A timely call from Jennifer Hartline for restraint, dignity, and common sense. Excerpts:
"The phrase 'safe sex' betrays the fact the there is danger waiting to be encountered. Life-altering, even deadly danger. And yet, the expert counsel is not to make the case for abstinence and actively discourage sexual activity, but to resign ourselves to the cop-out idea that the dangers can't be avoided so we'd best teach them all the tricks we know, even if those tricks are unreliable and fraught with their own inherent dangers. Hey, it's the best we can do, and beyond that, we just cross our fingers and hope for the best (the least amount of damage done).
So great is the need for common sense and maturity to interrupt this circle of asinine thinking! What kind of craziness sends young people into the minefield that is unmarried sexual activity rather than looking them in the eye and saying, 'This might kill you! This could change your life forever! You need to protect yourself by saying NO.'? Condoms are lauded and hailed as 'smart', the Pill is called 'freedom', but abstinence is dismissed as a stupid idea only religious fools support. We don't bother to arm our children with respect, self-control, and the knowledge that they do not have to be slaves to their hormones; instead we bet their futures and their lives on a piece of latex."
