Contributed by Kate Harding.
NOTE: Here's Kate reporting from the second day of the SisterSong conference...
Wow. Dr. Joycelyn Elders is so fucking cool.
For the young'uns around here, in 1993, she became the first African-American and second woman U.S. Surgeon General. After she publicly (at a UN conference on AIDS) stated that masturbation "is a part of human sexuality" and "perhaps should be taught" (as, you know, a healthy alternative to the kinds of sex that transmit disease and cause pregnancy -- go figure) the wingnuts went so insane that Clinton asked for her resignation.
She's 74 years old now, and as she puts it, "I'm not agin', I'm sagin'." I don't even know where to begin covering everything she just said as today's keynote speaker.
How 'bout a few -- or several -- quotes of the day?
"We're sexual beings from the time we're born until we die, and we need to make sure we understand our sexuality and realize that sex is about more than procreation."
"If men went through menopause, we'd know everything about it, but we still don't even know if we should be taking hormones."
"I want every child that's born in the world to be planned and wanted."
"People tell me girls want to have babies so they can get a welfare check -- have you ever known anybody to get rich on a welfare check?"
"If you say children wouldn't know anything about masturbation on their own, you've never changed a little boy's diaper."
"If you can't control your reproduction, you can't control your life."
On why we should be focused on promoting contraception: "I never knew a woman who needed an abortion who wasn't already pregnant. Let's get real."
On people who say condoms aren't 100% reliable: "Condoms will break, but I can sure you that vows of abstinence will break more easily than condoms."
On politicians who promote abstinence-only education: "They are boycotting common sense."
And, finally: "It's like dancing with a bear. When you're dancing with a bear, you can't get tired and sit down. You have to wait for the bear to get tired."
She got a standing ovation, twice.
Kate Harding is a Chicago-based writer who blogs about feminism and fat acceptance at Shapely Prose and about books at The Bibliophilistines.
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Damn. She is so totally my hero. I want to be just like her when I grow up.
I think I am a little bit in love with this woman. What a quote machine!!! I think my favorite is the one about abortion...too fucking true. Rock on Joycelyn
She got a standing ovation, twice.
I just gave her one in my living room, just from reading this article.
Never heard of her before, but I think I'm in LOVE!
Damn. I'll just be your echo, peenerbambina lol
"On people who say condoms aren't 100% reliable: 'Condoms will break, but I can sure you that vows of abstinence will break more easily than condoms.'"
...and even if a vow of premarital abstinence isn't broken, the wedding rings still have holes in them bigger than many broken condoms do. ;)
Amazing. Just plain amazing.
I need to look up more on this woman.
She seems absolutely amazing.
"Condoms will break, but I can sure you that vows of abstinence will break more easily than condoms."
this made me grin very widely
w00t! I love the bear-dancing quote.
WOW! I found myself saying "YEAH!" after every quote.
Oh, that should, of course, be "I can assure you the vows of abstinence..." not "I can sure you." I was typing fast and didn't proofread well enough.
But what exactly is the "it" that she's saying is like dancing with a bear? Promoting abstinence? Human sexuality? Getting pregnant? It's a cute quote, but needs some context, please.
Joycelyn Elders is awesome. It's so sad that masturbation is STILL so taboo. When was the last time Feministing tackled the issue?
The conference was great! Here are a few other quotes I liked.
Talking about the current controversy surrounding the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, Dr. Elders said: "We insure our house, we insure our car ... but we don't want to insure our daughters against cervical cancer." She accused politicians of playing: "Vaginal politics -- using women to get elected." And she spoke about the challenges facing African American men, and how the government could "send kids to Harvard for less than what we spend incarcerating them."
I think the "bear" she was referring to is the current administration. In her final swipe at them, Dr. Elders noted: "Not to know is bad ... not to want to know is worse ... but not to care is unforgivable."
BAC
I've long been a big fan of Dr. Elders. She just had a terrific interview on NPR where she discussed much of the same topics. I blogged about it here: http://blog.babeland.com/2007/06/01/joycelyn-elders-on-npr/
I remember when she had to resign! What a stupid fucking situation. She was great.
Thanks, BAC 104. I was typing as fast as I could, but I know I missed some great quotes.
And yes, the bear line is referring to both the current administration and, I think, fighting injustice in general.
Yay! i love joycelyn elders. she spoke at my college graduation. she was so awesome, even my conservative parents thought she was great. she used the bear quote back then too, it was about 5 years ago.
Wow, wow, wow! She has an amazing capacity for cutting through all the crap and getting to the key points on issues.
Thank-you so much for sharing her words here.
I found another great quote from her on her Wikipedia entry:
“We know that more than 70 to 80% of women masturbate, and 90% of men masturbate, and the rest lie.�
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joycelyn_Elders
See also her quotes on Wikiquote:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joycelyn_Elders
Grant - that's a b.s. quote. You cannot prove a negative. As someone who does not masturbate, I'm pissed off when people tell me that I'm unnatural or lying. Except for me, sexuality is deeply emotional. There's no point in masturbating, in my world, because the best part is missing.
Kinsey would disagree with her.
Random question: what are the pregnancy rates of students who have comprehensive sex-ed and abstinence education? I'm almost certain that they are identical.
Oenophlie, I think the rates are similar, but I can't remember the name of the study that proved this.
Also, don't abstinence-only kids have more anal and oral sex?
I frown not on these activities, but there's something pretty funny about the contradiction.