Human papillomavirus (HPV) may be the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD). It causes genital warts and rare cancers in men, along with warts and vaginal-cervical cancers in women. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recommends vaccinating girls aged 9 to 25. Many have accepted the vaccination for girls, since as a ‘killed’ or ‘dead’ virus, only girls sensitive to yeast are supposed to be harmed by the shots, and the cost of about $400/vaccination is substantially less than the total costs of the cancers it appears likely to prevent.

On the other hand, how long the vaccine remains efficacious has yet to be determined. It might ‘wear out’ after a few years, or not work as expected in the real world. Furthermore, in a just published study representing the largest follow-up to date, reactions to the vaccine have been more painful than assumed:

About three quarters (696 [78%]) of the participants reported pain at the injection site, with up to 11% of them recalling the pain as severe to very severe. The percentage of respondents reporting pain and pain intensity was inversely proportional to age. A third of respondents reported pain worse than that from other vaccinations. One hundred fifty-five participants (17%) reported bruising, and 127 (14%) experienced swelling. These effects were reported more frequently among those younger than age 18. [1]

Again, among girls, no one appears to have yet been seriously injured. But now the American Academy of Pediatricians is recommending the HPV vaccine for boys too. Is this warranted? Enter the homosexual connection. The FDA says

• At any time, about 1% of sexually active men in the U.S. have genital warts (from our 1983-84 survey, FRI would estimate that at least one-fifth of these cases occur among male homosexuals).
• Cancers of the penis, anus and mouth/throat are uncommon, and only some are related to HPV. Each year in the U.S. there are about:
• (1) 400 men who get HPV-related cancer of the penis
  (2) 1,500 men who get HPV-related cancer of the anus; most anal cancer occurs among male homosexuals, since they are 17 times more likely to develop anal cancer than men who only have sex with women
  (3) 5,600 men get cancers of the mouth/throat, but many of these cancers are related to tobacco and alcohol use, not HPV (we would estimate that a quarter to a third of the cases due to oral-sex exposure to HPV occur in male homosexuals).

Quite correctly, the FDA does not recommend the HPV vaccine (and the $4 billion cost) for boys! The reason is obvious. Unless a man engages in homosexuality, the serious conditions arising from HPV are so rare that it ‘doesn’t make sense’ to get vaccinated. But if one engages in homosexuality, perhaps the vaccine is worth the cost.

If the vaccine were essentially ‘free,’ had no adverse consequences, and protected forever against a significant and costly threat, no one would argue that it should not be adopted. But in the real world, no vaccine is free or without risk — and it is uncertain how long this vaccine protects against HPV. For girls, the case for vaccinating against HPV looks fairly good. Not so for boys. But if homosexuals and their supporters have their way, every child will get it.

[1] Naleway, et al. (2012) J of Women’s Health, 21(4): 425-432. doi:10.1089/jwh.2011.2895. (Quoted from http://profncampbell.wordpress.com, April 6, 2012)

Birth Rates by State/Region Show Where We’re Headed

The total fertility rate is a fairly good index of ‘where things are going.’ As of 2009, the latest year with complete statistics, the U.S. rate stood overall at 2.00 children per woman. A rate of 2.1 is ideal to maintain a populace, but small fluctuations are normal. So things are going much ‘as usual’ in the U.S. By contrast, the European Union is averaging about 1.6 children per woman.

There are, however, some sizeable regional differences even in the U.S. —

• The ‘birth champion’ state was Utah, with 2.5 children per woman. This is a contribution that will ‘keep on giving’ as the children age, get married, and have kids of their own.
• The state that contributed least was Vermont at 1.6, in step with the rest of New England. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine reported rates of 1.7, and Connecticut and Rhode Island weighed in at 1.8. These are at or just above European rates.
• States contributing more than their share included Nebraska, Alaska, Idaho, and Texas at 2.3 children per woman.

Thus, the Republican-leaning, less-welfare tilted states generally contributed to future posterity, while the Democratic-leaning, more European-like, states generally ‘mooched’ off the future they provide.

America’s Teenagers Having Less Sex?

We hear about ‘hooking up’ (i.e., sex between girls and boys who don’t much know each other, but who want the ‘physical experience’). We see more and more explicit sex in the media and the internet. What effects are these phenomena having on our kids’ sexuality?

The U.S. government runs a large national survey about births, sexual activities, and numbers of partners every year. By comparing the answers to the same questions from 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2006-10, possible trends can be examined. Of course, this is what teens tell interviewers. We hope it is ‘true,’ but we can think of no reason why they would be less apt to tell the truth today than in the past. What was found?

