Dancing

The following is reposted from Huffington Post; as I have posted here before, what is written here about children is equally true of sexual orientation.  We need to have more enlightened, more scientifically sound ideas about sex, as understood by psychology and medical sciences, but also sociology and anthropology, rather than religious or ideologically intolerant views of human sexuality.

That fundamentalist Christians and other right wing religious extremists, under the guise of loving God, would think it makes sense to issue death threats only underlines the same, if more subtle, prejudices that we should all oppose.

Gender and sexual orientation are not learned, they are not contagious.  They are not facets of human beings that are as simplistic as the intolerant on the right (or occasionally, on the left or the center) would like to believe.

Rather, the younger that children are able to talk about how they feel inside, the better they handle their differences as they mature, the happier - and healthier - they are, throughout their lives. 

It is every day life, and how we respond, that instills ideas and ideals in children.  Sometimes it is not the lesson that is intended that is learned, but a different lesson.  The lesson here can too easily be that children who do not conform will be hated, and unloved by members of their family - and God.  How harsh, how harmful, how alienating is that?

Dr. Ehrensaft



Dr. Ablow

The following article is by Dr. Diane Ehrensaft, whose speciality is gender and sexuality.  Unlike the wacko psychiatrist, Dr. Keith Ablow over on Faux News, who has come out against Chaz Bono's sexual reassignment, and particularly his inclusion on this season's Dancing with the Stars television programming, her written position is consistent with the positions of mainstream psychology and pediatric medicine.

The right seems to thrive by presenting the views of scientists who disagree with the overwhelming mainstream, and then try to pretend to themselves that somehow proves a lack of consensus.  A consensus is the overwhelming agreement, not perfect unanimity of views.  At some stage of research and knowledge, there is no reasonable belief in the outliers, or in the extreme minority oppinion.  It is as true of sexuality as it is true relating to climate change / global warming.

This is consistently the opposite of the anti-science demographic on the right.

We have a wondrous diversity in humanity, including our sexuality and physical appearance.  We should be celebrating it, not stifling it.

All Kids Deserve to Reach for the Stars -- and Dance With Them, Too

by Diane Ehrensaft, PhD.Developmental and clinical psychologist

For many viewers of ABC's mega-hit series Dancing With the Stars, the announcement that this season's roster of contestants would include Chaz Bono, the son of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, marked a historic decision and a milestone for transgender people. To some, it made a less than welcome addition to the fall television line-up.

One viewer comment online stood out for me, given my work with gender non-conforming and transgender children and their families: "YOUR choice to bring Chaz Bono into the mix goes too far. I am not about to risk the potential for on screen dialogue about sex changes and gender confusion while my 7 and 9 year old are watching."

It is time to address and make sense of the outcry over whether "sex changes and gender confusion" are inappropriate subjects for young children. Let's talk about the real reality here -- how damaging and dangerous those comments are to the thousands of transgender and gender-nonconforming children out there who live their everyday lives among the adults who are so agitated by Chaz's participation as a dance partner.

Over the years, I have worked with so many children who, often from ages much earlier than 7, did not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. These children are not merely boys who play with Barbies or girls who play with trucks; they insist on dressing a certain way and being referred to with the pronouns of the gender they see themselves as, which is opposite the one others think they are. They are not "acting out" or mentally ill. They are simply children who are telling us who they really are. Contrary to the viewer's concerns that her children will be damaged by being exposed to a grown-up who is just like the transgender children I work with, seeing Chaz dance with the stars provides a wonderful opportunity for all children to be able to see a transgender role model on television and open up a conversation about gender diversity and gender acceptance.

These conversations are already happening as more and more parents, families, and schools all around the country are learning to embrace and support the transgender children in their communities and beyond, even in the face of a larger world that is not so accepting.

For example, in Ohio, a 10-year-old girl named Jackie was born as Jack. For years, he was interested in his sister's things -- dolls, tutus, and playing dress-up. These interests didn't go away. And as children so often do, his peers teased him for not conforming to how boys were "supposed to" behave. After Jack began having panic attacks, his parents realized that they needed to let him live as Jackie, the girl she was, her "true gender self." Today, Jackie is far happier and far more popular, even as two of her grandparents have struggled to accept her as their granddaughter rather than grandson.

