A campus psychiatrist reveals how political correctness in her profession endangers every student”

“Unprotected” is based on Dr. Grossman’s personal experiences counseling college students who have become the cannon fodder of the sexual revolution and political correctness on campus. She makes a powerful case for changing the way colleges, and our whole society, present sexual intimacy and health.

 

Radical politics pervades my profession, and common sense has vanished. Not long ago, a psychiatrist might call casual sexual activity `mindless’ and `empty.’ Before political correctness muzzled our nation in the nineties, a campus physician might advise a student that it is love and lifelong fidelity that bring joy and liberated sensuality, and provide the best insurance against sexually transmitted diseases.

Psychology, psychiatry, and social work has been captured by an ultraliberal agenda there are `horror studies’ of `shunning and intimidation’ many will not speak up, fearing ridicule, vicious attack, or loss of tenure or stature.

Heather, a 19 year-old studying performing arts, who came in during her freshman year to see a psychologist, due to moodiness and crying spells. Asked by Dr. Grossman about any relationships that are affecting her life, she explains that “since Thanksgiving, I’ve had a friend with benefits.’ And actually I’m kind of confused about that. I met him at a party, and I really like him, but there’s this problem. I want to spend more time with him, and do stuff like going shopping or see a movie. That would make it a friendship for me. But he says no, because if we do those things, then in his opinion we’d have a relationship and that’s more than he wants. And I’m confused, because it seems like I don’t get the friend’ part, but he still gets the benefits.'”

Olivia, 18, is also a freshman. She was a valedictorian of her senior class, and hopes to go to medical school, but who has been very depressed and vomiting up to six times a day. “Why do they tell you how to protect your body from herpes and pregnancy but they don’t tell you what it (uncommitted sex) does to your heart? To acknowledge the negative consequences of the anything-goes, hooking-up culture would challenge the notion that women are just like men, and undermine the premise of `safer sex.’ And in our ultra-secular campuses, no belief comes so close as these to being sacred.

There is an odd approach in sexual health: instead of asking our youth to strive for self-control and smart choices, we assume they’ll make poor choices and have multiple partners, including some they hardly know. Why else would every pamphlet and Web site advise them, “First, talk with your partner.” It’s as if whoever’s composing this material has given up on standards, and expects the behavior of the lowest common denominator. “Almost everyone gets HPV at some time,” says a popular health Web site, implying: it’s really not something to get upset about.

My concerns are legitimate, and they are unwelcome, I believe, because they challenge campus dogma: latex protects, behaviors are entrenched, disease is unavoidable.

But these same health providers approach other risks differently: overeating, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, drinking, driving without seat belts. With these topics, they emphatically endorse an ideal and aren’t shy about sharing their expectations.

Here, too, the doctrine of sex without consequences and the notion that women are just like men have made their way into the field of reproductive health, also called women’s health. It’s ironic if the health of women were the sole concern here, they’d be screaming from the roof tops of every planned parenthood and campus health center for women to wait, if only one or two years.

The message must get out: casual sex is a health hazard for young women. Women must hear from campus authorities that delaying sex, even for one or two years, is a fundamental way in addition to eating right, exercising, wearing sunscreen to be proactive about their health. And why not offer support groups for students who want to change their behavior? Why not familiarize them with their anatomy, the research on bonding, and the risk of depression?

The young people I know are neither stupid nor enslaved to their urges. They are capable and motivated; many will respond to an ennobling message, reject the prurient messages of our culture, and learn new behaviors. Isn’t that what youth is about questioning, idealism, change? But for this to happen, we must tell the whole story, warts and all. Tell them we’re waging a war against these bugs, and the bugs are winning. Tell them 20 million people in our country have HPV.. and that doctors, drug companies, and corporations are making billions.