NPR Promo

I just heard a promo for an upcoming program on NPR about the HPV vaccine. In the very brief spot, they offer a program appetizer of what sounds like a teenage girl asking, "Do you want me to get the vaccine?" And what sounds like her mother responding, "Well, would that make you think you had a clear light to have sex?"

What?

I'm not quite sure how to unpack this. Are there people out there who are thinking, "Yes, sex causes cancer! Now my daughter definitely won't have sex. Ever."

Folks, we're talking about a vaccine for HPV, a virus that can lead to cervical cancer. So in some very real ways we're talking about a cure for cancer. And this soundbite is concerned that we're ripping the fear out of sex, and thereby giving full reign for adolescents to just go after it. Like in cars. Like before they're married. This--this--is the thing that will give them the permission to fornicate that they've so earnestly searched for.

Forget the hormones. So overrated.

As a not-entirely-intact, so-far survivor of cervical cancer, I think mom is missing a point. To understate. Honey, get the vaccine, so when that day comes when you're not afraid of sex or babies, when you actually really, really want both, you can have them.