Blue Notes from a Red Zone

Abstinence

I am constantly being amazed at what I read in our local newspaper and see on our TV. No, the ultra-reactionary editorials, columns and letters don't astonish me, nor the interesting slant given to the news. Ann Coulter is considered a left-wing nut in this area, so I'm pretty numb to knee-jerk idiocy.

What fascinates me is to learn that I am an expert in such a wide array of subjects. I have been in the media as an advocate for the poor and homeless, a resource for sexual asault and domestic violence victims, children's welfare issues, substance abuse prevention, even on mental health issues connected with hurricane recovery. On one memorable occasion, I was quoted on the front page of the paper on a court case that I had not realized had been scheduled, much less resolved, and which took place when I was 1500 miles away. Today I claim fame as an opponent of abstinence-only education.

Obviously, no one can possibly be an authority in this many fields, and my popularity among the media set stems from my ability to dig up valid research quickly and summarize it in a few succinct, quotable phrases. The fact that there isn't much of a liberal or even moderate opinion pool to draw from around here, and that I don't mind being identified as a liberal, is also key.

The advantage to being frequently called upon is that it gives me the chance to truly consider topics that otherwise would fly under my radar. Up to this point I have always considered abstinence-only education a waste of breath, based on "science" that is on a par with creationism. What I hadn't stop to contemplate is how dangerous abstinence-only education is.

Of course I know that abstinence-only proponents make wild claims of 40% failure rates with condoms, and HIV-transmission through sweat and tears, and wildly exaggerated risks of other forms of birth control. I also know that abstinence revivals have much in common with big-tent church revivals: it's easy to get caught in the moment and swear your pledge to virginity and the Bible, but even easier to lose the glow as soon as true temptation raises its head. True reform and change are rarely accomplished in an instant.

And although I didn't know the exact figures, I was hardly surprised to find out that 88% of teens taking a vow of abstinence break it within a year. Since these teens have been told, and believe, that protection is dangerous and ineffective, they then are subject to significantly elevated risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (both of which carry fairly grave consequences for the very young). Sadly, this may register with many as being a good reason to include more comprehensive forms of sex education, but not with abstinence-only proponents. Proponents tend to be more punitive in their world view than I am, and they feel that pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are God's wise and considered judgment on those who flout abstinence-only vows.

The danger I did not readily acknowledge is the inclusion of abstinence-only education in our science classes, because this is where it is usually presented. Apparently there is no limit to the desire to treat science as a faith-based ideology, subject to dispute by other faith-based ideologies. The notion of evidence-based theories that can be reliably tested and replicated is considered something that only airy-fairy college professors care about. Such arcane notions are not relevant to the real world, which is a polarized war zone to be conquered by the loudest, most inflammatory orators.

One of the most widely quoted excerpts from Ron Suskind's book on the Bush presidency has VP Dick Cheney waving away the quaint notions of a "reality-based community."

"We make our own reality," said Cheney.

If there has been one true statement from this administration, this would be the one. The Bush administration has consistently attempted to impose its own, fantasy-based "reality" upon the rest of the world. Given the results, you might think that the Bushies and everyone else would have retreated from this position, but instead it has become more entrenched.

Predictably, it has only been entrenched in the mind-set. The world stubbornly refuses to go along, and keeps plugging away in a reality-based sphere. The fact that I don't believe in the oak tree in my front yard will not keep it from shedding leaves, and the fact that a large number of zealots don't believe in evolution is not stopping species change and adaptation. Many lay people still refuse to acknowledge global warming, but the ice caps are melting just the same, and the hurricanes get more catastrophic every year.

Biblical reactionaries fight to get abstinence-only education in the classroom not only as an expression of religious views and a further weakening of the boundaries between church and state, but as a way to cast yet more doubt on scientific research and understanding. They speak of a "war on Christmas" while waging an assault on reason and intellect. For those of us who would prefer to raise our children in a society that can compete in a global economy, this is frightening. For those who think the end times are coming next year, it hardly matters what destruction is unleashed in the year after that.

Still, it matters to me. So I'll keep sending out my blue notes from the red zone, and hoping to keep a small flame lit on the altar of our God-given minds and revealed intellectual truths.

posted by Lenore Wilson @ 10:26 AM