Syphilis Awareness Campaigns Past & Present

 Recently I had to do a group presentation in one of my classes that our group chose to do over syphilis. I handled the entertaining segment of our presentation and I thought I would rework it here to share with everyone because even though it is over a pretty heinous STD it is still pretty interesting and our country's history with handling awareness is pretty entertaining!

The numbers of reported primary and secondary syphilis diagnoses have varied widely since reporting began in 1941, from a high of almost 95,000 in 1946 to a low of around 6,000 reported cases in 2000. As of 2009, 62% of syphilis cases in the United States were attributed to homosexual males. Although the majority of current U.S. syphilis cases have occurred among homosexual males, syphilis among heterosexual males is also an emerging problem. Syphilis is a curable disease with early diagnosis and treatment; however, being infected and treated for syphilis does not mean that you are immune to future exposure. Syphilis can be prevented much like any other STD, by using latex condoms every time you have sex or oral sex, by abstaining from sex all together or through a mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner.

STD awareness campaigns started with the US military and their aggressive public information campaigns to limit sexually transmitted disease among the armed forces, which makes perfect sense when you consider that penicillin didn't go into wide use until after World War II, meaning syphilis  remained serious threats to the troops and the Army's staying power. In the beginning most of the ads played to the soldier’s patriotism by asking them to avoid venereal disease for the sake of their country. This ad is pleading with soldiers to consider both their country and their wives and children back home. 

Here is a British ad focused on warning the ladies that all the rosy cheeked soldiers coming into town are bringing syphilis with them. 

Eventually most ads were aimed at warning men about the dangers of sexually active women though and this one is an obvious example of that. A little too obvious so that it borders on cheesy but it gets the point across I guess.

Here the woman pictured is venereal disease as the label on her chest reads and the soldiers are cleverly warned not to be “her pin up boy”. So cleaver!

Syphilis awareness ads today are much different than the previous ads but then again so are the issues surround the disease. Our battles with syphilis aren’t as dire with today’s modern medicine but the disease hasn’t been eradicated so there is still a need to educate the public.

Using condoms during sex is relatively understood but for some reason people do not always think to use them during oral sex.

Syphilis Sucks is a brilliant ad that uses a condom disguised as a lollipop to generate awareness that STDs are most certainly transmitted during oral sex also.

Alberta Canada’s public health authorities launched an innovative campaign that parodies the popular Plenty of Fish dating website. In an effort to raise awareness about the rate of syphilis in the province they designed the website plentyofsyph.com to look just like any other dating site complete with profiles of syphilis infected singles. The site though is less about hooking up with syphilis carriers and more about disgusting the population into better safe sex habits.

Elaine Riddick & Eugenics

                 

                 I was watching Rock Center with Brian Williams earlier this week when they reported on a story that was unimaginably sad and disturbing. The report focused on the story of Elaine Riddick who was 13 years old when she was raped and impregnated by her attacker. If that wasn’t enough horror for one person to endure Elaine was later sterilized, without her consent, immediately after giving birth to the baby boy that had resulted from the rape. That was in Winfall, N.C., in 1967. This summer Elaine along with several others told their stories at a public hearing held in North Carolina and it was the first time many had ever heard about the sordid past of North Carolina much less Americas dark history with eugenics.  North Carolina was only one of 31 states in the US to have a government run eugenics program. 

                Eugenics was started as a scientific curiosity during the Victorian age. Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, theorized that if talented people married only other talented people they would have measurably better offspring. Galton's ideas were imported into the United States at the turn of the last century. Eugenics was, quite literally, an effort to breed better human beings by encouraging the reproduction of people with "good" genes and discouraging those with "bad" genes. Eugenicists effectively lobbied for social legislation to keep racial and ethnic groups separate, to restrict immigration, and to sterilize people like Elaine Riddick, considered "genetically unfit." In a proud moment for our country the Germans adapted elements of the American eugenics movement as a model for the Nazi movement, and their radical adaptation of eugenics culminated in the Holocaust.

                Now The victims in North Carolina are telling their stories publicly and waiting for NC to come to some sort of agreement on compensation, as if any amount would make up for what they did. Many believe that NC is just buying time hoping to let nature run its course and victims die of old age in an effort to avoid paying victims. The government swears that is not the case but only time will tell I guess.

Elaine was only 13 when they decided she wasn’t fit to have more children. The state social workers declared a 13 year old rape victim as “mentally retarded” and “promiscuous”. She didn’t even know what they had done until years later when she married and visited a doctor about her inability to get pregnant. Her doctor told her that she’d been sterilized; that she had been “butchered”. In spite of her traumatic past she went on to live a fairly normal life. She went to college and raised the only son she would ever have. She is extremely proud of the man she raised and he is equally as proud of his mother.

In a time when we have a group calling themselves the 99 percenters  and the other side saying that it’s class warfare, I feel like I have to mention that some of America’s wealthiest citizens were eugenicists in its day. Dr. Clarence Gamble of the Procter and Gamble fortune and James Hanes of the hosiery company were both eugenicists.  Hanes even helped found the Human Betterment League which promoted the cause of eugenicists. Seeing as how they believed that poverty, along with promiscuity and alcoholism, were traits that were inherited, if that isn’t class warfare I don’t know what is!

