Epistemic Violence

In response to the proposed vaccine for the human papilloma virus (link):

"I personally object to vaccinating children when they don't need vaccinations, particularly against a disease that is one hundred per cent preventable with proper sexual behavior," Leslee J. Unruh, the founder and president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, said.

Because HPV is a cancer-causing virus, we hear the uproar about life and death and our need to react to the Bush Administration's archaic relationship to any science that might make premarital sex less risky. WHY IS IT that we need the word "cancer" inserted to make us fidgety with anger? STD's don't need to fall into some "other" category of ailments simply because a conservative political presence deems premarital sex improper. I like this article's complexity and message, but I want HPV to be on our radar without the rhetorical device of "cancer" to legitimize it.

I think we need a new instantiation of the bumper sticker "Just say no to sex with pro-lifers."

How about "Just say no to sex with anti-science pricks who think that just because no one wanted to screw them premaritally, we all need to hunker down and keep our panties on until heteronormative property-exchanges doth put the fire of the Lord into our loins."