Virginity: In 1988, 51% of girls and 60% of boys aged 15-19 said they were not virgins. Both figures dropped steadily over time so that by the latest time period, 43% of girls and 42% of boys reported non-virginity. This seems to confirm the delay in sexual debut that FRI has noted.

Had sex in last 12 months, 3 months, month: Of non-virgins, from 2002 to 2006-10 (earlier questionnaires did not ask these questions), about 2% fewer of both boys and girls reported sexual activity in 2006-10. For girls (boys were similar), 41% said they had sex in the last 12 months, 34% in the last 3 months, and 28% in the last month. Blacks reported higher rates than whites: for black boys the corresponding percentages were 49%, 38%, and 30%.

Numbers of sexual partners in the last year: For non-virgins, one partner was reported by 28% of girls and 21% of boys; 2-3 partners were reported by 10% of girls, 15% of boys; 4 or more partners were reported by 4% of both sexes. Reports of multiple partners were down in the most recent time period.

Earlier sexual debut and not living with both parents increased the chances that a child would engage in sex and report multiple partners. Further, as has been found in every such survey, the major reason kids gave for not having had sex was “against religion or morals.”

Reference: Vital and Health Statistics, Oct 2011.

Gender Identity Disorder (GID): Mind Over Matter

Everyone knows kids should not:

• Run and play in the freeway, even if they really, really want to;
• Buy colas or sugary snacks at school, even if they really, really want to;
• Refuse to obey their teachers, even if they really, really don’t want to;
• Refuse to wear clothes or spit on the floor at school, even if ‘this is who they are;’
• Masturbate in public at school, even if they really, really want to and they ‘need to;’
• Buy cigarettes or marijuana, even if they really, really want to;
• Refuse to go to school, even if they really, really want to;
• Have sex with their teacher or friends at school, even if they feel a deep need;

But, if they really, really want to pretend to be the opposite sex and require everyone else to support their fantasy, it is a fundamental human right!
How can someone else’s ‘fundamental human right’ trump your fundamental human rights of freedom of speech and association? How can a child’s ‘fundamental human right’ mean you cannot exercise your fundamental human rights as an adult? Welcome to the psychiatric world order, where fantasies — if endorsed by psychiatrists — trump social stability and everyone else’s rights to be left alone, to not associate with a nitwit, or to speak out against fools!

So with the Miss Universe pageant. Seems when contestant Talackova was a boy of 4, he decided he ought to be a girl. So he was allowed to start hormone therapy in Canada at 14, underwent mutilation at 19, and now at 23 is causing all kinds of trouble. He sued the pageant to be allowed to compete, even though he was not a ‘natural born woman.’ In the psychiatric world order, getting mutilated in the right way serves up career choices!

As psychiatry works toward displacing religious professionals as the chief ‘gurus’ of our society, the rules of life are changing. Religious professionals have generally believed that one is ‘destined by one’s genitals’ since God ‘made them thus.’ As such, excepting those few cases where children are born with ambiguous genitalia, those who deviate from conventional maleness or femaleness are to be pushed toward gender conformity. Naturalism (i.e., things are the way they are because of evolution) agrees with the religious viewpoint, differing only in ‘how it became so.’ The consensus of religion and naturalism led psychiatry to create a ‘diagnosis’ of gender identity disorder (GID) and attempt to ‘cure’ (i.e., dissuade, reorient) ‘victims’ of this malady.

Today, increasing numbers of mental health professionals — appealing to a notion that ‘the client’s mental state is always right’ — are declaring that just as ‘homosexuals are born’ with desires toward the same sex, so it is with those who pretend to be the opposite sex; they are also ‘born that way,’ so others must join in the pretence. Can such a fanciful, quasi-religious concept that one is ‘born with a mental disposition’ to want sex of a particular sort or to ‘be’ the opposite sex, trump naturalism, religion, and the human rights of others? So it would appear.

The United Nations just barely beat back an attempt to make the choice to flip one’s sex a ‘human right!’ Although GID is still a treatable and billable ‘mental’ problem (as with homosexuality), the profession is being pressured by believers of ‘client-centeredism’ to agree that such desires are ‘normal’ and that those with such fancies should be ‘treated’ by professionals and protected by laws so they can ‘reach their destiny.’ And if the claimants are children… well, how can innocence be wrong?

Of course, parents are also involved in creating their child’s career by taking him to professionals for ‘help’ and going along with shots and surgeries. If the parents endorse hormones and mutilation it puts them in front of a parade that is guaranteed to last. Without contributing anything but disruption to society, they (and their child) garner rafts of attention and endless platforms to spout about ‘justice and fairness.’