Eleven is the New Eighteen
My daughter will be 11 in three months. She’s interested in art, fiction, silly Japanese animation, animals, and Switzerland. It’s a great age - heck, they’re all great ages, if you have a happy child. There’s something about the pre-teen years, though, that combines a charming imitation of grown-up mannerisms with the simple pure passions of unsullied youth. I can trace much of what I love now to my own childhood, and I hope my daughter feels the same sense of connection some day with the person she is today.
Which is why we all worry about the internet, right? How it cheapens things, coarsens the soul, sexualizes kids before their time. If you discovered that your neighbor was running a website that told kids it was okay to have sex at the age of 11, you’d shun him, report him, stare daggers if you saw him at the grocery store. Pervert. If you found a guy outside your kid’s window, offering a box of condoms - you know, just in case, just to be safe you’d be tempted to introduce his front teeth to the back of his throat.
But when the government does it, well, that’s public health.
Behold: the City of Philadelphia’s website for sexually active teens, If the kids feel “weird” about going to a teen center to get a pack of French Letters, don’t worry: the city will mail them, free, to anyone who’s eleven or older. That's what the page says. Eleven.
Eleven.
A friendly reminder: if you oppose this public expenditure, you want children to die of AIDS.
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Jun '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
Wait. Let's check how well these programs work. The latest numbers show that nearly 42 percent of American births are illegitmate. Hispanics: well over 50%. Blacks: close to 75%.
What exactly is this webside trying to accomplish? Doesn't seem to be working. Other than one more nail in American culture and one more little sign that the Judeo-Christian ethic is on life support.
Edited on April 14, 2011 at 5:46pmMay '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
Despicable. But to Pat Cadell's point: (R)s should be making more of this stuff that is so clearly wrong to the mainstream.
Aug '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
It's painful to think of such innocence lost, especially to a tyrannical American government. I remember when that would have been an oxymoron. I share your anguish, James.
Sep '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
My oldest child, now 13, had strict parental controls (enforced by software) at age 11. Even though controls are looser now, some are still in force. In contrast, some of her friends have free access to anything online. This is tantamount to allowing your kid to wander anywhere, including red-light districts or crack houses. No parent would think of allowing one, yet blithely allow the other. I put it down to ignorance of technology.
Yes, it is odious for the government to intrude, but it is the child's parents' responsibility to act as the gatekeeper. Perverts can be anywhere, including the government. Perhaps pervert is not the right word. The broader issue is that there's material that is not age-appropriate in the world, internet included, and it's our job to control access to it for the children in our care. Don't expect others to do the job for you, especially not the government.
May '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
You can get AIDS at age 11? Heck the South Park kids are more innocent than that. They don't even get basic mechanics, and God love them for that.
That's right, I just stood up for South Park as a shining example of childhood innocence.
Jun '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
This is a timely topic, as last night I re-read Unprotected, a must-read book for all parents and teens about the dangers faced by youth in the politically correct world of public health. Young women are not being told about the danger to health and future fertility that promiscuity brings. We sternly lecture kids to avoid fatty foods & cigarettes, and promote exercise as good choices for long term health. Yet health care providers are not promoting good choices in the realm of sexuality. They must not offend......sexuality is treated differently than any orher aspect of health and wellness. It's a dangerous attitude.
May '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
I've been shunning, reporting, and staring daggers at the federal government for years.
Feb '11
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
I thought that was one of the brilliant insights of "Brave New World", that tyranny would not be sexually repressive, it would be sexually permissive and insist on promiscuity to keep its subjects in dull contentment.
Edited on April 14, 2011 at 6:50pmMay '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
Ah, but federal law (specifically, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA) says that the site can't request any identifying information from children under the age of 13. Thus, as in Arizona, are federal laws at odds with state or local ones.
Awaiting word that the Obama/Holder Justice Department has sued Philadelphia ...
Still awaiting ...
Jun '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
I just read the chlymidia info on the Philly website, and it is not correct!