What do stories like Jackie's tell us? For the children I work with, being transgender is not a choice; it is simply an intrinsic part of who they really are as a person. Their identity does not come from imitating a transgender celebrity on TV. It comes from within, sometimes as early as the first year of life, when the children begin to reject the activities or behavior expected of them based on the gender assigned to them at birth. For their parents, it is often a shock and surprise, whenever it shows up, and it is the parents' job, along with all the rest of us, to listen carefully to what the children are telling us and learn how to help the children let their true gender selves come out.

Some would suggest that these children be forced into therapy to "cure" their condition. And often, this impulse comes from a desire to protect children from a world that can be incredibly cruel to those who don't conform. But it is anything but beneficial for children to deny their true gender -- protect it from harm, perhaps; but suppress or deny it, never.

Few of us who are not transgender can relate to the feeling that you are living in the wrong body, but that is what transgender boys and girls who have not transitioned must live through every day. The "boy" who tells us that he is actually a girl is telling us something that we would be wise to heed -- because as I have seen all too often, telling this child to suppress himself can lead to anxiety, depression and even to attempting suicide as a way out.

Transgender children, just as much as transgender adults, endure great adversity as they strive to live as the gender they are. But they are not fundamentally so different from other boys and girls. These children need support in a world that may treat them harshly for not fitting perfectly into the "boy" or "girl" gender boxes. We would all do well to recognize that, and to treat our transgender children, friends, and, yes, celebrities with a basic level of respect for their identities.

We seldom discuss these subjects with our children. But for our children's sake, we should, and Chaz Bono dancing with the stars provides the perfect opportunity, as we envision what a wonderful world it will be when all genders have equal footing on the dance floor.

Do ANY Vaccines Cause Mental Retardation? Of Course, Michele Bachmann is wrong (AGAIN) But What Does The Science Actually Say About Sex, Vaccinations, and Neurological Damage?

Human Papillomavirus Virus (HPV) will affect 1 in 2 Americans in their lifetime, both men and women.  Public health has moved from detection to prevention in their focus on this potential killer.  Detection and treatment has reduced cervial cancer dramatically as the leading killer of women.  Medical science is now attempting to prevent it rather than just treat it after it occurs. this is significant beacuse HPV is associated with a variety of cancers.  

I'm an unapologetic biosciences geek.  I'm also a critic of right wing scare tactics, and particularly a critic of the many and chronic inaccuracies of Michele Bachmann.

The uproar over the crack-pot anti-vaccine position that Bachmann has taken, where she wrongly asserts that vaccines are dangerous only underlines not only Bachmann's lack of scientific or medical knowledge - and her aversion to learning anything about it - but also a larger lack of facts to form a context.

First of all, I looked at the question of how plausible it was that we should be concerned about vaccines, not just the HPV vaccine, but ANY vaccination causing sudden mental retardation in children who are adolescents.  Vaccines in rare - VERY VERY RARE instances can cause damage, including brain damage.

So......how rare is rare?  According to a CBS News article which tracks with anything I can find from the World Health Organization, the CDC, or any other reputable organization that tracks such data, the numbers look like this:

"Vaccines have saved untold millions of lives, and the vast majority of people who get them suffer no major problems.

But there's a trade-off: occasionally, vaccines cause injury or death. Very rarely, patients are left with what's known as "encephalopathy", the medical term for brain damage.

In fact, CBS News has found nearly 1,300 cases in which vaccine-related brain damage has been compensated in court over the past 20 years."

That is, on average, approximately 65 cases a year out of the millions of vaccinations given to people of all ages that result in some degree of brain damage complications.  That is an incredibly rare occurrence, given the number of vaccines administered.

What has not been mentioned adequately in the media hype and hysteria over Bachmann's bogus claim about the HPV virus was that there has been research into vaccination to prevent mental retardation, a vaccine that is proposed, like the HPV vaccine, for administration to adolescent girls. From the Lancet, the Journal of Medicine in the UK (bolding, last line is my emphasis - DG):

DEVELOPMENT OF A VACCINE AGAINST MENTAL RETARDATION CAUSED BY CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION IN UTEROS.D Elek, H Stern

Department of Medical Microbiology, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London SW1X 7EZ, United Kingdon

Available online 26 September 2003.

