Dorie’s Different Reality

Lots of news this week! Not much of it good, I’m afraid.

1 in 4 teenage girls has an STD! It’s being covered in the news today all around the country. Seriously, Society (meaning all of us) has dropped the ball on this one. That means people are having unprotected sex. 25 years after the AIDS epidemic. It hasn’t been cured, by the way.
Here’s how I’d teach the 7th grade Sex Ed class (in my day it would have been in 10th grade, but I guess we have to start earlier)
First, I’d cover the basics: babies, cabbage patch, etc. I’d have a table set up with actual contraception devices (that would really make my neighbors around here angry) so they could at least see the things their parents don’t want them to use. I’d even teach abstinence and the wisdom of waiting, peer pressure, etc. Then I’d have a scary audio visual presentation. I’d show deranged people with paresis, slides of advanced tumors, video of babies in an orphanage because their mothers died of AIDS. I’d throw some news accounts of girls forced into prostitution around the world. Dark tales. see- http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/index.html
Then in conclusion I’d say, “If you have unprotected sex, you might get pregnant. Then again you might catch something that will make it impossible for you to ever get pregnant. Or you might even catch something that will make you die. You aren’t old enough for sex unless you’re willing to protect yourself”
Yeah, I’d be run out of town on a rail for sure.

Over in the sidebar, on the link to the health map —————> where it says “World Disease Distribution” there’s an unhappy blip. I happened to be clicking around on it to see how widespread this year’s flu has become, but something startled me. In Central Virginia, there is an outbreak of syphilis. By numbers it’s small, but by percentages it’s horrible. 2 cases two years ago; and over 50 last year. And the local health professionals can’t find the usual common factors: age, race, gender. So it’s multiplying geometrically. Since antibiotics don’t seem to work as well as they did forty years ago, we are going to be hearing a lot more about this. All it takes is one infected Virginian to do a little traveling and there will be an outbreak in another city!

When I was ten, I played with dolls. Now ten year olds go to Hannah Montana concerts in limos rented by their parents. And the parents think it’s cute. I believe that we like it when our kids act older because it’s easier for us. Childrearing is hard work. It’s easier to buy them a car and let ‘em go!

Last week in the news there was an article saying that in the UK a consensus believe that childhood is over at age 11. So what’s next- give 12 year olds the vote? Seriously, I know what they meant. The kids cross over into the “adultolescent” state, which can last a lifetime!

There is a brilliant book. The Hurried Child by David Elkind, Ph.D. It was written in 1981, but even more relevant today. I just found out there’s a 25th anniversary edition, so thankfully people still read it. If only we could let childhood last a few more years. Maybe it is all hormones in the beef?

Once upon a time, kids grew up and went off to college to experience Life and Love. It also kept their mothers from having a heart attack and dying from the stress! The experience continues, but it seems to begin in Middle School now. Not a good thing.

I don’t have all the answers, just a lot of questions.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 9:01 am and is filed under Books, Culture, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.