Maine is in the news for sure. Today show had a blurb on it this morning.The only thing about it I find interesting is that the School Nurse talked about kids without anyone to talk to about it except the Health Center. That is sad,but true. There are way tooooooooo many young kids without parents or whatever. Have a wonderful Lazygeisha day. Richard

I think your reasoning is right on target. I read elsewhere that no child could participate without written parental approval. If that is true, then I’m hesitant to condemn - the parents should have the final say, however egregious their decision.

Richard,

Yes, a lot of national news organizations have picked up on this story.

Well, it seems kind of strange to me that Portland has that many kids who don’t have any kind of parental guidance, and quite honestly, I’m kind of sick of that being used as an excuse. It’s a parents responsibility to make sure they know what their kids are doing and to talk to them about things like sex. So, I’m not sure if it’s a problem with the schools or the parents anymore.

I haven’t been to Portland in a while, but from the way its been portrayed, it sounds like its a very depressed area economically.

Also, I’m a little suspicious about how these health officials reached the conclusion they did because 5 out of 134 kids claimed to have had intercourse. That just blows my mind!

Girls join the girl scouts at 11 years old!

ugh… maybe I’m getting old. The world has changed, and not in a good way either. It really does shock me how sexualized young girls (and boys) are at such young ages, where they have neither the experience or the knowledge to make good decisions. When I was 11, I was playing with Barbie dolls… not giving blowjobs!

As a society, it really seems as tho we’ve fucked up in a big way, and I truly fear that these things will come back to haunt us.

Thanks hon.

xoxo,
nina

Terry,

Thanks, I think so too.

Well, this was tough to try and figure out, because some news organizations were reporting that the kids need parental permission, and others are reporting that the kids can get the prescriptions without a parents knowledge.

Here’s the way it “seems” to be:

Kids need permission from a parents to go to the school health clinc and receive services, however, that’s where it stops. Once a child receives permission to go to the health clinic, the kids can obtain birth control without a parent’s knowledge or consent. So it’s like a blank check, once the kid is in the system, what happens after that is beyond a parent’s control.

But here’s where it starts to get complicated — how many parents agree to let their children use the health clinic because it’s the only place they can get any type of medical care? Maybe because of a lack of health insurance, this is the only alternative?

But from what I’ve been able to gather, these girls can get on birth control without a parent’s knowledge or consent. The kids do however, apparently, have to get a physical exam by a doctor or nurse practitioner before receiving the contraceptives.

What a fucked up world we’ve made for ourselves.

I too was a bit hesitant to condemn, but this just seems completely off the wall. I’m not suggesting that we need to roll the wheels of progress back, but this hardly seems like progress.

Maybe if we had real, Federally funded, comprehensive sex education in schools, things wouldn’t be this bad. And not things like ridiculous abstinence only education and chastity pledges that the GOP and religious right have pushed, but something which makes sense and educates kids to be able to make the right choices when they’re ready, and I have a hard time accepting that an 11 year old girl is ready to make decisions like that.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me on this one.

xoxo,
nina

Wow, this is a huge can of worms and I agree with you 100%. Medically, you are right on the nail head with the fact of messing with hormones at such a young age when the cycles are just beginning. The long term side effects of the pill given at that young age are going to be a disaster in waiting! Even with parental approval….how many parents actually have a clue what they are doing? ?????

Mine put me on hormones when I was in the 6th grade to stunt my growth!!!!! So, I had hormones at a super early age and at this point in my life, am sterile…yes, grandfather being an MD approved of this relatively new concept and I, spent 3 years of my life pretty sick from all the hormone roller coaster.

The pill will not prevent STD’s and that is the biggest concern! Sexual liberation with the pill will send the wrong message and we will have a great increase in STD’s because there will be a huge lack of education regarding them. Just go online and do a search on them…there isn’t one resource stating the same facts!

Whew…what a mess this could be!

Hi Alexa,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and your own experiences with me, it’s very much appreciated!

That’s exactly the problem here! This issue isn’t about sexual freedom or girls exploring their sexuality — it’s about unsound medical practices and the dangers which go along with such awful decisions.

Maybe I’m old fashioned or even a bit conservative on this issue, but I also have a real hard time coming to grips with accepting an 11-13 year old girl as being emotionally mature enough to be having sex in the first place, but okay, that’s the world we live in — so if that’s the way it is, we need to educate kids about STDs and provide them with the necessary information and knowledge to say, “a condom every time” and then use them, and if necessary provide them.

There is so much information out there about STDs and HPV and a ton of other nasty things that can happen to a girl who has unprotected sex — and sex on the pill is absolutely unprotected sex!

I’m much more concerned about STDs than unwanted pregnancy, but both are huge concerns.

