One of the the things I hate about the Internet is that, when discussing controversial topics, people just ignore the questions you ask them and continue on saying whatever they want.  It's easy to do on the computer.

So today I was reading a blog that I frequent.  I respect the writer of it even though her opinions are different from mine in many areas.  She writes about political topics a lot, so I kept checking her blog to see what this younger generation feminist would have to say about Sarah Palin. I was hoping she might be happy about the pick even though her politics are opposed.

I was disappointed but not surprised.  Apparently, many feminists find it hard to believe that there are women who don't agree with them on the issues.  So since they find it inconceivable that a woman would take the positions Palin does, they are left with discussing her reproductive history and that of her daughter.  There was a link to a piece of drivel on salon.com.  And then she insinuates that Palin's daughter Bristol's pregnancy proves that abstinence education does not work.

So, I posted a comment and asked if she were assuming that Bristol received abstinence-only sex education in her school or if she knew this for a fact.  The answer I got was that McCain and Palin both are on record supporting abstinence only education.  That does not answer my question!  Nor does it logically follow, even if Bristol had received abstinence-only education, that her pregnancy means it doesn't work.  Do students who receive (I don't know what to call it) traditional? regular? explicit? education never get pregnant? 

I know that isn't true!  So if one pregnant girl proves that a whole system doesn't work, then I guess nothing works.  Maybe schools should go back to teaching actual academics and leave this area alone.  And there is also the possibility that the pregnancy was not an accident.  I recently read a (supposedly false) story about girls in New England who made a pact to get pregnant, and a school administrator's response was "We need more birth control education!"  Hello?  How is that going to help when the girls want to have a baby?  They just won't use whatever is given them!

When I started my master's degree and was using the Student Health Services for my medical care, there was information on how to avoid STDs everywhere.  This was the era of "alternative activities" if you get my drift - think Clinton/Lewinsky.  Well, I just read an article in Reader's Digest that was about a man under 40 who had very serious cancer (I believe it was throat cancer, but it was somewhere mouth/neck related).  He had never smoked.  He was told that the human papilloma virus (HPV) can cause this cancer, and it is being spread by those very activities that were promoted as being "healthy, safe" alternatives!  Is this information being shared as well in those classes?  One can only hope.

For me, the only position that makes sense is to wholeheartedly embrace the Catholic Church's teachings on the ethics of life, love, and sexuality.  OK, vent over!