Religious right would kill to stop safe sex

[Ruffhowse]

Here's more so-crazy-it-can-only-be-a-bad-dream-and-not- the-actual-country-that-enfranchised-us news for women: As we get closer to approval for a vaccine that will prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), the STD thought to cause around 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, some sectors of the religious right have begun to make protest noises. Apparently, disease-prevention of this nature -- in addition to leading to improved health for our mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters, friends, and selves -- could mean just the green-light we've all been waiting for to go out and rut like bunnies.

HPV, which doesn't always produce symptoms and often goes undetected, is a terrifyingly common condition. According to the CDC, over 50 percent of sexually active men and women contract it in their lifetimes, and by age 50, more than 80 percent of women will have had the virus. While many cases of genital HPV disappear of their own accord, it's the main risk factor in contracting cervical cancer; in other words, most of the 10,370 American women who the American Cancer Society predicts will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer in 2005 got it because they had been infected with HPV.

Because it is a wily virus that can slip past condoms, HPV has long been a darling of the abstinence-only brigade, which uses it as Exhibit A in its argument that there is no such thing as "safe sex" short of abstaining entirely.

But two vaccines, which could be licensed as early next year, have recently brightened the picture. Both Merck and GlaxoSmithKline have announced that in clinical trials their HPV vaccines had prevented around 90 percent of new infections. The idea is that women would be vaccinated before they become sexually active, never contract HPV, and thus dramatically lower the risk of getting cervical cancer.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room//index.html
_________________________________________________________

Underneath all the moral posturing about abortion, AIDS, condoms, etc., the real purpose of the religious right is clear-----they are simply anti-sex. To them, sex is something only married heterosexuals should do, using only certain methods and positions, with the lights off, and it shouldn't be fun or enjoyed, and should only be done for the purpose of procreation. Anything else is SINFUL and must be stamped out. It's the worst aspect of our Puritan heritage come back to haunt us. These people are emotionally disturbed and I'd feel sorry for them if I didn't despise them so much.

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. UN-BE-FRIGGING-LIEVABLE!!!! Every time I think they couldn't be more

evil, they show me I don't have enough imagination to encompass just how low they can go. Excerpt from the Salon article:

In an April article in New Scientist, Bridget Maher of the Christian lobby Family Research Council ("Defending Family, Faith, and Freedom") is quoted as saying that "giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex."

Here is the article in New Scientist:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/sex/mg18624954.500

Will cancer vaccine get to all women?

18 April 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Debora MacKenzie

DEATHS from cervical cancer could jump fourfold to a million a year by 2050, mainly in developing countries. This could be prevented by soon-to-be-approved vaccines against the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer - but there are signs that opposition to the vaccines might lead to many preventable deaths.

The trouble is that the human papilloma virus (HPV) is sexually transmitted. So to prevent infection, girls will have to be vaccinated before they become sexually active, which could be a problem in many countries.

In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.

(snip)

Recommended. This needs to be publicized and fought.

[moggie]

2. I must have misunderstood "family"

They call themselves the "Family Research Council", but those families sure as hell didn't come about as a result of abstinence.

It sickens me that such a wholesome word as "family" always seems to be associated with evil bigots.

[Coexist]

8. WTF?

"giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex."

Premarital sex was very, very good to me! I highly recommend it to all consenting adults. My teenagers know that I don't care at all if they are virgins at their weddings or even at their proms. I always stress that they should be careful, and achieve and feel a certain level of trust with their partner (sex does not equal love for all people, etc) use condoms (along with other birth control) and know themselves.

Why do Christians care what my non-Christian young adults do?

[The White Tree]

11. Because .... Because ......

Everyone Sing..

"Every Sperm is Sacred, Every Sperm is good"

"Every Sperm is Needed, In your Neighborhood"

"Let the Heathens Spill them, on the Dusty Ground"

"God will make them pay for, Each Sperm that can't be Found"

Apologies to Monty Python and you all, it just popped into my head.

Bad Boy :spank:

[Coexist]

12. now I know it's Friday!

[leesa]

25. Too Funny! Gotta make soldiers for Armageddon

[Nothing Without Hope]

31. Speaking of which, you MUST see this Jesus' General letter to Laura Bush

I won't spoil the surprise by telling you exactly why this is related to the sperm and soldiers for Armageddon, but you will be ;rofl: for sure. I've asked that blog's owner for permission to post the whole thing in a DU post of iits own - if he gives permission I'll post the link to the thread here.

Here's the link to the day this wonderful Larua Bush letter (yes, he really sends them) was posted. Scroll down to the piece titled "Is that a bugle in your pants?"
http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_patriotboy_archive.html#111518737000193024

[Coexist]

34. thanks for the giggle!

[ovidsen]

38. thank you!

Don't forget, though, that every egg is sacred too! Golly, it's critical that no genome is wasted.

Remember, sex is only for procreation. Face eachother, man on top. And whatever you do, do not enjoy yourself, or eachother. If you do, you will go straight to hell. :evilfrown: Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

[MostlyLurks]

30. Maher Has A Point, Though

Re: "Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex"

She's right. The moment there's an vaccine for Ebola, I plan to eat monkeys by the dozen. Mmmmm, Ebola Monkey.

Mostly

[Nothing Without Hope]

32. LOL - what it shows is their OWN repressed sexuality. They assume

everyone else would hump like bunnies if given the least hint of possibility because THEY are so repressed and torn up by twisted urges, they think about it all the time.

