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

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

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.

No, I did not know that.

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

xoxo,
nina

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!