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      August 13, 2008

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      Cold, Hard Science

 

   

In a culture where cold, hard science is king, one doctor is questioning whether the theory of "safe sex" can measure up.

In her pamphlet "Sense and Sexuality: The College Girl's Guide to Real Protection in a Hooked-up World," to be released later this month, Miriam Grossman, M.D., uses her medical training and 10 years' experience as a staff psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to expose the physical and mental dangers of the uninhibited sexual climate that dominates the modern college campus.

In the introduction, Grossman describes the tragic and recurring scene in her campus office: a young woman, broken and in crisis, describes the mistakes that have poisoned her dreams.  Dr. Grossman laments: "The worst part?  Many times the crisis was 100 percent preventable.  If only I'd known... she says, if only someone had told me." Wait a minute -- she didn't know she could concentrate on studies and wait until marriage as an option?

These are the words, says Dr. Grossman, that young women should never have to say.  Hers

  
   

is not a pamphlet for "safer sex," but for giving girls the information they need: the "critical health information" that few others will tell them about.

One of the most striking features of this pamphlet is how Dr. Grossman draws her arguments from her authoritative medical perspective. Well-documented studies and statistics stand behind her objections to common misconceptions.  As one example, Grossman argues that anal intercourse does not, as is sometimes erroneously believed, protect from STDs: rather, it increases the risk of HIV to 20 times that of vaginal intercourse.  She also quotes a study that claims 91% of girls on one campus have feelings of regret after a hook-up - a fact she simply lets stand on its own. 

In this pamphlet there are no arguments from moral standards; in fact, there is little argumenation at all, only a wealth of scientific fact that inevitably calls into question the safety of the "hook-up culture" at college campuses and abstinence until marriage.  The pamphlet, stylishly tinted pink and red, appeals directly to college-age women in personal, but hard-line terms.  It discusses in familiar words the effects of oxytocin, a hormone released by intimate behavior, on one's ability to make clear choices and on the long term consequences of the choices one makes: "Because of it [oxytocin], you could develop feelings for a guy whose last intention is to bond with you. You might think of him all day, but he can't remember your name." 

Ultimately, Dr. Grossman's theme is crystal clear: be informed about abstinence until marriage. If you do not take the time to ask right questions, you will be vulnerable to the wrong answers.  As she writes in her conclusion: "Learn about the distinct sensitivities of being female - go beyond the brief information provided here - and use that knowledge to inform your decisions."

Dr. Miriam Grossman is a board-certified psychiatrist and the once-anonymous author of Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness Endangers Every Student.  She is a senior fellow at the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes conservative women in leadership roles.

  
         
         
 
         
 

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