I also noticed that handy got in trouble in that thread. What’s up with that?
Esprix
Exprix–I can’t remember exactly what thread it started in (and god knows I’m not searching through 10K posts), but AFAICR he was clipped for consistently posting what seemed like technical medical info but was pretty much just bullshit in GQ threads. There was concern that people might take him seriously, hence the medical-GQ ban.
Lots of of people do, and they’re not all imbeciles. Witness the overuse of Ritalin in the US school system. What’s so different about Saltpetre that makes even considering its use so offensive ? I don’t think that anyone can honestly claim that all the kids taking Ritalin gave their free and informed consent. Kids get all sorts of things done to them that they don’t know about, much less comprehend. That does not make their parents monsters.
Saltpetre doesn’t work well. Beckyvs found that out. Now, like a good parent, she won’t use it on the child. By making the relevant information hard to obtain you just encourage parents like her to act on the basis of their ignorance.
Standing up for good parenting is all very well and proper, but it shouldn’t be carried to this extreme where it interferes with people getting the information they need to make decisions about how to raise their children.
Yes, the sex drive is a wonderful and good thing. But I’m willing to bet that there are very few parents out there who want their 12-17-year-olds to be engaging in intercourse. Who hasn’t wished that kids came with switches that we could activate when they were old enough to handle the responsibility and emotions of sexual relationships? We know it is just an idle sci-fi dream, but I don’t find that kind of dream offensive.
Did you miss the story about my co-worker’s fiance’s seven children? Or how about the 12 year old son of a former co-worker
who is being teased by the other sixth grade boys for being a virgin and not being someone’s daddy yet? Several of his classmates have children already—parents at age 12—and they think it’s funny, and desirable. I don’t know about you, but I really would rather not have my children be sexually active so young.
So dreaming about a way to prevent this kind of tragedy is not offensive to me, but acting on that dream would be. But maybe I was just raised by wise parents who taught me the difference.
The difference is that Ritalin is a prescription drug, last I recall, and has a legit medical function.
Quite a leap there. Having a sex drive doesn’t have to mean you’re having sexual intercourse, or vice versa. I have a lot of fond memories of quite a bit of hormone-driven hand-holding and snuggling through my teenage years. I would have missed out on a lot if I’d been chemically impaired in that.
Sexual feelings don’t just drive your desire to insert tab A in slot B. Even if I were going to be without a sex partner for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t want to give up my sex drive. It’s plenty of fun all by itself.
Corr
So, then, those of us who haven’t had sex yet have done so because of lack of sex drive?
:rolleyes:
Yeah?! There are people who think that Ritalin may be overprescribed, and that there are a few parents who do not want to do that to their kids.
Also, there are parents who DO have to use Ritalin and resent it.
Kitten, I’m honestly flabbergasted you’d post this. I would have thought you’d know this already, but you DO realize that having a sex drive does not force you to have sex, right?
Let me be really, really clear, as clear as I can be; having a sex drive is a basic human function, and it is important to have one. Teenagers are becoming emotionally mature. Their sex drive is part of their identity, and it’s something they have to learn to live with, to control, to appreciate, and to use. It’s a very, very important part of being a human. Turning it off would stunt a person’s emotional development.
Well, sure. And what sort of moron doesn’t think to themselves, “But it’s just a wish”?
Lots of people wish they could shoot their boss. Few people are crazy or evil enough to come onto a message board and say “Hey, anyone know what the best gun to shoot your boss with is? And what kind of bullets should I use?” Fewer people still would defend such a nutwit.
Then maybe it’s a good idea to raise your kids to have self-respect, conscience, and self-control, and punish them when they misbehave. You COULD, I guess, prevent them from having kids by drugging them. You COULD prevent them from getting into trouble by handcuffing them to their beds. You COULD prevent them from being led astray by their friends by not allowing them to have any friends and never allowing them to go outside. You could prevent sports injuries by having them strapped to a wheelchair.
Umm… you do realize that asking for information about it is going beyond “Dreaming” and into “acting,” right?
Duh, yeah, I do realize that having a sex drive doesn’t force you to have sex. Do you realize that I was not talking about totally destroying a person’s sex drive, but just wishfully thinking that it would be nice if, after all the good upbringing, value lessons, etc,etc, etc… we could still have a way of insuring that if the kid rejects all that, we could still prevent it from happening. I know it’s unrealistic. I know it’s impossible, and everything else. Isn’t that the essence of dreams and wishful thinking?
And as for the last part, I know it’s hard to follow replies to posts, but ** I ** was replying to Guin’s comment that the thought of being able to control a child’s sex drive was offensive. I disagreed. I didn’t think the thought was offensive, but I did agree that any implementation of that thought was. I never said that I thought the person mentioned in the OP should poison her son. I just meant to say that I could understand a mother’s wish that her son not get somebody pregnant.
Gotta love The Pit.
I think the reason I found it offensive is that she was actually considering going through with it-rather than “wishful thinking”.
And I agree with you that doing so would be offensive, among other things.