The HPV Vaccine: Promoting Promiscuity at a School Near You

Okay little one, get on out there and spread those legs! Can you imagine saying that to your pre-pubescent daughter? Unthinkable. Not surprisingly, this is the message that the rigidly religious feel would be portrayed to our daughters if we choose to have them vaccinated with Gardasil or Cervarix, the recently approved HPV vaccines. How ridiculous. Once again, the belief in an invisible man prevents humankind from making sound decisions for the betterment of society.

HPV, or Human Papilloma Virus, is a sexually transmitted disease that is believed to cause most cancer of the cervix. The really scary thing about HPV is that it goes relatively undetected and most studies indicate that greater than half of the sexually active population, both men and women, has it. So, after considering these facts it is easy for any rational, intelligent individual to see that a safe vaccine against HPV is a revolutionary discovery. The problem lies in the lack of intelligence and rational thought that is generated in the minds of those that hold literal, unyielding religious beliefs.

Now listen, my issue here is not with informed people who question the efficacy of the vaccine. I understand that vaccines in general are a hot topic amongst parents and the efficacy studies on the HPV vaccine are, to my understanding, somewhat limited at this point. If I had a daughter right now, I wouldn't be lining her up to be vaccinated until studies become more conclusive on its efficacy and side effects. But this would be a result of my concerns regarding the vaccine's biological effects on my daughter, not a fear that she would suddenly become hornier than a three-peckered-billygoat. For the love of all things hypothetically holy, if this vaccine is found to be perfectly safe and as widely effective as current studies conclude, why would anyone choose to prevent their child from avoiding the wrath of cancer? Because having your daughter vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease promotes the sex that spreads the disease? Please! If you ask me, any 10-year -old girl who is told, "this needle will prevent you from getting sick from a bug that enters your body when you eventually have sex," is going to chalk that bug up as another reason to wait a while. If your daughter ends up having sex shortly after getting her HPV vaccine, it's more likely the result of the inherent challenges of monitoring her behaviour or a failure to educate her about the realities and risks of sexual activity than it could ever be the result of a life-saving vaccine. I have never seen a study on this, but in my experience, many teenage pregnancies occur to the daughters of strictly religious parents. There is no scientific validity to my observation. It's purely anecdotal and I could be wrong. But I would not be shocked to see such a study reveal that there is a scientifically significant correlation between the two.

This discussion has nothing to do with whether or not HPV vaccination should be legislated as mandatory or publically funded. As I said, it also has nothing to do with the recurring debate of whether or not vaccines are too readily administered without a true understanding of their efficacy and side effects. No, this debate is not even close to as complex as that. I just cannot understand how the reaction of a group of people who literally believe that a 900-year-old man built a boat, collected two of EVERY animal, insect, and flea on the planet, corralled them all onto that boat, and made them all have sex, carries any weight in the discussion of whether or not a life saving vaccine should be administered to our daughters. Call me irrational I guess.

There's No Place Like This

So I’m sitting here listening to that Ontario tourism song, “There’s No Place Like This.” I admit, I find it very catchy. In fact, if it were a standard length track I would probably put it on my iPod. It would be one of those songs that we all have on our MP3 players. You know, the ones that you wish you had a hidden folder and password for so no one could ever know you listen to such garbage; songs that are the equivalent of your deepest secrets in MP3 format. In case you ever run across my iPod I have them filed under “Work Contacts,” disguised as data files. Password: tiffany.

If you wish to torture yourself with a classic “can’t get this stupid song out of my head”-song, here you go. Enjoy.



So, why am I listening to Toya Alexis gloat about how great Ontario is while watching a variety of people having Ontario-induced orgasms? Well, I am in a bit of a personal quagmire. A socio-geographic love-hate relationship. Should I stay or should I go? Ms. Alexis is certainly correct. There is no place like this; no place where I have said, in the same day, “honey, I am so glad we live here,” and “honey, I fucking hate this place so much.” Did I say in the same day? I meant same hour.