And they'd be willing to take a chance of their daughters' DYING just in case they might be inhibited by the possibility of contracting a life-threatening viral infection. Just a few steps away from the Afghan parents stoning their daughter to death for being found alone with a male neighbor:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1442948

[Vogon_Glory]

3. Not One Bit Surprised About Those People

I'm not one bit surprised about those people opposing an HPV virus vaccine. The Far Right has always wanted to find ways to punish people for having sex. Since treatments for syphilis and gonorrhea as well as more reliable birth control have taken away big portions of their "illicit sex equals death" equation, HPV is one of their remaining ploys.

Personally, I think that any right-wing politician in bed with those people and supporting their policies ought to have big bio-hazard stickers placed on their campaign signs.

[NVMojo]

4. they will kill us all ....

[annabanana]

5. They already DO.. on a regular basis.

By tyeing foreign aid to their stupid "just say no" approach to morality, people die.

friggen hypocritical idiots

[oldlady]

6. again against their own interests

fundamentalists, being from a born-again faith, are often from divorced, remarried, or otherwise at-risk pasts. This vaccine would help them as much, or more, than anyone.

[redacted]

7. KICK. Outrageous and disgusting.

[Mizmoon]

9. The aim of the Party

was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act. Not love so much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it. All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose, and -- though the principle was never clearly stated -- permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another. The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the Party. Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema. This again was never put into plain words, but in an indirect way it was rubbed into every Party member from childhood onwards. There were even organizations such as the Junior Anti-Sex League, which advocated complete celibacy for both sexes. All children were to be begotten by artificial insemination (artsem, it was called in Newspeak) and brought up in public institutions. This, Winston was aware, was not meant altogether seriously, but somehow it fitted in with the general ideology of the Party. The Party was trying to kill the sex instinct, or, if it could not be killed, then to distort it and dirty it. He did not know why this was so, but it seemed natural that it should be so. And as far as the women were concerned, the Party's efforts were largely successful.

[Coexist]

15. all hail the Junior Anti-Sex league

[MrsMatt]

10. Don't they even consider

that even if their daughters have every intention of remaining "pure", they can still become victims of molestation or rape and could be exposed to any number of sexually transmitted diseases, including HPV?

And, how many children even KNOW what vaccinations they have had and for what purpose? My eight year old daughter doesn't, and I probably didn't even consider it until I had to have an MMR shot at 18 in order to go to college.

[bdot]

13. I'm not Republican and I'm anti-sex.

[Coexist]

14. pre-marital or in general?

[Chovexani]

16. Good for you

So don't have any.

[Merope215]

18. Fine

I don't care. But keep your laws and your morals or whatever you call them the hell off my body and the hell out of my bedroom. Is that too much to ask?

[Suziq]

19. Your Loss . . .

but keep the hell out of my business!




:hippie:

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[clspector]

28. Then I promise

never to fuck you. Ever.

[mitchum]

37. Good! More for me

:)

[Chovexani]

17. Call these MFs what they really are

Pro-cancer fascists.

[Arkansas Granny]

24. Good idea!

I'm sick to death of them calling anyone who is pro-choice as being pro-abortion.

[Chovexani]

29. Me too!

It's high past time we beat the reich wingers at their own name game.

Welcome to DU, btw. :hi:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Wonder how they'll react if an effective AIDS treatment/vaccine is found?

:scared:

[Jade Fox]

21. The recent attention granted the Religious Right has revealed....

their anti-sex agenda. It was always there, lurking under their concern
about unborn babies, blah, blah, blah.

Now they are showing their true goals.

[Dulcinea]

22. Would they prefer people have UNSAFE sex?

I mean, even more unsafe sex?

[arikara]

23. These people are truly sick in the head

I wish that someone would do a study of the religious upbringing/political beliefs of the child molesters, rapists and domestic abusers. I bet anything that they are 90% fundy repukes. Their normal urges are repressed out of them and the sickness is what is left behind.

[Rainscents]

27. I find that, your statement is very true... My ex is thug and he is very

abuser. I have no idea what part of the brain is damaged with these people to cause them to behave psychotic!

[Point_n_click]

33. Objecting to the HPV vaccine stops many beating hearts ...

The religious wrong have failed to think this particular battle through as, it seems, they routinely fail to think everything through.

Preventing the development and use of a vaccine that reduces instances of cervical cancer will inevitably lead to many countless deaths of unborn babies. Cervical cancer can lead to miscarriages which is effectively an abortion.

In cases where the cancer is detected and stopped, many potential mothers will no longer be capable of reproduction due to the damage done by the disease. The disease then becomes a form of birth control.

In cases where the disease cannot be stopped, it is simply a case of the religious wrong condemning women to horrible deaths weather they had sex out of wedlock or stayed a virgin until marriage since it is possible the husband could have brought the disease into the relationship.

The religious extremists in America call themselves the culture of life, but this is yet another proof that they are the soldiers of the reaper, a cult of death.

[Sgent]

35. Not to mention

that the Hep B vaccine is already a standard childhood vaccine according to the CDC, and required to enter into schools.

If anything Hep B is as bad or worse than HPV. HPV usually is not even known by the person who has it. Males almost never have symptoms, and females rarely have overt symptoms.

[daleo]

36. Cervical cancer is God's punishment for sex

One of his many, many, many, many punishments for sex, according to religious fanatics.

Oddly, frequent ejaculations seem to have a preventative effect on development of prostate cancer, according to recent research. Go figure.