Abstract

Cytomegalovirus infection in utero is an important cause of mental retardation. A live tissue-culture-adapted strain of the virus was tested in volunteers. The subcutaneous route of inoculation was successful in stimulating neutralising and complement-fixing antibody production without important side-effects. It is suggested that the use of such a vaccine in adolescent girls would reduce the incidence of primary cytomegalovirus infection in pregnancy and thus eliminate fetal brain damage due to this cause.

We have a general uproar on the right over candidate Governor Perry having used an executive order to cause widespread vaccination of young girls against cervical cancer from the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). This was an excellent decision, one of the few for which Perry should be commended, even if it appears he issued the executive order as part of a corrupt deal to gain campaign contributions from the Pharmaceutical firms involved in manufacturing the vaccine, both direct and indirect, which benefited him personally. A smarter move would be for Perry to issue an executive order requiring boys in the same age range to be vaccinated as well, not just the girls in Texas. HPV is not only linked to cervical cancers but also to cancers of the mouth and throat. An article in the February 21, 2011 edition of the UK paper, the Daily Mail, claimed:

Revealed: Oral sex is ‘bigger cause of throat cancer than tobacco’By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 11:03 AM on 21st February 2011 Comments (205) Add to My Stories Share A virus spread during oral sex is now the main cause of throat cancer in people under 50, scientists have warned. They say the human papilloma virus spread during unprotected sex is to blame for a disturbing rise in potentially deadly oral cancers in the last few decades. Doctors have called for boys to be vaccinated against HPV just like teenage girls to stop the spread of the disease. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1358845/Oral-sex-bigger-cause-throat-cancer-tobacco.html#ixzz1Y6QYhYR4

The ultra conservative right has demonstrated a stunning capacity to get things wrong, and never more so than on the subject of sex.  Cervical cancer is a terrible disease, and was the leading cause of death for women in the United States for many years, according to this CDC site.  While medical check ups, such as annual pap tests, have decreased cervical cancer as the leading cause of death for women, it remains a serious health problem for the female population, including HPV associated cancers.
Again, from the CDC:

HPV-Associated Cervical Cancer Rates by Race and Ethnicity


It is estimated that about 10,800 new cases of HPV-associated cervical cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year.* More black and Hispanic women get cervical cancer and are diagnosed at later stages of the disease than women of other races or ethnicities, possibly because of decreased access to Pap testing or follow-up treatment.

*These numbers are based on a large study that covered 83% of the U.S. population during 1998–2003, and may under-represent the actual number of cancers diagnosed during this time period. Also, this study used cancer registry data to estimate the amount of potentially HPV-associated cancer in the United States by examining cancer in parts of the body and cancer cell types that are more likely to be caused by HPV. Cancer registries do not collect data on the presence or absence of HPV in cancer tissue at the time of diagnosis. However, nearly all cervical cancers are caused by HPV.

The right wing fuss over vaccinations appears to be a concern that if women aren't at risk for cervical cancer, starting in adolescence, they will somehow suddenly become uncontrollably sexually active. 

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Rick Perry's HPV Vaccine Mandate
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Nobody makes the idiocy of this premise clear better than Stephen Colbert. The reality is that depending on which statistics one uses, about half of all students in grades 9-12 are sexually active. An example would be the report from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation "U.S. Teen Sexual Activitiy" and the Guttmacher Institute's "Facts on American Teens' Sexual and Reproductive Health. Whether women and girls make the decision to have sex within the monogamous confines of marriage exclusively, or not, sexual activity begins occurring as early as adolescence, and the probability of that activity only grows with each year of age. The notion that simply denying a safe vaccination to ensure some sort of usually religiously motivated sense of purity, that religion should prevent reasonable, safe reproductive health care is bad. It is wrong. It is insane. It is criminally ignorant. It is mysogyny. And too often, that combination of ideology, ignorance and religion is fatal to women.