As the Gateway Pundit previously reported, Teen Vogue published a guide to anal sex, targeted at children ages 11-17. There has been considerable and righteous outrage from the Right concerning this sick stunt.
Last week Michelangelo Signorile of the Huffington Post wrote an article defending the original Teen Vogue piece and attacking those who have been upset by it.
Signorile begins his defense by using stereotypes to generalize a massive group of people, a thing the Left says it is against, but is actually very proficient at:
Teen Vogue’s recent publication of “A Guide to Anal Sex” has brought out the usual crop of right-wing, anti-LGBTQ religious conservatives who are stirring a backlash against the magazine.
Radio host and Fox News commentator Todd Starnes, one of the most outlandish anti-queer bigots on the airwaves, zeroed in on the issue this week, bringing onto his show Elizabeth Johnston, otherwise known as “The Activist Mommy.”
He goes on to sight Elizabeth Johnston’s quarrels with teaching kids how to have anal sex:
I was truly flabbergasted. They should not be teaching sodomy to our children…All of us are trying to do our best to protect our children from immorality and over-sexualization in our culture. And to see this disturbing article where sodomy is being normalized, not discouraged ― even the CDC says that sodomy is the riskiest sexual behavior for getting and transmitting HIV for men and women.
Signorile then says that her arguments are all the more reason to to show kids the dirty details of anal intercourse, claiming that they will be protected from STDs if they know the risk involved. This would make some sense, if a kids magazine was the appropriate place for kids to learn about these matters, which it most certainly isn’t. Teen Vogue is less of a high school health class taught by a certified teacher, and more of a site where kids learn about fidget spinners and what sneakers are fashionable this season.
(Elizabeth Johnston’s video attacking Teen Vogue):
And therein lies the reason why it’s so vital to talk to all teenagers, straight and LGBTQ, about anal sex and how to engage in it safely. But just as importantly, they must be taught that it is normal, natural and healthy―yes, healthy―and that it is nothing about which to be ashamed nor to stigmatize others about. Telling young people, as Johnston does, that “sodomy” is “disturbing” and a part of the “immorality” in our culture, and should not be “normalized,” is encouraging bullying, violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people.
Anal sex is, after all, a predominant form of intimacy between men who have sex with men and among many transgender women and men, and the message Johnston sends is that queer people are immoral. There is absolutely no getting around this,…
The rest of Signorile’s rant is comprised of arguments against abstinence, as promoted by the religious Right.
His flawed point is that magazines like Teen Vogue are appropriate places for teens to learn these very important facts of life. He also diminishes the rightful concern from parents to nothing more than another case of bigotry against the LGBT community in the name of traditionalism. He is missing the point that parents have the right to raise their kids the way that they want to, and can choose to exclude lessons in anal sex from their child’s recreational reading list if it conflicts with their ethical values, something Teen Vogue desperately lacks.
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