February 7, 2007
Recently, while watching one of my favorite television shows, Grey’s Anatomy, a message that all young girls should hear, whether they are sexually active or not, was delivered by the charmingly bodacious Dr. Miranda Bailey, played by Houston native Chandra Wilson. The topic she discussed was already on my list of subjects to address when sharing my message with young sisters, but her delivery was so poignant, so straight to the point and hit home harder than I ever could.
As she dealt with a teenager who was engaging in sexual behavior that could end up deadly, Dr. Bailey told the girl, “If you keep going the way you’re going, you will get an STD, you will get pregnant, you will increase your chances of getting cervical cancer. You are not being smart and you are too young for anyone to expect you to be smart the way you need to be when you are having sex.”
Interestingly, a few days following the airing of that episode of the award-winning show, Texas Governor Rick Perry addressed the same topic when he issued an executive order directing the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to adopt rules requiring all girls age 11 and 12 to receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prior to entering sixth grade.
“The HPV vaccine pro-vides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively tar-get and prevent cervical cancer,” said Gov. Perry. “Requiring young girls to get vaccinated before they come into contact with HPV is responsible health and fiscal policy that has the potential to significantly reduce cases of cervical cancer and mitigate future medical costs.”
According to statistics, HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States with approximately 20 million people in the nation infected. Unfortunately one in four 15-to-24 year olds are infected and Texas has the second highest number of women suffering from HPV.
In issuing his order, the governor noted that in Texas in 2006, “there were 1,169 new cases and nearly 400 deaths from cervical cancer.”
Now there are going to be some people who say the governor is infringing upon the rights of citizens.
Texas State Senator Royce West agrees with the action, but the whole issue of the executive order must be addressed, he said during a radio interview recently.
Still there are others who say that by giving the young girls a shot, you are encouraging them to have sex.
Listen my young sisters. I know you know that if you are sexually active, it is not because someone tried to teach you sex ed in school or someone passed out condoms in your health class. So, I am not going to insult your intelligence by saying that you are getting a license to have sex by getting this shot.
I want to talk about your health, your body—that temple that you must take care of. If they are truthful to you, few women are going to tell you that if they had it to do over again, they would have sex at a young age. And having unprotected sex is just plain stupid. Yes, I have to call it that because you know there are diseases out there—awareness programs have been vigilant about sharing information—but you still don’t ask the brother to use a condom.
Now, don’t think I don’t understand. You might not feel comfortable approaching the subject of condom use. Or, you want to carry your own, but if you pull out a condom for that young man, what is he going to think about you?
In either case, you have signs that you should reconsider what you are about to do. If you are not mature enough to discuss using protection, you should not be having sex. If you are worried that the male you are with will think that you are a whore because you carry condoms, well you should not be having sex.
Then too, just consider that you are having sex, without benefit of protection. Think about this a minute—if it takes years and years for some foods you eat to get out of your system, what if sperm from every guy you’ve been with remains inside of you (even just a little bit). Sounds gross?
Ask most women and they will tell you that their “female problems” began when they became sexually active.
Now I know talking about how sex can hurt you is not going to stop sexual activity. Let’s face it, sex can feel pretty good. But no one is thinking about that when the doctor is telling them to “push” or when it burns when they are urinating. No one is thinking about how good sex feels when they have sores growing all over their genitalia.
Considering the government’s past, especially when you are talking about African Americans, I hate that the government has to legislate keeping us safe. However, you’re not listening to the right messages, like those coming from Dr. Bailey.
As we get older, we end up paying for our actions. Listen to those positive messages alerting you to potential dangers or line up and get that shot!
Cheryl can be reached via e-mail at csmith@dallasweekly.com. |
