orichalcum

This is not, in fact, a post about same-sex marriage. However, the train of thought was sparked in my mind by this hypothetical argument by Belle Waring, which basically suggests that SSM might be bad because it's a major social change of a fundamental institution in the same way that no-fault divorce was. She argues that while no-fault divorce seemed like a good idea at the time (getting couples out of miserable, abusive situations), it's ruined the lives of millions of kids, and that society shouldn't be focusing on the emotional well-being of the parents, who got themselves into the mess in the first place, but rather on the welfare of the kids, who are better off in a two-parent household in nearly all circumstances where their parents are gritting their teeth and dealing. N.B. - I am not trying to criticize or insult anyone's particular family choices or beliefs here; this is a huge complex social issue which I'm trying to think about and wrap my head around, and where I'd appreciate a variety of different perspectives.

( Rambling about marriage and divorce follows )

Bob Casey, Jr., the Democratic Senatorial candidate in Pennsylvania running against Rick Santorum, has announced that he's dressing up for Halloween as "weird socialization."

The concept is in reference to Santorum's argument that public schools are "weird" because they group kids of the same age with a single adult, and thus produce "weird socialization."

PA folks, I encourage you to Vote for Weird Socialization in '06. :) Cuz, dude, come on!

Happy Halloween, folks! Not that we've gotten any trick-or-treaters yet. But Eowyn's got her devil ears on, and a pig ear as her treat.

On the plus side, as requested by ladybird97, here are some cute pictures of Eowyn the Hellpuppy. She's about a half-yard long now, and her feet have grown to full size but the rest of her hasn't caught up yet, so she looks like she's wearing the bear-paws from Quest.

Meanwhile...

OK, HBO's Rome just went over the edge. I'm a frickin' historian of Roman sexuality and I _really_ _really_ didn't need to see ( spoiler for Utica ) graphically depicted. It was like....really really bad fanfic, that's what it was like.

Come on, people! Romans were not more sexually out there than modern New Yorkers! You didn't have to go that far with Sex and the City, for heavens' sakes, why did you have to pollute two perfectly good, interesting characters on this series?

It's really rare something will trigger my squick factor in the ancient world, but I'm sure as heck not showing this episode to my students, despite the nifty political stuff in Plot C.

In general, I try (not always succeed, but try) to understand and tolerate differences in belief and practice which result from different religious perspectives.

But the debate arguing that the new HPV vaccine, which is almost 100% effective agains the two most common viruses that cause cervical cancer, should not be a part of standard vaccinations because it might encourage teenage sex, just upsets and angers me incredibly.

We're talking about cervical cancer, people! 5000 women died from it last year - who wouldn't have if they had been vaccinated, and another 11,000 may have serious lifetime health and reproductive complications, at the least.

Yes, HPV is an STD, one particularly prevalent among teenagers. But saying that giving a vaccine against an STD to teenage girls is a bad idea because it will make them run out and have sex leads pretty easily to the road where one argues that, if we get an AIDS vaccine, we shouldn't give it to gay men because it will encourage them to have gay sex. Trust me, I don't think I or anyone I knew as a teenager ever thought, "Well, I would like to have sex with my boyfriend, but I'm worried about the risk of cervical cancer so I guess I won't."

I just can't understand how anyone could justify not taking every means we have to protect people. How is that moral, under any religious schema? And yes, some people argue that the vaccines should be optional, but (scientists check me on this) that's not how you make a vaccine effective! I don't have any choice about getting a vaccine against measles, because if I don't have that vaccine, I put not only myself but the rest of the population at risk. The same should be true here.