The Perils of Promiscuity

The Roman Catholic Church holds all forms of birth control to be immoral. Rather than reading the Church's position on the matter, eloquently laid out most eloquently in Humanae Vitae, naysayers blame the Church for getting in the way of women's reproductive rights (whatever that means) and perpetuating the AIDS crisis in Africa.

In regards to the latter, I have several points to offer:

1) The AIDS crisis is almost certainly over-stated. Yes people are dying of AIDS in many parts of Africa, but they are dying from other factors not explicitly related to HIV/AIDS which are nonetheless reported as AIDS deaths. To be quite blunt, AIDS is way sexier than starvation, especially when the former can be blamed on ignorant superstition but the cause of the latter is, by and large, the corrupt governments on the continent.

2) Condoms are not going to prevent AIDS. Used correctly, they will severely mitigate the spread of the disease, but it is a bit absurd to believe that people who cannot connect the HIV virus with AIDS and still think that having sex with a virgin will cure the disease are going to be likely to use condoms correctly. In addition, while condoms may prevent the spread of AIDS, I for one would desire more than a piece of latex betwixt me and certain death. Call me conservative.

3) The Roman Catholic position will severely reduce the number of cases of AIDS. Abstinence may be difficult, but it is one hundred percent effective. If our ultimate goal is to eradicate AIDS entirely, abstinence simply must be emphasized.

When it comes to HIV/AIDS in Africa, I do not feel that my Church has blood on Her hands. But I stumbled on a story which suggests that sexual libertines may not be so innocent.

More than a quarter of U.S. girls and women ages 14 to 59 are infected with the sexually transmitted human wart virus, which causes most cases of cervical cancer, U.S. health officials estimated on Tuesday.

That means human papillomavirus or HPV infection is more common than previously thought, particularly among younger age groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said. Its prevalence was highest among those 20 to 24, with 44.8 percent infected, and nearly a quarter of teenagers aged 14 to 19.

Sexual restraint has its perks; they become especially clear when gazing at the evidence of those who show no such restraint. As Camille Paglia observed in Sexual Personae, "But of course nature has won, as she always does, by making disease the price of promiscuous sex."

We have found, apparently, a vaccination for the HPV virus. But nature is not so easily defeated. Morality aside, abstinence prior to monogamy, as supported by the Church, is the best recipe for a disease free existence. Common sense usually wins out eventually.