Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

 
 

View User's Journal

Note: I reserve the right to edit anything in my journal at any time. I am something of a compulsive editor. If you want to address a specific point, quote it. It might not be there later.
If I Make It More Dangerous, Maybe You Won't Do It
So, I've recently been reading about various attempts by the religious right to keep people (unmarried people) from having sex. These attempts often revolve around making sex dangerous so that people won't do it. From denying people access to birth control to not vaccinating women against HPV, these individuals want to attach, "And you will suffer physically from it!" to sex so that people will abstain from sex.

I think this is absolutely a load of crap. Aside from the fact that I don't think that the government should be legislating morality (Hey! I thought the right was supposed to be for minimalist government whereas the left was painted as being for big government! Where is the consistency?!), the idea that people won't do something if we make it more dangerous has to be the most incredibly stupid thing that I've heard in years. I mean, come on. How many times has the right insisted that people will drive more safely if we outlawed seatbelts? Do they argue that the underage won't drink if we make laws declaring that any underage person who suffers from alcohol poisoning must not be given medical treatment? Do we decrease the number of people performing dangerous maneuvers on bikes, skateboards, and such by banning helmets? Of course not. Why? Because we aren't completely daft. We realize that people (especially young people) tend to believe that bad things won't happen to them, and thus they drive without their seatbelts, drink more than they should, refuse to wear helmets, and (*gasp gasp!*) will have sex despite the dangers of unwanted pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases. Making more dangerous won't stop people from doing it (if it doesn't work with driving, drinking, and skateboarding/bike riding, why would it work for sex?). Instead, it will simply increase the number of unwanted pregnancies and STD infection rate. Now, this may be all well and good if your real agenda is to punish those evil sinners (after all, having a lifelong disease because you had sex at 15 is a pretty severe punishment) but if what you really want is to promote these people's best interest, then for heaven's sake, stop passing laws that make sex more dangerous!





 
 
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
Get GCash
Offers
Get Items
More Items
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum