.
As the adoptive parent of a child born to a pair of unwed teenagers, I'm certainly not in favor of abortion in all circumstances. But I believe that it's a choice teenagers should be able to make for themselves—with input from their families whenever possible—and, so it seems, does the GOP's VP nominee. Sarah Palin is pleased that her daughter made the decision—on her own—to keep the baby.
But Sarah Palin doesn't believe that other girls should be able to make their own decisions. Sarah Palin believes abortion should be illegal in almost every instance—including rape and incest. So Bristol Palin is being celebrated for making a choice that Sarah Palin would like to take away from all other American women. Apparently, today's GOP believes that choice is a special right reserved for the wayward daughters of Republican elected officials.
Oh, and Sarah Palin also believes that birth control shouldn't be made available to teenagers, she opposes medically accurate sex education, and she backs abstinence-until- marriage sex "education."
Sigh.
The GOP has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into abstinence "education" programs during the Bush years. I believe this enormous investment of public funds begs the obvious question: Is our children abstaining? Sarah Palin's aren't. Despite this massive outlay on the part of the American taxpayer and the example set by her Christian parents, Bristol Palin became sexually active while still in high school. Excuse me, but if abstinence education can't keep the daughter of the evangelical governor of Alaska off the cock, what hope is there for the daughters—and some of the sons—of average Americans?
I'm a cad for writing this, of course, because shortly before Bristol and Levi were paraded before cheering throngs at the Republican National Convention, the Palins asked the media to respect their daughter's privacy.
Another special right: When it comes to respecting your family's privacy, Palin and the GOP see no need. They want to micromanage the most intimate aspects of your private life. And if their own kids fail to live up to the standards that Palin and the GOP seek to impose on your family, well, that's a private matter between the Palins, their daughter, their God, and the thousands of screaming imbeciles in elephant hats waving McCain/Palin signs on the floor of the Republican National Convention.
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I guess what I am trying to say is that Obama might do away with some of the federally funded religious based abstinence programs.
What I really hope is that Obama can reverse Bush's decision regarding healthcare employees refusing patients certain treatments or medical procedures based on moral objections. What people want to do with their bodies--or even if they just want to get well--is their business!
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Sort of like when Biden said that he personally didn't believe in abortion because of his religion, but that he knew that didn't mean that other people couldn't have the right to choose.
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It's something that's always bothered me in the field I know most, LGBT rights, how we're supposed to respect the opposite camp's position when they want to deny us our right to a happy existence and we just want to exist alongside them. Their perspective requires that we don't exist, that we don't speak up - ours doesn't require that of them.
But if there was some kind of conservative equivalent to Dan, I'd be very curious to read it... just to see what it looks like because I'll admit I have trouble picturing what it would look like. :)
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I once had a discussion with a friend of mine about gay marriage, sparked by a radio debate. He couldn't see what the big deal was between calling it marriage or a civil union if it had the same benefits. I was trying to explain to him that that was exactly the point: what was the big deal in calling it a marriage if it endows the same civil rights, because then it just boils down to semantics. I also explained that unfortunately, most civil unions don't give exactly the same rights as marriages. I don't think he ever saw my way of it, but he gave his opinion in a non-preachy and non-judgmental way. There should be more discussions like that in the world.
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This is an inspiring story.
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Although I can't help but look at the poll results - I find it amazing that so few of the people responding know a trans person and yet feel free to say that this should not happen.
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Well, I could also see the reservations people would have at letting a 16 year old go through a sex change operation. Honestly, if I had a son who wanted the operation, I think I would make him wait until he was 18 to go through surgery (I would let him take hormones and wear feminine clothing if he wanted). Yes, I know it's an arbitrary age limit, but then he would have had years of living as a girl and the power as a legal adult to take control of his life and make his own choices. And I would be supportive the entire time.
Of course, if it was really distressing him to be trapped in a male body, then I would reevaluate that position.
