DISTURBING: Chemical castration to prevent teen pregnancy

[yurbud]

August 1, 2006

Reducing Teen Pregnancy to Zero

Graham Bessler, Pharm. D.

In seventh grade, Martha Davis was the star center of her soccer team, student body president, and an honor student with a 3.6 GPA. In eighth grade, she is the mother of twins, stays home to care for her children, and will be lucky to finish her GED online and get a job at Dairy Queen. Teen pregnancy is affecting even the best and brightest of today’s young people, slowing their education at the very time we are shifting to an information economy, and increasing their financial burdens just as real wages are declining. Past solutions have been an abysmal failure.

The decades long sex education including birth control effort has had mixed results. The total teen birth rate is down, but the number of girls having children out of wedlock is staying roughly the same and sometimes increasing. Interviews with teens show the reasons: while they understand how birth control works, they use it primarily to prevent disease rather than pregnancy. A boy may use a condom with a partner with a bad reputation or obvious open sores, but as relationships progress, the condom is used less and less as concern over disease fades. The only upside of this is girls are less likely to get pregnant by males they had only a brief relationship with.

The more recent “abstinence only” approach has had even worse results. Abstinence only includes like or no information about contraception and instead relies on chastity pledges and attempts to convince teens that promiscuous sex cheapens intimacy and will make it harder to be faithful to a partner when they marry. The Texas Department of Health found these programs actually increased teen pregnancy. This is likely for the exact same reason teen pregnancy occurred in their grandparents generation. Since teens do not consciously plan to have sex, they don’t take condoms with them on dates, so if they do have sex, they can say “It just happened.” And it just happens at about the same rate as it does with their peers who have sex education including birth control, but without even the haphazard use of condoms, pregnancy occurs more often.

Since neither of these has proven 100 percent effective, we should turn to what has been a far more reliable solution for other problems like attention deficit disorder, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome: pharmacology. Depo Provera could be administered to teens to dramatically decrease teen pregnancy rates to near zero. As a birth control method for females, it requires an injection once every three months, and has a failure rate of only 0.03 percent. The shots could be administered by school nurses on a regular schedule.

A second use of Depo Provera would not only eliminate teen pregnancy, but teen sex itself. Depo Provera has successfully been used to reduce the sex drive of child molesters and rapists, who are often given a choice of the treatment as a condition of parole. Without male sex drive, there will be no teen sex.

An obstacle to implementing this is likely male reluctance to undergo the treatment since sex occupies 97 percent of the thoughts of teenage boys. Therefore, alternative methods of administering it may have to be developed such as mixing it in the foods boys often choose in the cafeteria like cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Another approach would be to put it in the drinking water in schools. In that case, administrators may want to alert teachers to bring water from home.

Universal Depo Provera therapy for teen males would have a number of positive side effects, nearly all related to the drug reducing aggression and hostility. Students who are less hostile will behave better in class and focus more on their studies than fantasizing about classmates, passing notes, and playing footsy. It will reduce fights in the halls, freeing teachers to spend more time helping students with their schoolwork and less time acting as policemen.

Reduced teen male aggression will benefit broader society as well. Teen males engage in any number of high risk activities like reckless driving, binge drinking, and re-enacting episodes of Jackass. The decline in speeding and reckless driving alone could save thousands of lives and millions of dollars.

Some side effects must be noted. Fatigue, depression, weight gain, and development of feminine physical and personality traits have been reported both among prisoners given this therapy and at the high school pilot project in Fresno. Many boys exhibit smoother skin, stop growing facial hair, and develop breasts and broader hips. In Fresno, far fewer boys have gone out for football, but on the positive side, their interest in handicrafts such as making friendship bracelets, hair-braiding, and henna has grown exponentially. The principal of the high school has said he has encouraged the football coaching staff to seek retraining to meet this new and growing demand.

While the effects and side effects go away once the therapy is stopped, psychiatrists have expressed concern that by suppressing sexual impulses during the teen years, boys will fail to develop the social skills necessary for courtship and marriage, and may result in a life of involuntary celibacy for those who have undergone the treatment even though their sex drive has been restored.

We must weigh these risks against the benefit of reducing teen pregnancy, but this approach promises to be far more effective than those tried in the past.

