Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130060
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A two-year run of such news has kept some in a stew over the cauldron of perceived perversions bubbling in the White House and threatening to boil over, to the moral peril of all. Then comes Dr. Joycelyn Elders, surgeon general of the United States, daring to talk about just plain sexuality - and as if there's nothing wrong with it.
Americans are soaked in sexual commercialism that hints at a never-ending bacchanalia going on in some "wet and wild" fantasy land they might stumble into if they slurp a particular soda pop. In real life, though, frank talk about the real thing is not politically correct.
So it is understandable that Clinton would fire Elders for commenting, in response to a question during an AIDS conference this month, that masturbation is "a part of human sexuality and it's a part of something that perhaps should be taught" in schools. Elders says she is not angry that she lost her job over the remark, but she is surprised. Few others likely are.
The outspoken and, yes, indiscreet Elders has been a lightning rod for criticism from storming conservatives since she was appointed surgeon general. A president struggling to rebuild an agenda from the rubble left by voters' decisive rebuke in midterm elections can't afford to put his energies into defending controversial views that he says he does not share.
And fair criticism could be leveled against Elders: that by focusing so much on addressing the health implications of wrong behavior, her approach might signal to young people that bad choices are acceptable.
Still, her penchant for saying things that people don't want to hear shouldn't have been in itself an unpardonable sin. Masturbation is a part of human sexuality and, in the age of AIDS, it is safe sex. Social pathologies created by drug trafficking do make decriminalization of some drugs a subject that at least ought to be debated. Illegitimate births are trapping women in a cycle of poverty that Medicaid might help address with better family planning services. Cigarette smoking is addictive and it does kill. Surgeon generals should be outspoken.
It's a physician's job to tell patients such things as: "Your habits are killing you; you must change or die." Some things are never pleasant to hear; some things we might prefer to repress. But the surgeon general is like the nation's physician. Agree or disagree with her suggested treatments, Elders diagnosed serious ills. From doctors, frankness ought to be as valuable as discretion.
by CNB