What's really "mean"?

by Fran Eaton

Dubbing the HPV vaccine controversy "A New Level of Mean Girls," Daily Southtown's Kristen McQueary chides Jill Stanek today for her ongoing Illinois Review's "Debbie Does . . ." series here and here.

From the perspective of IR's editor,

• It's "mean" to lower expectations for our daughters to levels that assume they will make poor behavior decisions 
• It's "mean" to not provide them with the information they need how to avoid contracting the HPV virus, rather than assume they'll engage in destructive behavior 
• It's "mean" not to care for those uninformed young women whose bodies may become protected by the HPV vaccine, but whose damaged hearts and broken dreams due to promiscuity will take years to heal

• It's "mean" and destructive for state funds to be delegated to teaching comprehensive sex ed over the overall healthier choice of abstinence until marriage
• It's "mean" to deal with the symptoms rather than the cause of the HPV virus problem 
• It's "mean" to insinuate that HPV virus will always lead to cervical cancer and then to death 
• It's "mean" to ignore the drug company campaign funds our elected officials have taken to buy their support for forcing their products on our children 
• It's "mean" for conservative lawmakers to threaten to support the HPV vaccine legislation because of frank questions that have been asked on this website 
• It's "mean" not to stand up for what's right and then assure voters you're for traditional family values

Illinois Review proudly stands beside what's right in the long run for our daughters. Call that "mean" if you will, but we won't budge and we won't let up.