Taking Sides : Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Human Sexuality

PART 1. Sexual Health Issues

ISSUE 1. Should Sexuality Education Be Comprehensive?

YES: David Satcher, from The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior (United States Department of Health and Human Services, July 9, 2001)

NO: Don Feder, from “Devil Is in the Details of Surgeon General’s Sex Report,” Insight on the News (August 6, 2001)

Former United States Surgeon General David Satcher outlines his call to action to promote sexual health and responsible sexual behavior. Dr. Satcher expresses support for a comprehensive approach to sexuality education, inclusive of teaching about abstinence, contraception, and safer sex to help young people avoid unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Editorialist Don Feder argues that comprehensive sexuality education is not effective, and criticizes the methods used to compile the surgeon general’s report, which includes interviews with commercial sex workers.

ISSUE 2. Should Schools Make Condoms Available to Students?

YES: Sally Guttmacher, Lisa Lieberman, David Ward, Nick Freudenberg, Alice Radosh, and Don Des Jarlais, from “Condom Availability in New York City Public High Schools: Relationships to Condom Use and Sexual Behavior,” American Journal of Public Health (September 1997)

NO: Edwin J. Delattre, from “Condoms and Coercion: The Maturity of Self Determination,” Vital Speeches of the Day (April 15, 1992)

Researchers Sally Guttmacher et al. maintain that their study of New York City high school students who received both condoms and an HIV/AIDS education program versus Chicago high school students who received only HIV/AIDS education proves that distributing condoms in schools does not increase sexual activity but does result in students using condoms more often when they are sexually active. Professor of education Edwin J. Delattre rejects the argument that there is a moral obligation to save lives by distributing condoms in schools. He asserts that distributing condoms in schools promotes morally unacceptable casual sexual relationships.

ISSUE 3. Is Masters and Johnson’s Model an Accurate Description of Sexual Response?

YES: Stephanie Ann Sanders, from “Physiology of Sex,” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia (2004)

NO: Paul Joannides, from “The HSRC—Is Everything Better in Black & White?” An Original Essay Written for This Volume (2004)

Stephanie Ann Sanders, a director and scientist with the Kinsey Institute and a contributing author to the Encarta Online Encyclopedia, summarizes Masters and Johnson’s Human Sexual Response Cycle. Paul Joannides, author of the popular book The Guide to Getting It On!, says that the Human Sexual Response Cycle is a “one-size-fits-all” model that does not account for individual variations.

ISSUE 4. Is Oral Sex Really Sex?

YES: Rhonda Chittenden, from “Oral Sex Is Sex: Ten Messages about Oral Sex to Communicate to Adolescents,” Sexing the Political (May 2004)

NO: Nora Gelperin, from “Oral Sex and Young Adolescents: Insights from the ‘Oral Sex Lady,’” Educator’s Update (September 2004)

Sexuality educator Rhonda Chittenden says that it is important for young people to expand their narrow definitions of sex and understand that oral sex is sex. Chittenden offers additional educational messages about oral sex. Sexuality trainer Nora Gelperin argues that adult definitions of oral sex are out of touch with the meaning the behavior holds for young people. Rather than impose adult definitions of intimacy, educators should be seeking to help young people clarify and understand their own values.

ISSUE 5. Should Emergency Contraception Be Available over the Counter?

YES: Jane E. Brody, from “The Politics of Emergency Contraception,” New York Times (August 24, 2004)

NO: United States Food and Drug Administration, from “FDA’s Decision Regarding Plan B: Questions and Answers,” www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/planB/planBQandA.htm (2004)

New York Times columnist Jane E. Brody believes that politics, not science, drove the FDA’s decision not to allow emergency contraception to be made available over the counter. The Food and Drug Administration, responsible for regulating all drugs dispensed in the United States, says that its decision was not political, and that it would reconsider its decision if presented with evidence that girls under age 16 could take it safely without parental supervision.

ISSUE 6. Is the G-Spot a Myth?