[evlbstrd]

1. My favorite part:

"In Fresno, far fewer boys have gone out for football, but on the positive side, their interest in handicrafts such as making friendship bracelets, hair-braiding, and henna has grown exponentially. The principal of the high school has said he has encouraged the football coaching staff to seek retraining to meet this new and growing demand."

[sgxnk]

24. also

teenage boys have lost the ability to fold maps, they spend a lot of time talking about their feelings, and have actually been asking for directions on road trips

[wakeme2008]

2. I do not know who this person is but he is SICK

[MissB]

3. Hilarious!

Great satire.

[cynatnite]

4. We don't want to educate teenagers about sex, do we?

Let's just spike the food and water instead.

[MadHound]

5. What a POS this is!

First off, you are radicaly messing with an adolescent's with this. Messing up growth and development, weakening bone structure, stunting growth, all sorts of assorted problems.

And then there is the simply matter of how inhumane this is. All to stop a problem that is already on the decline.

Tell you what, this guy is in favor of chemical castration, well by god he should be the first one in line to get the shots.

[tech3149]

6. Beyond Disturbing

If I didn't know that people could think in such perverse ways, I'd consider it pretty sick dark humor.

[Justitia]

7. This MUST be from The Onion. -eom

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. That's what I'm thinking too.

Especially in light of that quote about the kids in Fresno.

[yurbud]

12. Nope--definitely not the onion or any satire website

[Ariana Celeste]

8. I was on the Depo shot

By choice, I gave it a try. It really fucked with me. I got the shot so that I could (hopefully) prevent pregnancy when I had sex, but instead it took away my sex drive completely, made me moody and depressed, and completely took away my period. I gained a bunch of weight when I was on it, as well. I knew about the chances of losing my period but after about a year of no period, let alone all the other side effects I was experiencing, I quit. It took me months to feel normal again.
As far as I'm concerned, all of those side effects were not worth the lower chance of getting pregnant. For me, anyways. Maybe it works better for others, and if it does, good for them.

[jmowreader]

9. The "Modest Proposal" of the 21st Century!

In Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," he recommended eating Irish babies as a way of reducing the Catholic population.

Certainly a proposal to drug away the sex drive of 40 million horny young men deserves similar attention.

[yurbud]

13. vote it up so it gets seen

[MOUSETHIN]

11. I wish they wouldn't experiment giving drugs like this to kids!

They don't know what in the hell the long-term effects could be! There's GOT to be a better way!

[LisaM]

14. Well, it's got to be a joke, BUT.....

I think it's high time that teenaged boys started taking a lot more responsibility than they do for teen pregnenancies.

[yurbud]

15. good luck. I would have when I was a kid, but most wouldn't

and even if they wanted to, their parents would smack them on the back of the head and tell them not to be stupid--wait until the court ordered DNA test.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. We could just weld everybody into chastity belts.

Seems like the control freak/puritan impulse is pretty strong in this country, across the political spectrum.

[Triana]

19. I agree LisaM...this is too extreme but the teen boys ought to...

...be taught (and made to) take more responsibility for their teenage actions - sex, and all the rest. This article though, has to be a joke and chemical castration is rediculously extreme not to mention downright cruel.

[LisaM]

22. Society needs to judge teen boys and girls the same way

that's all I ask. I am not a Puritan, and I am certainly not against healthy sex, but it seems to me that all the risks, burdens, and judgement fall on the girls. So the solution is to quash the male sex drive? Are males so weak that they can't be trusted to be more responsible?

[Warren DeMontague]

32. What do you propose? Seriously.

I mean, if a teenage boy gets a girl pregnant, he is legally and financially responsible. I'm not sure what else one can do.

[LisaM]

39. But is it enforced? And do they bear the stigma the way girls do?

I don't know the answer either but I think about it a lot.

[Warren DeMontague]

40. I don't know how you "enforce" something like a stigma.

I do know that child support laws are VERY heavily enforced- as well they should be- in my state, at least.

[yurbud]

43. trusted? trust a teenage boy about sex? You're kidding right?

Women never seem to grasp how strong the male libido is.

If a guy has his legs blown off and is bleeding to death, the only thing he's going to be thinking is "shit, I'm never going to get laid again."

