Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site mit-vax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!mit-vax!csdf From: csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: Re: Planned Parenthood posting Message-ID: <598@mit-vax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 00:50:56 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-vax.598 Posted: Mon Aug 12 00:50:56 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 02:18:38 EDT Reply-To: csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 119 As probably the only teen-ager on this newsgroup, I feel obligated to speak on behalf of the millions of young people that Ray Frank has decided to call children. In article <10977@rochester.UUCP> ray@rochester.UUCP (Ray Frank) writes: >I don't believe that all kids who go to PP have entirely made the >decision one way or the other. I've known kids who've gone there out of >curiosity or at the advice of their friends. What they received was a >ten minute discourse on perhaps one of the most important decisions of >their young lives. The decision has been made for them. It's been made for them on television, in the movies, on the radio, by their friends and by their own hormones. >Groin control works if you try it. This is a silly idea that was out of date a long time ago. >Again, you insist on a non-gray area concerning the preconceived motives of >a child entering PP. Too often they are frightened and confused about the >whole issue of early sexuality and have no real idea about the consequences. Which is a good reason to get some no-nonsense advice. My girlfriend learned everything she knows about sex and birth control from her friends. Luckily, she's very smart (she got into MIT) and her friends were all pretty smart as well. Thus, she didn't learn some of the gems of wisdom that I've heard from the peers I had in high-school not to long ago. Some girls believed:douches are reliable birth control, abortion makes you sterile, only married people can get pregnant (I didn't believe she said that either), guys who smoke marajauna become sterile (sperm count drops *slightly*). The "confused children" who go to PP are PLANNING TO HAVE SEX. That's right. I'm sure I'll never convince Ray of that because he would sit them down and say:"Do it once and *Bango* you're pregnant!" This would, of course scare the young lady into abstinence and create yet another misinformed teenage girl. What happens when her friend says,"I did it once, and I didn't get pregnant." She says,"OK, I'll do it once." Maybe she'll beat the odds like her friend. If you tell teen-agers the no-nonsense truth about birth control, they will use it. If they are not planning to have sex they won't. If they do have sex, they were either raped, or had planned on it. >Sure the counselors are strangers to these kids, but so are their teachers in >schools, whom they were taught in advance to respect, obey, and look on as >a source of knowledge and wisdom. This is called respecting your elders. This is not a silly idea, but is way out of date. Kids in high-school know the weaknesses of their elders. They often become disillusioned with the LACK of knowledge and wisdom they have. Telling somebody to respect elders is one things, but respect must be earned. (I know, you'd suggest it could be "beaten" it). Although most of the problem can be found in the ignorance of teen-agers, a lot can be found in the lack of wisdom of "the elders". What makes you think the teachers get any respect? >The parents are the established authority figures but the ideals taught at >home are in a constant state of errosion outside the home. I beg to differ. Adolescence is a time of self-discovery. More often than not, this leads to a rebellion. All the the teen-agers I knew considered their parents as enemies. The parents didn't seem to understand what was going on. A teen-agers could go out in the early evening and get stoned with his friends, but if he came in after midnite because of a late movie, he'd be grounded. Such non-sequitorial authority is NEVER respected. I happened to have liked, and respected, my parents during high-school. If, however, I told anyone this, I was immediately put on the defensive wherein I'd have to illustrate some "cool" behavior they'd exhibited in order to win the respect. The "constant state of errosion" is as a result of parents describing the world as one thing, and the kids finding out it's totally different. >I suggest that PP insist that children come back for several counseling >sessionsto give impulse reactions a chance to be filtered out. Second >thoughts are only good if you have a chance to use them. This is not a bad idea, but impractical. Teenagers are impatient by nature. You do not account for the "I'm spending the weekend with my boyfriend in two days" scenario. Sure pills take a month to start, but a diaphragm can be gotten in a day. >Yes my analogy was rather silly here, PP doesn't give out cars, just a sort of >drivers license. PPs' safety belts don't always prevent accidents either, >especially if they forget to "buckle up." Would you drive on a road with unlicensed drivers? The police will stop unlicensed drivers, who will stop "unlicensed" teen-agers. If I may be so bold, Ray: when were you a teenager? 50's? 60's? (I'd be hard pressed to believe 70's). Maybe the kids of today have problems (I've sure seen enough), but as engineers (for the most part), we all know that you can't solve todays problems with yesterdays solutions. You say, "the kids just shouldn't have sex, don't encourage them." They ARE having sex (a lot, too). The DON'T need any encouragement. What they DO need is guidance. If you can guide them into celebacy, fine -- more power to you -- but I bet you can't. If they really didn't need guidance, there wouldn't be a Planned Parenthood. The difference between a child and an adolescent is that a child can be told what to do and an adolescent must be helped to make the right decisions -- for him/herself! -- Charles Forsythe CSDF@MIT-VAX "I was going to say something really profound, but I forgot what it was." -Rev. Wang Zeep