WRITER SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM TAKING POT SHOTS

Regarding the May 11 column by Mary Collier:

Your goal is to prevent adolescent sexual intercourse. I applaud your
efforts to teach adolescent girls how to withstand the messages of our
sex-saturated popular culture. I also would applaud any efforts you might
make to influence the toning down of that sex-saturated culture - to use
your energy to protest the excesses of corporate advertising, driven by
profit over morality, in the sponsorship of sex-saturated television
programming.

I disagree, however, with your characterization of others working with
equal sincerity to empower young women to prevent adolescent pregnancy and
STDs. You imply a lack of sincerity on the part of those who try to empower
young women who may not adhere to abstinence, and assume they support
succumbing to "the lures of sexual activism ..." Your assumptions and
argument are disingenuous. Before you assume you hear a "condescending" or
"cynical" tone of voice in others, listen to your own voice. Your analogy
"we'll provide you with unfiltered cigarettes without the consent of your
parents" is a condescending misrepresentation. The ones who are providing
adolescent girls with the metaphorical "unfiltered cigarettes" are most
often their adolescent peers.

It would be wonderful if abstinence education would solve the problem, if
teaching adolescents the hazards of sexual activity, cigarette smoking and
drug-taking would actually keep them out of trouble. We all know that it
may help, but it certainly hasn't eliminated the behaviors. Abstinence is
only one of the tools we can teach young women to use as they build their
lives. Taking pot-shots at others who are also sincerely addressing the
same problems doesn't help any young women make the best choice for
themselves, and is really only hurting your own credibility.

Lorraine Warner

Grass Valley