HPV and The War On Women

I heard the dumbest thing yesterday while having lunch with my mom. A group of women were talking about the FDA’s recent approval of the HPV vaccine. One declared she wouldn’t have her daughter vaccinated because STD’s were something only “sluts” get. Another said she didn’t think it was necessary as her daughter had taken a virginity pledge. A third didn’t know what HPV was, and asked if it was the same as the virus that causes AIDS. (The answer is no, by the way.)

My mother and I gave each other the same looks. The one that says: Are we the only people who know that marriage licenses do not prevent or cure STDs?

I have a thirteen-year-old daughter, and I will be having her vaccinated so that she will be spared the possibility of cervical cancer. For all those so worried about giving their daughters “permission” to be promiscuous, here’s a thought: Don’t volunteer any information. Sheesh!

How many girls between birth and 14 really know or give a hoot what inoculation they’re getting? My own daughter, upon being told she needed to get her MMR booster said, What’s that for? I replied, “To keep you from getting a disease that could kill you.” She shrugged, “Works for me.”

We don’t have these kinds of ridiculous discussions about the MMR or the DPT or any other inoculation, so why the hell is there all this commotion about the HPV vaccine?

Short answer: The War on Women. The religious right tried to co-opt this into some sort of moral issue, solely because it is a vaccine that cures a sexually-transmitted disease that causes a female cancer. It’s not about abstinence or morality or anything else. This is about punishing women who have sex.

You really think there’s a bunch of pre-teen girls running around screaming “YAY, we can have sex now because we won’t get HPV!”? I think not. I have yet to meet a girl under 13 who knows what HPV is. Hell, I’ve yet to meet one between 13 and 25 years old who knows.

But, and here’s the important part, you Bible-thumping zealots: Just because your daughters choose to remain virgins until their wedding nights DOES NOT guarantee they will not get HPV. Your daughters can get this disease if they marry someone who wasn’t a virgin, who had sex with an infected partner. Your daughters can get this disease after marriage, from the no-good rotten SOB they married who was infected while committing adultery.

What will we tell the children??

Oh the anguish and suffering. The wailing and moaning.

Get over it!

Would you rather, at some point in the future, explain to your daughters what a LEEP is, and why you chose to leave them unprotected from HPV and cervical cancer?

I have a sister who had to have a LEEP because her Pap test came back showing pre-cancerous cells. A result of being infected with the HPV virus. If she’s willing, I’ll post the details of the procedure and what she went through, but suffice it to say – it’s very painful. Trust me, this is not something you want your daughter to go through.

Nor would you want your daughter, or anyone’s daughter, to lose their cervix, their uterus, or worse, – their life – when it could have been prevented by a simple series of vaccinations.

Tell your daughters the truth, inserting the [important details] as necessary: this prevents a virus [spread by sex] that can cause cervical cancer in women. Do you really think you have to even discuss sexually transmitted diseases in great detail with your pre-teen?

Now, personally, I will be discussing with my daughter exactly what this vaccine is, but that’s because I’ve always been open and honest with her, along with being realistic. I hope that by telling my daughter the facts – and by telling her that abstinence is the only 100% method of birth control, she will decide to delay having sex until she’s married. Is that likely? Looking at current statistics and remembering my own teen years, I have to say no.

So, my other hope is that by giving her the facts and information she needs to protect herself, she will not become another teen pregnancy or AIDS or HPV or cervical cancer statistic. I did the same with my sons, so they could protect themselves and their partners.

The best protection isn’t just beating the Bible into your child and hoping like hell they stay virgins until marrying a virgin. You may as well walk three times backwards around a fairy-ring while chanting and waving a magic wand.

Telling them the truth won’t kill them, but leaving them ignorant just might.

Update: (6/13/06 – 7:12EDT)

Pessimist over at The Left Coaster has a fabulous post on this subject that is well worth reading. My favorite part is the end:

To all of you so-called Christians who would allow your beliefs to interfere with the advancement of medical science, I have an announcement to make.

If your ancient beliefs cause the death of even one of the women in my life by your denying them a viable treatment because you don’t believe in it, you will regret it. You will be the itch, bitch, and you may address me as Mr. Scratch.

I will begin by making you watch, restrained and helpless, as one of your loved ones painfully disolves into a stinking mass of ooze while I hold the cure just out of their reach.

Then I will get mean.

You have been warned.

I agree. If, because of your religion and your beliefs, you don’t want your child protected – then don’t frickin’ do it. but leave the rest of us and our children the hell alone!