The hsp protein excreted by the chlymidia microbe that trigeres the immune system reaction is also created by an embryo. So.....even after successfully being treated for chlymidia, a woman's immune system is goint to remember that protein & is likely to attack an embryo even decades later......thus the tragic impact this disease has on fertility.
The website is crude, but it also is incredibly misleading. It presents a false sense of security ---- just get some antibiotics and all your worries will fade away. These girls have no idea that they are making very risky decisions that will impact them for the rest of their lives. It would be seen as medical malpractice if we were talking about any health-related issue other than sex.
May '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
This facet of modern liberalism (along with many others -- abortion, the strategy to encourage idleness and dependency, etc...) convinces me that it is not just a destructive ideology. I believe it to be evil as well.
Sep '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
The web-site actually says "sex is a lot more fun if you don't have to worry about stds or pregnancy." yeah, "fun" is the most important thing.
does it ever occur to these people that if a woman (or young girl apparently) is worried about getting an std/pregnant she should not be having sex in the first place? is that so extreme? how about waiting until she is with someone she loves and trusts (perhaps married), she would not have to worry about either, and she can have fun.
Jun '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
I think there's an underlying belief, or rather an unchallenged assumption, smuggled in from psychology that "repressing" one's sexual desires is deeply unhealthy and dangerous. Therefore they believe they really are promoting "health," because a healthy sexuality supposedly requires having regular "safe" sex from puberty onwards. Abstinence in this view is less healthy because it will lead to "repression" which may manifest itself in all forms of psychotic behavior including rape, child molestation, homophobia, and voting Republican...
Jun '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
There is no way to have sex without worrying about STDs, unless you and your partner each have no sexual past !! Chlymidia and herpes are not preventable with condoms. (No STD is absolutely preventable, but these two are spread much more easily that the old familiar ones.)
Look at the crazy exaggerations about heterosexual risk of HIV. It is virtually non-existent among heterosexuals who avoid anal sex & relations with iv drug addicts. But HIV awareness programs start in kindergarten.
The rates of STD infection among colleg aged kids are through the roof !!! Why are they not being told the truth? I agree with concerned citizen that it is an evil & cowardly ideology responsible for the lies.
May '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
Oh dear. And you find this works?
Dec '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
For a long time, I kept a copy of an article from a New England regional pediatric trade journal about a (female) doctor at Boston Women's and Children's Hospital who was quoted as saying she'd willingly prescribe contraceptives to a child of 11 who was sexually active... but only if the relationship was "consensual." When I say, "for a long time," I found this article back in the 1990s.
I tried to find out if the State of Massachusetts at the time had an age of consent law or a statutory rape law, but I couldn't pin down the information.
So no, it doesn't surprise me that our governmental institutions are so perverse that they can't see that the operant fact of an 11 year old requesting condoms is that an 11 year old is being sexually exploited.
(Heck, here in California, when I take my daughter to the pediatrician, there's that brief period that I'm asked to step out of the room, because under California law, my daughter's sexual health is private between her and her physician, and confidential from me.)
Apr '11
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
James,
If you want to combine your daughter's anime interest and "the simple pure passions of unsullied youth", look up "Kimi ni Todoke". It's the story of innocent Japanese teens who blush at the thought of holding hands. My 8-yr old girl enjoyed it. We found it on the Internet, of course.
Dec '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
James, with Abercrombie & Fitch selling padded bikini tops for 8-year-olds, your 11-year-old now lives in a world where access to condoms seems like the most natural thing on Earth.
May '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
Am I the only one who wasn't outraged by that? All girls want to look older. All boys want to look older. So what? Let's not get all Igrahamy.
Jun '10
Re: Eleven is the New Eighteen
Kennedy Smith
Oh dear. And you find this works? · Apr 14 at 12:06pm
You might be on to something there. Perhaps the governement should launch a major advertising campaign to convince teens that having sex is "fun" and "cool." I'm thinking it would involve adult actors pretending to be teens, wearing backwards baseball caps while skateboarding and speaking in a poor imitation of hip-hop slang. If that doesn't promote abstinence, nothing will...