[Glorfindel]

16. Whoa! Maybe that explains basic training in the Army....

we always thought it was "saltpeter," but this shit sounds MUCH more ominous. Is nothing sacred? Take away a man's sex drive, and what the hell is left?

[Warren DeMontague]

18. I'll lay at least 50/50 odds..

that by the end of today, someone will have shown up in this thread saying it's "not a bad idea".

[The Icon Painter]

27. Here You Go

It's not a bad idea.

[semillama]

20. Is there a link to a source?

Really reads like subtle satire to me.

and googling the author and title reveals no match.

So hold on to your outrage until you can confirm someone isn't pulling a fast one on you.

[SoCalDem]

21. "...decades long sex education..."

A spotty, at BEST effort.. In MANY districts sex ed is a JOKE.. the teachers know it, the kids know it..

We have apparently nourished ourselves too well.. There was a rtime ..not all that long ago, when girls did NOT start having periods at 9 or 10.. It was not uncommon for the first time to occur at 14 or even later.. Not that this is the ONLY "problem", but kids stayed KIDS a lot longer...just a few decades ago..

Our society has sexualized EVERYTHING, so it's not surprising to see 8th graders with babies..

Kids are raising themselves these days .......
parents are working 24-7...
kids have a lot of time on their hands and no one there to watch them
teens need more supervision than toddlers....

teens make very bad decisions that affect their whole lives, but since they are kids, their definition of "future" is sometimes measured in weeks...not decades...or forever.

I don't know what the "solution" is, but I do know I am glad as HELL that my own kids are grown up..

I would hate to be the parent of a young teen these days..

[sgxnk]

23. this is TRULY a nightmare

this is IN-FRIGGING-SANE

sure, chemical castration would reduce teen pregnancies

it would also turn teenage boys into the functional equivalent of teen girls

vive la frigging difference

and don't chemically castrate our youth

[truebrit71]

25. This is a GREAT idea!!! I am more in favour of chopping off their balls...

...entirely rather than by the use of chemicals.

The fact that I am the father of a teenage daughter as nothing to do with my opinion on this matter........

[Warren DeMontague]

31. You know, I would settle for merely taking away those stupid thumpthumping

car stereos and that shitty crap they listen to.

Sentence 'em all to a month of listening to May '77 Grateful Dead. That'll straighten 'em out.

[yurbud]

34. you can get the same effect with a ball peen hammer--where do you

think they got the name?

[movie_girl99]

26. i love this part:

"Without male sex drive, there will be no teen sex".
WTF...does that mean that girls/women don't have a sex drive?

[KaptBunnyPants]

28. I hear clitoral circumcision is an effective deterrent to teen sex.

As well as, apparently, ironing the breasts with stones. Harsh, I know, but tough love is necessary if we are going to protect children from growing into adults.

[yurbud]

35. Ironing breasts? Some cultures like the flapjack look?

[KaptBunnyPants]

38. Mothers do it to their own children to keep them "pure".

Here's an article about it, although it labels it as an anti-rape protection act. Since rape is about power, and not sex, it seems far more likely that it's done in a cruel attempt to keep them from maturing. Some mothers quoted in other, less sympathetic articles I've read, proudly admitted to just that.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/07/07/cameroon.bre...

[yurbud]

41. you are going to start a different argument on sex vs. power in rape

I don't think most guys are thinking about reinforcing the patriarchy when they do that.

It is about power to the extent that the guy may not have the power to get sex legitimately.

[theHandpuppet]

29. Link?

I want to see the source of this article not to dismiss it as a satire.

[Warren DeMontague]

33. I'd be pretty upset if it wasn't satire.

I don't see how anyone can take it as anything but.

[KT2000]

30. the Onion, right? n/t

[yurbud]

44. categorically not nor any other satire website

[akushuki]

36. I feel like a General Jack Ripper yelling about fluoridation.

This is a joke right?

[lectrobyte]

37. You almost had me, until this paragraph:

Some side effects must be noted. Fatigue, depression, weight gain, and development of feminine physical and personality traits have been reported both among prisoners given this therapy and at the high school pilot project in Fresno. Many boys exhibit smoother skin, stop growing facial hair, and develop breasts and broader hips. In Fresno, far fewer boys have gone out for football, but on the positive side, their interest in handicrafts such as making friendship bracelets, hair-braiding, and henna has grown exponentially. The principal of the high school has said he has encouraged the football coaching staff to seek retraining to meet this new and growing demand.

right.

