(no subject)
So one of the writer's block questions things on LJ's front page is "Should parents have the right to know if their teenager is on birth control? What are the consequences of requiring parental consent?" which is a really interesting question, so I'm going to answer it! ...For everyone who's friended me, lol.
On the one hand, most teenagers are minors and/or still financially dependent on their parents, meaning their parents are legally able to get pretty much any information they want. From a purely legal standpoint, one could say that, yes, parents have the right to know what sort of medication their kids are taking.
You could also say that they have an even stronger responsibility to know what's going on with their kid. Now, I'm not saying that parents should be all up in their teenager's business constantly and know every little thing that they're doing, but something like taking birth control--and, obviously, having sex--is a big thing that parents should be aware of. If your teenager is purchasing and using birth control and you have no idea, you might want to pay more attention.
I also personally think that most teenagers don't need to be having sex. Their hormones are out of control and they really want to, but they're also not really mature enough to make responsible decisions about it. Obviously, not all teenagers are horny all the time or immature, and some of them can have responsible, mature sexual relationships. Those teenagers are not the majority. The majority of teenagers are stupid and impulsive and, if they think about sex, don't think about it with anything close to their brains. Considering how stormy teenage relationships are, and how damaging it can be to someone in high school--or even middle school---if something goes wrong, sex just adds a whole new layer of ways for things to get really fucked up.
But the truth of the matter is that teenagers are going to have sex, and they are going to hide it from their parents, and they're probably not going to think about it very hard in advance. And because that's true, they need to have access to cheap birth control, and it needs to be confidential. There are some parents who are very open with their children about sex, and would get condoms and/or other means of birth control for them, but for every set of parents like that there are five more who wouldn't dream of doing it. It's the children of those other parents who need this the most. We all know that abstinence-only education doesn't work, and actually causes teen pregnancy and STD rates to skyrocket. Kids who don't get talked to and educated about sex are the kids who go have unprotected sex and think that douching with Coke or swallowing bleach will keep them safe. They're the ones who end up pregnant in ninth grade. They're the ones who need this.
Not providing cheap, confidential birth control doesn't do a damn thing but make sure that kids who might otherwise be safe are being exposed to STDs and pregnancy. Thinking about it makes a lot of people, myself included, kind of squirmy, but we need to suck it up and realize that, since they're going to do it, they should be doing it safely. If they can't talk to their parents and get condoms or the pill or whatever, they need to be able to get these things on their own. And it's not enough to just have it available; it needs to be advertised. Kids need to know that it's there, how it works, and where to get it.
Requiring parental consent is only going to make kids hide their sexual activity even more, and for those of you who have experienced the wonders of abstinence-only sex-ed, you know how well that works. Instead of teenagers having safe sex, teenagers will be having furtive and unprotected sex, probably in environments like parties where they're away from their parents and other adults, which means they'll also be having furtive, unprotected, drunken sex.
So, to summarize: parents probably should know, but we don't live in an ideal world, and since teenagers are going to be having sex, they need to be able to do it safely. This means confidential birth control.
OTHER THINGS: Pokemon SS is really fun. I caught a Slowpoke and named it Zetta because I'm a megadouche. Two-thirds of the people I regularly talk to are on vacation and I'm so bored I've actually started being productive. I've started lifting weights for ten or fifteen minutes a day in order to tone up my hideously flabby arms, which is like a hundred percent increase in my physical activity. And this concludes your Edoro report! (I'm sure someone, somewhere, cares.)
On the one hand, most teenagers are minors and/or still financially dependent on their parents, meaning their parents are legally able to get pretty much any information they want. From a purely legal standpoint, one could say that, yes, parents have the right to know what sort of medication their kids are taking.
You could also say that they have an even stronger responsibility to know what's going on with their kid. Now, I'm not saying that parents should be all up in their teenager's business constantly and know every little thing that they're doing, but something like taking birth control--and, obviously, having sex--is a big thing that parents should be aware of. If your teenager is purchasing and using birth control and you have no idea, you might want to pay more attention.
I also personally think that most teenagers don't need to be having sex. Their hormones are out of control and they really want to, but they're also not really mature enough to make responsible decisions about it. Obviously, not all teenagers are horny all the time or immature, and some of them can have responsible, mature sexual relationships. Those teenagers are not the majority. The majority of teenagers are stupid and impulsive and, if they think about sex, don't think about it with anything close to their brains. Considering how stormy teenage relationships are, and how damaging it can be to someone in high school--or even middle school---if something goes wrong, sex just adds a whole new layer of ways for things to get really fucked up.
But the truth of the matter is that teenagers are going to have sex, and they are going to hide it from their parents, and they're probably not going to think about it very hard in advance. And because that's true, they need to have access to cheap birth control, and it needs to be confidential. There are some parents who are very open with their children about sex, and would get condoms and/or other means of birth control for them, but for every set of parents like that there are five more who wouldn't dream of doing it. It's the children of those other parents who need this the most. We all know that abstinence-only education doesn't work, and actually causes teen pregnancy and STD rates to skyrocket. Kids who don't get talked to and educated about sex are the kids who go have unprotected sex and think that douching with Coke or swallowing bleach will keep them safe. They're the ones who end up pregnant in ninth grade. They're the ones who need this.
Not providing cheap, confidential birth control doesn't do a damn thing but make sure that kids who might otherwise be safe are being exposed to STDs and pregnancy. Thinking about it makes a lot of people, myself included, kind of squirmy, but we need to suck it up and realize that, since they're going to do it, they should be doing it safely. If they can't talk to their parents and get condoms or the pill or whatever, they need to be able to get these things on their own. And it's not enough to just have it available; it needs to be advertised. Kids need to know that it's there, how it works, and where to get it.
Requiring parental consent is only going to make kids hide their sexual activity even more, and for those of you who have experienced the wonders of abstinence-only sex-ed, you know how well that works. Instead of teenagers having safe sex, teenagers will be having furtive and unprotected sex, probably in environments like parties where they're away from their parents and other adults, which means they'll also be having furtive, unprotected, drunken sex.
So, to summarize: parents probably should know, but we don't live in an ideal world, and since teenagers are going to be having sex, they need to be able to do it safely. This means confidential birth control.
OTHER THINGS: Pokemon SS is really fun. I caught a Slowpoke and named it Zetta because I'm a megadouche. Two-thirds of the people I regularly talk to are on vacation and I'm so bored I've actually started being productive. I've started lifting weights for ten or fifteen minutes a day in order to tone up my hideously flabby arms, which is like a hundred percent increase in my physical activity. And this concludes your Edoro report! (I'm sure someone, somewhere, cares.)