December 29, 2006

• HPV Vaccine

  I wrote in my last post that I did something that I haven’t done in quite some time. That is I prayed. I prayed for my mom’s full recovery from illness. My mom is Roman Catholic. Although her health has caused her to miss a few masses, she continues to attend church ceremonies, well uh, religiously you could say. I refer to myself as a recovering Roman Catholic. I say that because the Roman Catholic faith had seared so much guilt and unreasonable ideologies into my brain that it took decades for me to fully shed the dogma. Though Catholics do get points for spurring great art.

  Don’t get me wrong. The concept of god appeals to me quite a bit. It’s religion I find so noxious. I’m fine with anyone who finds comfort in their own mythology. It’s just that those who think their tenet is incontrovertibly right and feel they are utterly justified to kill or affect legislation to outlaw whatever it is that opposes their faith are simply dangerous to others. It is easy to believe religion is harmless but laws against gays, abortion, or birth control are not at all benign. These laws are altogether intrusive and strangleholds personal freedom. One’s religious perception of wholesomeness should not be construed as moral and right for all. If you would never have an abortion or date someone who would… OK. Your choice. The Roe v Wade law doesn’t force you to do anything you wouldn’t want to do, so why do you feel the need to legislate against it? You condemn abortion. Good. Don’t have one but keep your apprehensions and self righteousness far away from my body.

  The following story exemplifies how religious fanatic’s fears and desires to control other’s life decisions goes way beyond irritating.

  HPV (human papillomavirus) is a very popular sexually transmitted virus, but not exactly the kind of popular that makes you want to be in the “in” crowd. It’s believed that 75 percent of the population will become infected with HPV during their adulthood, and studies show that certain types of HPV infections cause about 70 percent of all cervical cancer, while 370,000 cases of cervical cancer are identified in the United States every year and the CDC estimates that 6.2 million Americans are infected every year. In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first preventive HPV vaccine, marketed by Merck & Co. under the trade name Gardasil. Yay! But wait: Conservative Christian groups have come out in opposition against the HPV vaccine, claiming that a vaccine will only encourage promiscuity and that abstinence is the best way to avoid getting HPV — and thus injecting a life-saving breakthrough with a virus of its own: life-threatening sexual hysteria.

  The above paragraph was written by Violet Blue. Ms. Blue is author and editor of over a dozen sexual health books. She is a professional sex educator, lecturer, podcaster, and video blogger.

  • 4:10 pm
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