'Safe Sex' for the Whole Nation
On a recent episode of Friday Night Lights, mother Tami Taylor tries to talk her 15-year-old daughter out of having sex with her boyfriend.
The second thing that pops out of her mouth is a warning about the diseases that can be contracted during sex. The first thing is a warning about pregnancy, which is often treated by our culture as if it, too, were a disease.
Such is our culture's knee-jerk fear when it comes to sex. We are not primarily worried about emotional entanglements or personal integrity or dishonoring God. Just disease. Thus, our culture's fevered talk about "protection" and the desperate search for gadgets and vaccines that will make sex "safe."
From this point of view, the vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) is a stride forward.
Opting Out
HPV, which causes genital warts, afflicts more than 6 million Americans annually (half of them between 15 and 25 years of age) and can only be spread through sexual contact. A total of about 20 million Americans are infected. People without symptoms can pass on the infection to unsuspecting partners, and condoms provide little defense.
Worse, several strains of HPV can lead to cervical cancer years later, as well as to other serious conditions in both men and women. According to the American Cancer Society, about 9,700 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually, and 3,700 of them will die from the disease.
Last June, the Centers for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended that all girls 11 and 12 years old receive Gardasil, a new vaccine against only four of the one hundred or so strains of HPV. These four strains are associated with 70 percent of the cases of cervical cancer. In October, the ACIP added Gardasil, ...
This article is currently available to CT subscribers only.
To continue reading:
or
A Fractured and Beautiful Faith
Streaming This Weekend, May 24, 2013
(on articles open to the public, you must at least register for a free account).
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Newsletters
Google
Comments
Displaying 1–3 of 31 comments
See all comments
Kelly
If your partner has ever had sex, you should consider the vaccination. I have a family member who has only had sex with one person - her husband. Unfortunately, as a newlywed her symptomless new husband passed HPV along to her. I don't know if she was aware of his sexual activity prior to their marriage, but she was most certainly aware of it after they were married. It is difficult these days to find another virgin to marry, and that's just being realistic.
drjay58
The position taken on the vaccine sounds very much like refusing to purchase automobile insurance as a way of preventing accidents. Funny thing--just saying no doesn't cause fewer accidents either on the road or in the bedroom
Jenn
My understanding as a Christian is that humanity is totally depraved. We live in a fallen world. The creators of secular tv shows, magazines, movies, etc. are not necessarily all followers of Christ. With that said, there's little reason that they be "not primarily worried about emotional entanglements or personal integrity or dishonoring God. Just disease." People who aren't Christians aren't called to the same standard as we are. They don't care what God desires for His children and that God's best regarding sex means "only in the confines of marriage." Until we are in eternity with Jesus, there will always be sex outside the marriage context, so why should we be surprised that nonbelievers (and believers alike) will continue to struggle with pre-marital or non-marital sex? Therefore, let's not only share the good news of our redemption through Christ but let's also fill an immediate health need to shorten cancer's ability to ravage our family and friends! I’ll take a cancer vaccine.