May 092006
I encountered this story a while ago and it pissed me off then. It still pisses me off. The FDA is close to approving a vaccine for the human papillova virus, which causes cervical cancer in women. The vaccine will likely save thousands of lives. Most people would struggle to see the controversy in such a thing. But leave it to the paranoid, sex-obsessed religious right to crank up the histrionics and proclaim this medical advance a threat to public morality. The vaccine is most effective when administered to girls between ten and twelve years old. Social conservatives make an argument so absurd and ignorant that it’s completely horrifying: administering this vaccine to girls will instantly transform them into wanton hedonists.
Religious conservatives love to depict themselves as defenders of family values, but I often wonder to what degree their worldview is influenced by a deep-seated, almost pathological fear and mistrust of female sexuality.
Thanks to Digby for reminding me how much this story annoyed me.