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So basically I'm curious to see how long Kim's wanted to dress like a girl at school/in public, if her parents have let her, and how long it's been. I'm assuming it wasn't an abrupt transition since she's been taking hormones for a while, but I'm curious to see how the parents handled it. And while I'm mostly with you on that one - I would probably want my kid to wait a few years before they go through surgery, even though I wouldn't mind if they presented as the other gender. But on a practical level, especially at schools, it's easier said than done. You have to deal with bathrooms and PE, in particular (like she mentions, swimming!), and I know dressing rooms were enough of an unpleasant experience for me at times to imagine how difficult it would be if my body didn't match my gender presentation to go through these little rituals. Not to mention other gendered rituals that teens might have - I don't know, comparing their dicks, trying on each other's bras, things like that. Even without the internal distress of hating one's body, I can see how that would wear down anyone's morale.
It's not an easy situation no matter how supportive you want to be, I think. :/ Which is why I'd love to know more about how Kim handled it and how her parents were there for her.
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One guy's take on her sex change:
I'm pleased as punch that Kim is happy in her new body, I'm glad she has come to grips with her sexuality. Although, on one hand, now I feel like a complete fag because I think this chick is pretty hot. On the other hand, she does have long blond hair, blue eyes and pert breasts, so there's nothing faggy about digging a chick like that. On my third hand, I really hate how this type of false advertising has completely fucked up my mind and made me question my own sexuality.
http://mitchieville.blogspot.com/2008/09/kim-petras-german-idol.html
(He seems to talk in that style, regardless of the subject.)
Also, do girls try on each others' bras? Haha, I know you were just pulling random examples of ritualistic teen behavior, but is that something that actually happens?
Tangential story time:
I remember my mom was always pushing me to wear skirts and dresses when I was younger and I HATED it. My middle school was pretty much a daily torture for me cause we wore uniforms, so I had to wear a skirt and shoes every weekday, when all I wanted to wear were jeans and sneakers. My mom ordered uniform pants for me that never managed to make it to my house in four years. To top it off, the trend/girl ritual in my school at the time was to either roll or hem your skirt to make it shorter - the normal skirt length was right at the knee - and so, I was one of the weird girls who never rolled my skirt.
Going through that as a tomboy was a pretty uncomfortable experience. I was extremely happy that Andover had no dress code!
ETA: Dr Bernd Meyenburg who heads the Psychiatric Special Outpatient Clinic for Children and Adolescents with Identity Disorders at the University of Frankfurt Hospital said: 'Very few youth psychiatrists have any experience with transsexual developments. The families wander from one psychiatrist to the next.
'I was always against such operations on children so young but after seeing how happy one of my patients was and how well adjusted after returning from having the operation abroad while still a teenager – I realised that in some cases it is the right decision.
'Kim is such a case – she always knew what she wanted.'
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Kim, who is now studying fashion design, began calling herself a girl when she was just two years old.
Her father Lutz said: 'I suppose it took me longer than my wife to accept it, but Kim is a very persuasive girl, she knows what she wants and how to get it.
'I am very proud of what she has achieved, how she has managed to get there and how she sticks to her dreams no matter how hard and painful they are to follow.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1135724/From-Tim-Kim-German-pop-star-16-worlds-youngest-transsexual-sex-change-op.html
(By the way, sorry I'm spamming your LJ. I'm bored at work. :P)
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That first guy you quoted makes me want to headdesk. I forget sometimes just how stupid people can be. >.>
Also, do girls try on each others' bras? Haha, I know you were just pulling random examples of ritualistic teen behavior, but is that something that actually happens?
lol, I have no clue. I was too lame to be involved in girl rituals most of the time :p I've tried my ex's bras, but that's a little different... it wouldn't surprise me though. Teens do strange things. ;)
And I was lucky enough not to have my parents ever force me into any kind of clothes. They may have lamented but I could still wear whatever. :) (So glad Andover didn't have a dress code, too!)
Thanks for that last link, that was interesting!!
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And today they had a lesbian couple and their son on the show! It was so gratifying to hear the announcer refer to the lesbian couple as the son's "parents."
(Although it also highlights how hypocritical this country is...)