Ontario has become an over-regulated, sanitized, politically correct soap dish. The government and citizens of "Upper Canada" spend far too much time attempting to appease every last interest group at the expense of any sensibility. Zamboni drivers require helmets. Christmas trees are banned from court houses. The premier, Mr. McGuinty, feels that recognizing Sharia law is something to consider. Cities distribute crack pipes with their logo on them. Clotheslines are illegal. Pretty soon we'll be required to write provincial exams to prove our knowledge of Ontario's twelve official religions and fifteen languages. I embrace Ontario's ethnic diversity - really I do. I know that my life is a better one, and Canada a better country, because of the opportunities I am afforded to learn from so many faiths, cultures, and beliefs. But for the love of all of their gods, do we need to try so hard to eliminate any minute detail about this country that they may not like. The immigrants that founded this country would be sick watching the current goings on. If you think I'm racist you're missing the point, and apparently, under the same spell.

This ridiculousness has lead to a population of over-sensitive cranks. Go ahead, say it - I'm no different. How can this moron write a rant about how cranky everyone in Ontario is when all he does is complain? But that's my point. Sometimes, this otherwise beautiful, progressive, and exhilarating province makes you want to take a month-long yoga class. In fact, I think I'll write to my MPP to have month-long yoga classes compulsory for all citizens. I think he'll go for it. He is the premier himself.

Before you start preparing the "sad to see you go" email, understand that there are many things I love about Canada's newest "have not" province. When I am in a better mood I will write about them. But, for the purpose of writing a good old-fashioned unbalanced rant, I am going to leave it at that. If you are wondering if I actually write anything pleasant, check back on the solstices.

Back to the song. I have a friend who is a song writer. When I told her that I couldn’t stop humming “There’s No Place Like This” she pointed out that the phrasing in the song is all wrong. Listen to it – you’ll hear it. It’s where she sings, “...like this that I’ve been.” It just sounds weird. My friend also pointed out that the song uses two different verb tenses, has an unnecessary stress on the word “this”, and lacks melodic complexity. You know, after learning all this, I've realized that "There's No Place Like This" is an excellent overall representation of Ontario. It's catchy, has no sense of past or present, is filled with unnecessary stress, and is quite shallow.

It’s Just a Building for Christ’s Sake

So some wack-job wrote a letter to the editor today complaining that his polling station was a Catholic School. Apparently he wasn't Catholic. He whines that Elections Canada should be "a little more sensitive to the diversity of our faiths." He also says that he was distracted by the crucifix on the wall. This, I get. It's a half naked dude, dying, nailed to a wooden cross. I've always found the whole image over the top, and quite frankly, terrifying. Its presence distracts me wherever I happen to find it. So the fact that this guy had a hard time making an "x" while being watched by Jesus is understandable to me. But that's where any agreement with this freak ends.

As far as I see it, a church, or in this case Catholic school, is essentially a building that only has theological meaning to those of the faith under which it was built. I am an atheist who was required to vote in a United church. To me it was a polling station that just happened to be a church. I had no problem with the statue of Jesus that greeted me at the door (he was alive and well with his arms outstretched – quite welcoming actually). In fact, I would like to thank the congregation of that church for volunteering their place of worship to democracy's greatest process. They could worship tuna fish and peanut butter on Wednesday afternoons and I really couldn't give a rat's ass. Actually, I love both Tuna and peanut butter and I know they both exist. This is a religion I might just be attracted to. Hmmm. Oops. Tangent.

A move towards ensuring "neutral sites" for polling stations would represent more time and energy unnecessarily allocated to the plague of political correctness in this country. Listen, I don't believe in God. I think Jesus was a really great guy who spread an important message but I am also quite sure Mary and Joseph enjoyed creating him. I could go on. However, I recognize that this country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. This isn't going to change. So I can tolerate, in fact celebrate, this history while still recognizing that our progress as a civilization has disproved the biblical myths behind these values. You could throw me in a mosque, temple, synagogue, or chapel to vote and I will take in the beauty of the architecture (unless it is one of those new age "airport style" churches – why are they doing this?) and then meet my civic responsibility to choose a candidate.

Mr. Whiner's concerns appear to be one more example of organized religion's growing tide of intolerance and unreasonableness towards one another. The dogma associated with every religion, whether you like it or not, teaches its followers that their faith is the "correct" faith and those that follow others will be punished come judgment day. It's a fact. I learned it in Sunday school when we would do those Bible scripture races. Remember those? I never won a single race. This girl in my class practiced all week and kicked our ass every Sunday. Maybe this is where my disdain originates. Again...tangent.

Anyway, I would like to thank Rideau Park United Church. You have a beautiful polling station, I mean, church.