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My class, taught by the remarkable Dr. Harriet Grissom, adjunct professor at Georgia College, consists of periodic debates in which you sign up for a topic and then you are randomly selected to join either side. I signed up for the sex ed vs. abstinence-only debate hoping that, with a 50-50 chance, I would end up on the side I'm most comfortable with: safe sex education. Of course, with my great luck, I ended up on the abstinence only team. But that's okay, right? The point of the debate is to challenge yourself to see both sides of the argument, and surely I'd come out of this a better person for researching the abstinence-only supporter's arguments, but... I can't do it. I've looked up arguments and views and to be frank, they offend my good senses. Their argument is full of bad information and unethical debate techniques, such as strawman arguments. I can tear down this argument without even having to know any about the advantages of sex education because these arguments are just really damn bad. How am I going to do this? How am I, the Georgia College Condom Fairy, going to stand in front of 50 or so of my peers, regurgitate these distasteful arguments, especially at a crucial time when sex education programs are under fire from exreme conservatives who are using their power in congress to rewind decades worth of progress?
By buying more condoms and distributing them in class after the debate along with flyers on how to support Planned Parenthood and where to turn for local resources on sexual health. With permission from my professor, of course.
Still, I'm stressed. I hate giving up the fight before it's begun, but this debate is going to be a disaster. Hopefully some peers on my team can help carry this one because one girl from the sex ed team has already contacted me for information and statistics on sex ed programs, and I can't turn her down. I'm practically sleeping with the enemy (safely).
