From: nelson_p@apollo.hp.com (Peter Nelson)
Subject: Re: Passing out Condoms  (Was Re: Better Off Than Four Years Ago NOT)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 21:36:35 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

>completely driven by their inborn drives and hormones?  Or are 
>they capable of considering and weighing consequences in the
>heat of passion?
>
>This question presents a difficulty for those supporting condom
>distribution.  They tend to say that teens *will* have sex.  It
>is a force of nature like the hurricane which struck Florida.
>Rationality and wise choices can not be counted on in the heat of 
>the moment.  But if this is true, then what confidence do we have
>that in the heat of the moment a teenager will perform the rational
>act of putting on a condom? 

  We don't; but I submit that making a tiny "course correction",
  as it were, may be easier than preventing the act altogether.  
  Again, if we only make a dent in the problem we're better off 
  than doing nothing, which is effectively what we're doing now.


>Another approach, if it is possible, is to aim at reducing the
>opportunities for teens to get into the heat of passion.  This
>can be accomplished through greater parent and adult supervision.
>IMHO, this has been one of the greatest contributors to the 
>increased rate of teen sexual activity -- increased opportunity
>through increased time spent away from adult supervision (latchkey
>kids, etc.).  Economic realities may severely limit how much progress
>can be made on this front, though.

  Exactly.  I and most other pro-condom-distribution advocates are
  not opposed to measures like better parenting and cultural values 
  we just see them happening.  Meanwhile we have a real crisis on 
  our hands.


>Some of these costs are:
>1) The money expended providing the condoms and the distribution system.

  Many private groups have offered to provide them free of charge
  to the taxpayer.

>2) A changed standard of decency regarding what is appropriate to
>   discuss in a public arena with a captive audience.  As we 
>   accept more and more formerly private topics into our public
>   discourse, our public life is coarsened.

  I submit that there is NO TOPIC that a teenager does not routinely
  discuss with his peers or hear discussed around him.  I agree with
  you that public discourse appears to have been coarsened, but this
  only brings it into line with private discourse.   Again, I'm not
  saying this is a Good Thing, only that nobody's going to hear any
  words or topics they haven't heard before and we *might* save a
  few lives, or prevent a few young people from becoming parents
  before they're ready.


>3) An implicit message to teens that condoms are the only way they
>   can be saved from the unhealthy effects of their own desires and
>   choices -- that they are incapable of making rational, and yes moral, 
>   choices to delay sex.  For some teens this just shows a lack of 
>   confidence.  However, for some teens who have been raised to believe 
>   sex outside of marriage is wrong, this message can even be insulting 
>   and offensive.  "Would you also give me gloves so that I don't
>   leave behind fingerprints when I rob my neighbor's house?"

  If insulting the intelligence of a few "good" kids is the price we
  pay for saving some lives or avoiding some out-of-wedlock children
  then I think it's reasonable.  I was always a bright kid in school
  and had to sit through classes where I knew everything, or sometimes 
  had to point out that the teacher was wrong in class; so I know what
  it's like to have my intelligence insulted, and I survived the experience.


>4) An intrusion by the state (school) into matters traditionally
>   overseen by the family and the church.

  Agreed.  But note that the problem here is that "the family and the 
  church" are not doing it!!  I agree 100% that using some state
  institution like the schools is a *very* poor substitute for more 
  traditional institutions!   But AIDS and other STD's are a major public
  health crisis.  Teenage pregnancies are HUGE burden on society, not
  only because of the way they interrupt the education of the mother
  but because they result in millions of children raised by children,
  who suffer from poor prenatal care, poor post-natal care, a seriously
  lousy home environment, a lack of a father which results in them seeking
  "fathers" in street gangs, etc, et cetera.   The costs to society in 
  infant mortality, dropout rates, welfare costs, crime, prisons, and
  police, and the decay of our cities is staggering. 

  The problems of teenage pregnancy and teenage STD's are especially
  bad in those communities where church and family are no longer
  functional institutions.  Although as I noted, even in my hometown
  where everyone I knew went to church and had 2-parent families
  teenage sex was rampant.

  
   
>Short of an intrusive bush and bedroom patrol, I don't think we can get
>a reliable sense of effectiveness.

  I disagree.  I think if we compare STD and pregnancy rates in demo-
  graphically matched  communities with and without condom distribution
  we would get some idea.   Or do before-and-afters.   European nations
  with lower rates of AIDS than the US credit free needle programs and
  decriminalization of prostitution (with testing, etc) for this.  
                                                                   


>Besides you are certainly interested in more than just reducing
>teen pregnancies and STD's.  These can be easily prevented through
>a strict program of gender apartheid from ages 10 to 21.  Draconian?

  I'm not sure it's such a bad idea.  Plenty of cultures have done
  this.  The problem is that it requires a level of cultural buy-in
  (the family and church problem again) that just doesn't exist. 
  I.e., the schools have the capability to distribute condoms and teach
  about their use; they don't have any way to separate the girls and
  boys outside the classroom.


---peter


 
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