When I graduated from medical school, I took an oath to always respect the special obligations I have toward other human beings, and to prevent disease whenever possible.
Now, many years later, I am troubled by the obstacles that stand in my way.
I'm not referring to external threats like managed care or frivolous lawsuits. Rather, the issues that concern me come from within my profession.
I am here to tell you that radical politics pervades healthcare, and common sense has vanished. Who's paying the highest price? Girls and women.
Not long ago, we physicians could call casual sexual activity "mindless" and "empty." Before political correctness muzzled us in the '90s, a therapist might advise her client that it is love and life-long fidelity that bring liberated sensuality and provide the best insurance against infectious diseases. An unwanted pregnancy, an abortion—these were weighty issues.
We understood that men and women are profoundly different, and weren't afraid to say so. It was clear that liaisons outside a committed relationship could be hazardous. A sexually transmitted infection was a serious matter. Traditional marriage and parenthood were valued milestones. Self-restraint built character, and character was something to strive for. To search for meaning and to make sacrifices for a higher purpose were noble endeavors defining our humanity.
Things have changed. Teens are encouraged to explore and experiment with their sexuality. Self-discipline has been replaced with latex and Plan B. There is tacit approval of promiscuity, and an STI is a rite of passage. Abortion? It's likened to a tonsillectomy.
The health care system has declared war on tobacco and alcohol, tanning salons and transfats, but is silent about the hazards of our hook-up culture. Women's health focuses on preventing pregnancy, but fails to warn that motherhood cannot be delayed indefinitely. Traditional marriage with a mother and father is just one option among others, all equally valid.
Devoted professionals, motivated by altruism, are foisting these agendas on young people. I witness the ramifications daily.
Risky behaviors are a personal choice. Judgments are prohibited—they might offend. Millions of teens have painful, worrisome genital infections—for the rest of their lives. Girls in high school are anxious, not about acne, but about cervical cancer. Women complete their PhDs at 35, and realize the hardest challenge lies ahead: getting their Mrs., and becoming an Mo.M.
The health benefits of church attendance are never discussed. Instead, a past president of the American Psychological Association declares organized religion a major source of social injustice. That organization is also worried about what I think and how I speak. They advise me to avoid thinking of men and women as "opposites," because the term suggests "polarization."
I cannot do my job, my patients are suffering, and I am fed up.
I wrote the book Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student, and the response was staggering. Parents, young adults, educators, grandparents, clergy, and health providers wrote me by the hundreds saying, Finally! Bless you for having the courage to speak up. Please don't stop!
Stop? No way. There's a lot of work to be done. My mission is to expose and combat the manipulation of healthcare to advance social agendas. I challenge my colleagues who shamelessly promote high risk sexual behavior and pornography to vulnerable teens and college students. I ask them: what are we fighting? Viruses and bacteria, or sexism, racism, and homophobia? The struggle for social justice is a noble one, but has no place in a clinic or counseling center.
No, I'm not stopping. I'm looking ahead to a busy year, filled with writing, speaking, research, and of course, patients. Welcome to my website—I hope you'll visit often, and participate in this critical debate—one more aspect of the culture war being waged in our great nation.