Survey shows HPV vaccine NOT linked to promiscuity

By Kim H.

Conservatives pushing an abstinence-only education agenda have been arguing for years that giving young people access to contraception and other STD preventative tools will “give them ideas” and lead to more promiscuous behavior. As Nina Hartley would say, Mother Nature has already given them ideas.

Lo and behold, turns out that case doesn’t hold water anyway. The New York Times reported that a survey published in the January issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine has found girls ages 15 to 19 who are vaccinated against human papillomavirus, or HPV, are no more likely to be sexually active or to have more partners than unvaccinated girls. The report also found that among sexually active girls, those who were vaccinated were more likely to consistently use a condom than those who had not had the shot.

The scientists found that about 25 percent of girls ages 14 to 19, and almost 45 percent of women 20 to 24, have been infected with HPV. Perhaps these numbers would go down if we actually provided our young people with comprehensive sex education. In the words of my father upon handing me a pack of condoms my freshman year of college: “It’s a matter of life and death.”