[yurbud]

42. yeah, if it interfered with football, they'd call the whole thing off.

[NMMNG]

45. They are willing to potentially cause permanent physical and psychological

harm to kids just to keep them from having sex?

The irresponsibility and cruelty of the right-wing never ceases to amaze me.

[REP]

46. Yes, But It's Okay to Do This To Women

I was voluntarily on Depo for nearly 10 years, in part because I couldn't find a doctor willing to sterilize me (I'd "chnge my mind" or "meet a man who wanted children" - never occurred that I'd met such men and ran like hell away from them) and in part because it was the safest and most reliable form of BC I could tolerate. I had many of the side-effects, including DVT (the circulation in one leg is permanently ruined from DVT) and loss of libido, but it was worth it to not pregnant (I was a big fan of the no periods, though). It was a choice I made out of some choices that sucked pretty hard. We need better BC options for women, including sterilizations for young nulliparous women who ask to be sterilized, and reliable, reversible options without horrible side-effects for women who may someday want children.

[NMMNG]

47. It's true that safer, yet still effective, means of BC need to be made

available to women (including reversible sterilization). However using Depo Provera in boys against their will is a violation I find reprehensible. What makes it even worse is that the exact people who would do this are the ones who don't want DP and other hormonal BC available to women, the bloody hypocrites.

[REP]

48. Definitely Agree ...

Just was noticing that all the negative side-effects happen to women (weight gain, loss of libido, DVT, etc) and there's no "how awful!" that women take it voluntarily - only gasps and cries when it's suggested men take it. I'm against drugging anyone against their will ... but a lot of women take BC pills and Depo just because they're the least worst choice.

There is 'reversible' sterilization: Filshie clips. Some women who want a real sterilization end up with clips because (say it with me) they might change their minds. True, I hang with a child-free crowd, but I've NEVER heard of a nullaparous women wanted a sterilization reversed, and beyiond anecdote, I've got a couple of studies that back me up!

[NMMNG]

49. It's the "against their will" thing that offends me most

If women were being forced to wear chastity belts I'd be offended. Again, I don't like that a safer BC isn't available but the women who take the hormonal BC are taking it after making an informed decision. These children face the possibility of being forced to take it and endure the effects that could last a lifetime--even kill them.



And the whole idea of "women might change their mind", IMO, is probably a throwback to the notion that women simply can't feel fulfilled unless they squeeze out and raise a few spawn.

[REP]

50. Is It Really That Informed, Though? Is My Point

Which I admit I probably didn't make clearly enough (it's late, I'm tired and washing the walls - pick your excuse!). Many women do know they're picking the lesser of two crappy choices (BC that will have side-effects, or unwanted pregnancy) but how many women really know the odds of them getting the side-effects? How many women with less-than-adequate education really understand what they're getting into? While I'm always on the side of fewer unwanted pregnancies and births, I don't like the idea of women not knowing exactly what they're in for. I'm not a complete idiot (I'm college edjumacated!), and I had no idea I had a 100% chance of getting the *worst* Depo side-effects (including ovarian cysts!!). What chance does a high-school drop out have?

As for drugging HS boys - well, this is something being thought of being done to boys, so it ain't gonna happen. Remember, if it happens to men/boys, it's a human rights offense; if it happens to women/girls it's a cultural difference that must be respected.

And as for the "fulfilled without spawn" - if my GYN is any indication, the newer crop have their heads on better. She's the one the fixed me, and never did the "change my mind" come up ... I just had to promise not to die during the procedure (I've got a lot of stuff wrong with me).

[yurbud]

51. Okay, since discussion died down, I admit I wrote this myself

I used it for a final in one of my classes. The students had to write why they agreed or disagreed with this, and I wanted to test it here to see if it created strong enough feelings.

[sweetheart]

52. How do you virally castrate a nation of tyrants

Well, such distrust and fear until the populace is a willful gift of the M£M, and
the viral implant of right wing framing can subvert any civil society in 1 generation,

"...and if you buy now, you get a set of steak knives with your revolution, absolutely free!"