YES: Terence M. Hines, from “The G-Spot: A Modern Gynecologic Myth,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (August 2001)

NO: Gary Schubach, from “The Human Female Prostate and Its Relationship to the Popularized Term, G-Spot,” Tools and Education for a Better Sex Life, (2001)

Psychologist Terence M. Hines says that the widespread acceptance of the G-spot as being real conflicts with available evidence. Hines explains that the existence of the G-spot has never been verified by empirical, objective means and that women may have been misinformed about their bodies and their sexuality. Sexologist Gary Schubach responds to Hines’ critique of research on the G-spot. He states that what is commonly referred to as the G-spot is actually a female prostate gland. Renaming the G-spot the "female prostate" may help clear up misconceptions about the location and physiology of this controversial spot.

ISSUE 7. Is the Testosterone Patch the Right Cure for Low Libido?

YES: Carolyn Susman, from “Look Who’s Smiling Now: A New Patch Delivers to Menopausal Women a Dose of What the Guys Have: Sex-Drive-Revving Testosterone,” Palm Beach Post (October 30, 2004)

NO: Iver Juster, Gary Schubach, and Patricia Taylor, from “Testosterone Patches—The Cure for Low Female Sexual Desire?” (2002)

Columnist Carolyn Susman comments favorably on Intrinsa, a testosterone patch intended to treat low female desire in women. Susman outlines research findings that say the patch could improve sexual desire in women. Iver Juster, a family practitioner, Gary Schubach, a sex researcher and educator, and Patricia Taylor, a sex researcher and sexual enhancement coach, reject the idea that female sexual desire is hormonally driven, and say that the testosterone patch should not be regarded as a cure-all.

ISSUE 8. Should Health Insurers Be Required to Pay for Infertility Treatments?

YES: Diane D. Aronson, from “Should Health Insurers Be Forced to Pay for Infertility Treatments? Yes,” Insight on the News (February 8, 1999)

NO: Merrill Matthews, Jr., from “Should Health Insurers Be Forced to Pay for Infertility Treatments? No,” Insight on the News (February 8, 1999)

Diane D. Aronson, executive director of RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association’s consumer-advocacy and patient-support organization, argues that infertility is a disease of the reproductive system that strikes people in all walks of life. She concludes that requiring insurance companies to pay for proven medical treatments for infertility is the right thing to do in a country that places great value on healthy families. Merrill Matthews, Jr., a medical ethicist and vice president of domestic policy at the National Center for Policy Analysis, maintains that requiring all health insurance plans to pay for infertility treatments could significantly increase insurance costs for everyone.

ISSUE 9. Should Female Circumcision Be Banned?

YES: Loretta M. Kopelman, from “Female Circumcision/Genital Mutilation and Ethical Relativism,” Second Opinion (October 1994)

NO: P. Masila Mutisya, from “A Symbolic Form of Female Circumcision Should Be Allowed for Those Who Want It,” An Original Essay Written for This Volume (November 1997)

Loretta M. Kopelman, a professor of medical humanities, argues that certain moral absolutes apply to all cultures and that these, combined with the many serious health and cultural consequences of female circumcision, require that all forms of female genital mutilation be eliminated. P. Masila Mutisya, a professor of multicultural education, contends that we should allow the simplest form of female circumcision, nicking the clitoral hood to draw a couple of drops of blood, as part of the rich heritage of rite of passage for newborn and pubertal girls in those cultures with this tradition.

PART 2. Social Issues

ISSUE 10. Should Sexual Content on the Internet Be Restricted?

YES: Stephen G. Breyer, from the dissenting opinion in Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union (June 29, 2004)

NO: Anthony M. Kennedy, from the Court’s opinion in Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union (June 29, 2004)

In a dissenting opinion, United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer argues that the Child Online Protection Act does not impose an unreasonable burden on free speech, and should have been upheld by the high court. Explaining the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Child Online Protection Act, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy says that filtering software is a better and less restrictive alternative for protecting children from sexual content on the Inte...