               

Seventeen Years of Wedded Bliss (sprinkled in with 17 years of just plain old marriage)!

In just a few short days my husband and I will celebrate our seventeenth wedding anniversary. I am incredibly lucky that we have made it this far because we did everything wrong! We met when I was 15 (love at first sight), married when I was just 18, and then we immediately got pregnant with our girls (twins). We hardly had a moment to breathe and just enjoy one another’s company before we piled on the incredible stress of being responsible for two newborns. It was DIFFICULT! When I think back to those hard times though, I know without a doubt that even though I was just a stupid kid I made the best decision of my life when I accepted Tracy’s proposal. Our life is much easier now so while I still love and appreciate him immensely it is somewhat easier to look back for the deep reasons why.

In 1995 we had very little (nothing), and when I got pregnant we moved in with his parents to save money for a down payment on our first home. He took a second job to expedite the process and when I was put on bed rest he made sure I was as comfortable as possible, which included trips home between jobs to bring me a new book or movie. I of course was never comfortable (couldn’t breathe with two babies up in my rib cage) but it was sweet of him to try. When the girls came seven weeks early he stayed by our side and kept me sane when all I wanted to do was feel sorry for myself, because I didn’t have the perfect delivery I had hoped for. New mothers are the worse about making up reasons to feel inadequate (I even felt bad that I had two at once so I couldn’t give them each undivided attention)! Then when we finally got to take our girls home they had to be fed every four hours. My in-laws offered to help and to even keep one or both of the babies in their room but my husband wouldn’t let them (he must have caught my insanity). Even though he had to leave for his first job at 5 am, he got up with me throughout the night for feedings and whatever else our girls needed. He was and still is an incredible dad, and that is one of the top ten reasons why I love him so much (#3).

While I love my husband and he has done many things right he is still no saint. I have yet to meet anyone who has a perfect relationship unless they have only known each other for a month and then it just doesn’t count. I think the main thing that has saved us from walking (running) away from each other is our sense of humor. We laugh a lot and many times (most of the time) it is at each other. I think a sense of humor is hugely important in any long term relationship (it comes in handy when dealing with my mother also). Our marriage hasn’t been perfect but it has gotten better and that makes me incredibly optimistic about our future. Soon we won’t have children at home to take care of and all that “us” time we missed out on in the beginning we will get to catch up on. We already have a lot of plans and what’s keeping us smiling these days is trying to keep those plans from our teenagers. They are going to be so mad when we leave for Germany (Tschüs)!

Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

                After purchasing tickets a couple of weeks ago for an upcoming concert I had a thought that it was very close to the anniversary of our family’s first concert together. Upon further investigation I realized it was the same month in 2007 that we had all attended our first concert together. Our daughters had just turned 12 when on October 27, 2007 we took them to Memphis, TN (Mud Island Amphitheater) to attend the Young Wild Things concert tour. Fall Out Boy was headlining the concert with Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's, and Cute Is What We Aim For. It was fantastic and it was the catalyst for our family’s addiction to concerts. My husband and I had attended various concerts in our past both separately and together but it had been a long time before we finally went again, as a family, in 2007. As a young family it wasn’t really an option to attend concerts as we had previously but when the girls were old enough it became a way we could spend time together and reward our daughters for having outstanding grades. Since then we have attended over fifteen concerts together and it has went from one or two a year to as many as we can get to! In many ways it reminds me of how people talk about tattoos, once you have your first you are always thinking about your next. That is exactly how we are about concerts; if we don’t have one booked to at least look forward to we feel slightly depressed. It is hard to explain.

                The reason behind sharing this was because I don’t think a lot of people consider taking their kids to concerts, but they should. To be clear though, I am not advocating bringing small children to concerts. Nothing upsets me more at a concert than a little kid with their hands over their ears. Those small children do not understand what is going on and should have been left at home with a sitter. We decided ours were old enough at 12 and we chose a venue that was large to avoid the crowded mosh pit scenario that is a part of the concerts we attend now that they are 16 and more capable of defending themselves. If you take into consideration the artist, the venue, and the timing, you can make concert going with your kids a successful event that will create memories to last a life time. I will never forget a couple of years ago when the girls were opening Christmas gifts and came across tickets for the Black Eyed Peas concert, they cried! Even after all the concerts we have been to it’s still exciting for them and it still makes them overwhelmingly happy, what else can evoke that kind of response from teens?

                What better way to reward your kids for all their hard work and good behavior than to give them the experience of live music and the memories of family time spent doing something everyone loves? Since most people reading this have kids younger than mine I am hoping this gives you some inspiration on unique ways you can spend quality time with your kids and reward them for the things we should never take for granted.

 On December 4^th we will be going to Tulsa to see The Ugly Christmas Sweater Concert tour featuring Rise Against with Cage The Elephant and AWOLNATION. It will be our third time seeing Cage The Elephant, which officially makes us groupies I am pretty sure, but we are okay with that!  

 

Cage The Elephant - Shake Me Down