And as I wrote in my post, when I went on the pill it was for all the wrong reasons. I’ve been on and off birth control pills for a good part of my adult life, and I just came off several months ago and I’m still trying to cope with my cycle being off! How can an 11 year old girl deal with that? She can’t! And what happened to you is simply awful, I’m so sorry hon.

And you know, I think there’s a huge difference between a 13 year old girl and a 16 or 17 year old. I could understand this (almost) if they were talking about high school aged girls, but middle school? ugh… it boggles the mind how short sighted these people are.

You’re right hon, it’s a huge can of worms and a real mess.

Thanks sweetie,

xoxo,
nina

Nina,
I certainly agree with you! Feels like the wrong message to me, too! And like Alexa said (and found out about the hard way, so sorry!!), do we really want to be screwing around with developing hormones? Please NO! I guess I’ve yet to hear the really good reason they thought this was a good idea. That 5 in 134 thing just doesn’t cut it for me.

On a separate but slightly related note, I heard on the news this morning that the HPV Test will probably be replacing the PAP Smear as far as Cervical Cancer detection goes. One article I found was in USA Today, but I’m sure there are several sources that can confirm it.

Terry

Hi Terry!

The reaction to this decision seems to be pretty uniform. Here’s a quote I found in a news article about this subject from the Portland school nurse coordinator:

King Middle School’s health center already provides condoms as part of its reproductive health program, implemented after five of the 135 students who visited the center last year reported being sexually active.

(Link)

So, it appears as tho the only logic they used here was to prevent unwanted pregnancy, which I find completely irresponsible when we know so much more about STDs which are a far greater danger and concern than unwanted pregnancy, and also, when we know that condoms protect girls from both.

It’s shocking.

I mean, when I was 17 and went on the pill, it was the 80’s… we didn’t really know as much about STDs… HIV was only seen as a gay man’s disease… and it really was about sexual liberation. That’s what the pill has always been about! Sexual liberation for women. And knowing what I know now… we’re damn lucky we were never infected with an STD because we were damn irresponsible back then. All we worried about was not getting pregnant, but now we know that there’s a whole lot more to worry about!

Yes, I also heard about the HPV test and PAP smears, and I’ve actually been in contact with the PR people from a company which makes the HPV test about this and I’ll likely be writing something on this soon.

Thanks hon!

xoxo,
nina

I was hoping to link to this to my journal, if you don’t mind. Several of my close friends, even my sister, have daughters near this age and it’s disturbing to know that this was considered a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong. I think handing out condoms is a smart idea but putting young girls on such strong, hormonal medication is not smart and where is the professional medical opinion in all this? Who said this was a great idea?

In the state where I live (AR), a lot of kids in ‘alternative schools’ aren’t given the chance to learn about sex. Instead, most of these schools are run by people who believe no one should have sex until they’re married and that it’s just plain wrong to consider it otherwise.

Sex, such a touchy subject.

Sincerely,
~tiff

i find this disturbing, not because i blame young kids for having sexual urges and exploring their sexuality. that is fine. but man, 11??? that touches on an attitude in our society which i find disturbing…adults sexualizing our children.
the stores sell sexy outfits for toddlers and then offer bc to kids at 11. what the hell happened to sexuality at an appropriate age?

frankly, in my experience the kids who had sex too early had “issues” like early childhood sexual abuse or neglectful parents …if you are having sex at 11, some adult is not looking out for you.

Tiffany,

You certainly do have my permission to link this post on your journal, thank you.

I agree, it’s quite disturbing to know that someone out there, especially a health official, thought that this was a good idea. Maybe there’s something funny in the water in Portland, but can you imagine the precedent this might set? And again, I don’t approach this with the mindset of trying to curtail normal sexual expression, but there are some things which really are age appropriate, and if we can come to accept that, then we must take the next step and put safety and responsibility first.

I mean, I’m in my 30’s, and I had a hard time remembering to take my pill everyday, can you imagine putting that responsibility on a pre-teen girl?

Oh wow, I can imagine how difficult it must be living in the American south and the pressures religious conservatives place on people about sex and sexuality. And I certainly don’t want to impugn someone else’s belief system, but sex is a normal part of humanity. Men made rules about when people could, and should have sex - not God. But what’s scary is that this segment of our culture has such a drastically negative impact on the rest of society. They want to restrict knowledge and information, and that is always dangerous.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me on this topic!

xoxo,
nina

m,

I completely agree with you regarding ‘age appropriate’ and you know, no matter how you cut it and look at it, 11 years old is way too young to even be thinking about sex. I too find it troubling how we as a society have sexualized children and in many ways encouraged, almost forced them, to grow up way too fast. I’ve seen many of the clothes you’re referring to, and it never ceases to shock me.

