I shouldn’t be surprised, since Planned Parenthood would be the last organization in the world to know anything about virginity.

But as a middle-aged guy my imagination isn’t what it used to be, so I was a bit taken aback by this hot take from the organization:

Regardless of whether your semantic argument is compelling, why are you pushing this idea? More people having sex at younger ages is good for business, I guess.

— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) June 29, 2023

Having once been a teenager I can assure you that virginity is much more than a social construct, although admittedly different societies have different takes on what import it has in social life.

But the same can be true of anything that touches upon human behavior. The views of people regarding the consumption of pork, beef, shellfish, dogs, or horses differ across time and space, but the fact that such things are indeed eaten by some and shunned by others is not, in fact, a social construct.

And anybody who tells me that eating dogs or horses is OK, or other primates for that matter, is wrong.

But of course, Planned Parenthood is not, in fact, making an argument that virginity itself is not real, but rather that virginity as a socially desirable state prior to marriage is good for people. They are hiding that value judgment in what seems like a provocative statement, but the message is clear enough: “Go ahead and have sex whenever and with whomever you like, because sexual purity is a stupid ideal.”

That’s an unsurprising take from an organization whose sole purpose is to prevent conception and kill babies, and the more sexual activity there is the more revenue they can skim from individuals, corporations, and government.

Go forth and screw–we can take care of any incidental consequences!

This is, of course, a very destructive message, whether you are concerned with the moral implications or not. Sex outside monogamous relationships, whatever your moral views, gets increasingly risky the more you do it. Exchanging bodily fluids increases the risk of disease, obviously, and “free love” is highly correlated with exposing yourself to greater physical risk in the case of women.

Winding up in a private space with random strange men is a good way to find out that not everybody’s idea of fun is the same.

Sex itself is not sinful or dangerous in the proper context, but that isn’t Planned Parenthood’s point. Rather, their point is that sex is fun and that you should just go for it!

Yeah, well, look at the results of this attitude:

I guess the attitude is that not all epidemics are bad, as long as you are having fun. This is in line with Canada’s suggestion that the best way to avoid COVID was to use glory holes, and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Association’s suggestion to cover your MonkeyPox lesions with band-aids if you want to go to a sex party.

Yes, that is government advice on how to have anonymous sex during the COVID pandemic. Be safe!

This is satire, but too true to life:

Remember: AVOID GENDERED LANGUAGE while engaging in disgusting activities. You wouldn’t want to offend somebody with their teeth around a sensitive organ.

Lots of other great advice floated around about safe orgies, too, because of course, this is necessary in the 21st century. Yes, you too can have as many partners as you want at any time you want, because being a virgin is a social construct, not a matter of common sense for people outside of committed relationships.

Spread that message while you are spreading that disease.

The CDC seems to have a somewhat different message than that spread by Planned Parenthood: maybe casual sex isn’t all it’s cracked up to be:

Reported cases of the sexually transmitted infections (STIs) chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis all increased between 2020 and 2021 – reaching a total of more than 2.5 million reported cases – according to CDC’s final surveillance data. To reverse this trend, CDC is calling for more groups from local, healthcare, industry, and public health sectors to contribute to STI prevention and innovation efforts.

The new report provides final surveillance data for 2021, and shows that overall in a single year (2020-2021):

• Gonorrhea rates increased more than 4%
• Syphilis rates surged, increasing nearly 32% for combined stages of the infection
  • Among the syphilis data, cases of congenital syphilis rose by an alarming 32% and resulted in 220 stillbirths and infant deaths.
• Chlamydia rates increased nearly 4%, but – unlike gonorrhea and syphilis – still did not return to pre-pandemic levels
  • This raises concerns that screening continued to be impacted by COVID-19 related disruptions the second year of the pandemic, because the infection is often asymptomatic.

Of course, Planned Parenthood has some advice about dealing with congenital syphilis: that is what its abortion services are good for.

Most religions have some version of religious ecstasy, and so it is no surprise that modern humanism does too. Usually, it is oneness with God or the universe, but since humanism substitutes the corporeal for the spiritual, the only ecstasy available is through orgasm.

Hence the obsession with sex, and the willingness to risk it all in order to get some.

UPDATE: The glory hole advice from the Canadian government is real, but the poster on “glory hole safety” is satire, apparently. Good one!