Detwiler's column insulting

Jacqui Detwiler asks "why on earth" parents would not want their daughters spared from STDs ("'H' is for 'Hussy,'" Feb. 28). The condescending rhetoric aside, we know the only sure way of doing that is to altogether avoid premarital sex-not to receive injections of Gardasil. But Detwiler's column portrays the opponents of forced HPV vaccination as arrogant fools: First, she bills them as ignorant, then as hypocritical, then as self-righteous (an easy stereotype), and finally as motivated by blind fear. In fact, however, there are many people who think that there is something more important than living a sexually active life free of anxiety, more important even than a simple (though essential) resistance to the tyranny of forcing new and unnecessary drugs into the bodies of others.

In truth, many of the people Detwiler criticizes are young girls themselves, often religiously motivated, who want to and will lead chaste lives. Others are the young men who will one day wed these girls. To them, the "hookup" is never an option because they recognize that sex transcends the carnal; the bodies of their future wives are sacred realms into which they dare not trespass without the blessing of the Church and the hand of God for guidance. These should not be forced to waste money and incur health risks for a vaccine that they will never require. They think, as I do, that it is a grave disservice to our country to make public policy on the assumption that our children cannot control their sexual desires. I pray Detwiler will refrain from a pathetic and insulting portrayal of these good men and women in the future.

Justin Noia

Pratt '09