And I think you also hit the nail on the head; if a child is having sex at 11, you’re right, some adult who is supposed to be responsible for that child fucked up in a really big way!

It’s a tough balance trying to figure out when the time is right for anyone, and I don’t think that’s a universal age or grade level or however else people choose to define it. I was a couple of months shy of my 17th birthday when I lost my virginity, and in a lot of ways I wish I’d waited a little longer. The experience itself was actually okay. The guy I lost it to was a little older than me and in college and he was actually quite sensitive to the fact that it was my first time and he was good to me, but, I guess looking back on it now, it would have been better had it been with someone I was in love with rather than some guy I met at a beach party. But those things happen and we move on.

I don’t know enough about early childhood sexual abuse or neglectful parents to speak intelligently on that, but it really wouldn’t surprise me if the two are related.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me hon!

xoxo,
nina

Nina, are you aware that in the vast majority of states, kids as young as 12 can already get BC without any parental involvement at all? This is a requirement under federal Title X (of the Family Planning Act). If the state uses Title X funds to support public family planning activities, they have to allow those 12 and older to access ALL reproductive services without parental involvement. So Maine and the Portland Health Dept are not being as “out there” as you might assume.

I think the one benefit of the kids having access to the hormones right at school is that the health nurses will have close, continuous access to the kids to keep an eye on how they are affected by it. Many other cities already provide these kinds of services to kids this age, including the cities of Baltimore and Seattle. There is precedent for this.

StripGoddess,

No, I did not know that.

Let me come back to this one when I have more time. Thanks hon.

xoxo,
nina

I would not sign my daughter up for this program when she reached that age (she’s 5 right now). In support of the cancer argument, I was listening to NPR (Fresh Air) a few weeks ago, and the person they had on was the head of the Cancer Research Department here at the University of Pittsburgh, and the head of some national Oncology governmental agency.

She said basically that the agency is still unsure about cell phone usage for kids that young, up to even age 16, because things like brain cancer can take up to 40 years to develop to the point where they can be detected. 40 years. So, these kids that are taking the pill at age 11 are subjecting themselves to ovarian cancer at age 50. Now, granted, they’re not USING their ovaries at that point, but who the FUCK wants to get cancer, for cryin’ out loud?

Anyway, dumb fucking idea.

Strip Goddess,

Thanks for being so patient for a better answer.

Okay, I did a little research, and the Federal Title X of the Family Planning Act was passed in 1970 - and while I generally support federal funding of these programs, I think after 37 years we may need to reexamine the priorities of what this law allowed. I certainly would never want to roll back the clock and deny any woman or girl access to necessary contraception or services, but the world is different now.

There was no HIV in 1970 for example, and I think fundamentally, if there really is a need for an 11 or 12 year old girl to go on birth control pills, it represents a complete failure of society. I would rather see new money appropriated for better sex education, condoms, and family services which could perhaps catch these kids before they’re so lost that the last resort is to put them on birth control and hope for the best.

The other point you raise I have a bit of a different issue with, only because I don’t have confidence that a school nurse is an appropriate care provider to monitor how hormones are affecting a young girl.

But more importantly I want to stress that I’m not against providing services of any kind - I just question whether or not hormonal birth control is the right service for girls of such a young age. And I think we’ve ultimately failed as a society in adequately educating kids about their sexuality.

I agree that there’s precedent for what’s happened in Maine, but I can’t say that I agree with it. Would increased teen pregnancy be better? Certainly not, but I think there has to be a better way somewhere.

Thanks so much for sharing this with me hon!

xoxo,
nina

hapes,

In a perfect world, parents take care of their children and are there to guide them and help them emerge into adulthood. What many of these programs try to accomplish is to serve the kids who fall thru the cracks and don’t have a parent who can provide that necessary guidance to them. That all said, I’m still against the idea of putting a young girl on hormonal birth control and I think as a society, we need to do better. Not with the absurdity pushed by the GOP with faith based, abstinence only, chastity pledged robots who promise not to fuck until their wedding night, because that’s completely unrealistic and detrimental to the human spirit. But we must find a way to educate young adults and help them make better decisions about how to explore their sexuality.

As for cell phones, well, I know there’s been a number of things written about potential dangers and the relation to cancer, but the way the world is going now, I’m wondering if any of us are going to be here in 40 years.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me on this!

xoxo,
nina

[...] out in the great state of Maine – a state known for its pristine shoreline, fabulous lobster, and giving birth control pills to 12 year olds, can now add ‘enemy of Darwin’ to list.  An article here in the Boston Globe reports [...]