Condom Nation: Blind Faith, Bad Science Richard A. Panzer Center for Educational Media, Westwood NJ $12
Reviewed by Denise Thomas-NYC
Our culture is changing so fast it's hard to keep up. Words that once were unspoken in mixed company are now trumpeted on the radio and in headlines. It's hard to go anywhere and not be assaulted by sexually explicit images in magazine covers, billboards, TV shows and movies.
Sex education classes in junior and senior high schools, and sometimes in Kindergarten, exacerbate the problem by teaching students to "explore their sexuality" and to exercise their "sexual rights." Condoms are given out by AIDS activists outside school grounds. And sometimes by health teachers inside.
Parents who still hold on to traditional notions about saving sex for marriage wonder: whom can I trust and where can I go to for support?
A new book, Condom Nation: Blind Faith, Bad Science, to be released on October 30, may give you a few sleepless nights, but it will open your eyes. This 160 page book, by international AIDS and "Family Life" educator Richard A. Panzer, examines AIDS and sexuality education and recent federal strategies in the Clinton administration.
Condom Nation starts off with a harrowing account of the author's participation in a New Jersey Health Department training program for AIDS educators where teachers are taught to advocate a new version of "abstinence" called "outercourse" which includes undressing each other, mutual masturbation and masturbation in front of your partner. This will supposedly reduce sexual intercourse among teens. The book also explores the beliefs of advocates of "sexual pluralism" who believe the traditional family, as the product of a sexist, male- dominated society, must be abolished as a norm.
In two controversial chapters "Follow the Homosexual Response to AIDS?" and "Uncle Sam as Dr. Ruth" Condom Nation dissects the response of the Gay community and by federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control to AIDS prevention. Alliances between federal agencies and groups with radical "sexual rights" agendas to establish national "sexuality" education guidelines and compulsory teacher training are described in chilling detail.
Condom Nation paints a dark picture, of college students who aren't sure what the word abstinence means, who have been taught everything about sex, except for its relationship to real love and creation of new life and of a new lineage.
But, on the positive side, it devotes several chapters towards the end describing successful abstinence-centered programs, how parents can effectively guide their children and how new trends in social science research demonstrate the benefits of marriage and the two parent family. Surprisingly, a new field in social science called "Evolutionary Psychology" based on the theories of Charles Darwin is shown to support the importance of "male parental investment" and "female sexual reserve."
Panzer concludes by warning that, far from being threatened by Sexual Victorianism, the lives of many young people, and of generations to come, are being destroyed by a ruthless, predatory Sexual Darwinism. Parents and educators must overcome their natural reluctance to discuss these issues and speak out plainly about the benefits of marriage and faithful monogamy.
This book will disturb and provoke you, hopefully to action. $12 plus $3 s&h (U.S.), $1 for each additional. To order in the U.S., call 1- 800-221-6116. Fax: 1-201-358-9013. Email: CenEdMedia@aol.com. Or send check to:
Center for Educational Media
P.O. Box 97
Westwood, NJ 07675.