There is no argument. If you can prevent your daughter from getting cervical cancer, let her have the vaccine.
/I have spoken

Where I am, they are giving the vaccine free to females under 26. I was thinking of getting it since it's free but haven't done anything about it. I still need to learn more about it. If it has any side effects etc. I'm such a procrastinator.

She needs the vaccine, it could prevent cancer!

The idea that this vaccine will promote underate promiscuity is absurd.

When you got your tetanus vaccines did you start stepping on rusty nails for fun?

Here, in Canada, we were bombarded with vaccinations (tetanus, hepatitis, smallpox, etc) throughout elementary and high school; if I had recieved one more vaccine (such as the HPV one) at any point in my childhood I wouldn't have thought about it. Especially if I got a lollypop after.

The father's argument: I'd rather have my daughter die of cancer than go through the trouble explaining to her that the vaccine doesn't protect her from STDs and pregnancy.

I will take actions tomorrow and find out how to get my free vaccine. Prevention is better than cure as the saying goes.

Good for you!

I don't see why it can't wait a bit longer. If her parents are good parents at all, she's not in much danger of having underage sex yet and "catching" anything. I'd say let her be innocent a bit longer, and when the time comes then go ahead and get the vaccine.

It should also be noted that cancer is just one of the many sexually transmitted diseases she could catch. A cancer immunization isn't going to keep her "safe," from more than one of them.

Just seems to me like putting a condom on a ten-year-old boy, before he even knows what it's for.

Getting the vaccine wouldn't destroy her innocence. There's no reason to delay it at all.

What if she gets raped? And then, because the parents "wanted to let her be innocent" she gets a cancer on top of that.

Also, "when the time comes" is a different thing for what a parent wants and what statistically is the reality. So it becomes again a question of punishing the child by death if they don't do what their parent's want them to do. Nice.

Question for you, 'Boot:

Are immunizations common where you are from?

Here, everyone gets shots as kids. No-one would regard it as a big deal if girls went to get one more than the stinky boys. I don't think any kids I grew up with thought about how you could contract the diseases we were vaccinated against (except tetanus - thanks to genius 'showoffs' like my brother), we just knew we got shots so we wouldn't get sick. I don't think giving a young lady an HPV vaccine, in our circumstances, will take away any innocence.

Well, I guess if you're that interested in protecting innocence, you could give her the shot and just not offer a detailed explanation for it. Just tell her it's so she won't get cancer down there and leave it at that.
That would let her retain her sexual innocence for a few more years and keep her from getting cancer in the event of a rape.
Anyway. Not my decision to make. Whatever they decide is fine with me. Care factor = 0. :)

[Edit:] Frankly, I honestly don't understand why some people think it's necessary to rush informing kids about their sexuality, often before they even reach puberty. It's just not required. Time was when a man would wait until his son's wedding day to sit down with him and have "the talk". Of course, those were the days of "oppressive" religious sexual practices, such as sex before marriage being taboo.
But anyway. Let them be kids. They've got the rest of their mature lives to think about and have sex.

No doubt. Just tell her it's a vaccine against cervical cancer, and be done with it. There's no reason to go into a more detailed explanation now, if you're so uncomfortable with the subject.

I mean, the father is going to stand by this argument until the girl is 28, all because he doesn't want to think about the fact that his daughter is going to be sexually active. Probably long before he will be comfortable with it.

Adolescent and pre-marital sex are not RECENT innovations. The whole tradition of an engagement ring was so that if a guy backed out the family would have a decent dowry to be able to marry off their now-no-longer "clean" daughter.

As to the article, I think it should just be presented as another shot. She will understand when she gets older. Cervical Cancer is one of the cancers that regularly attacks the young, so it should be guarded against.

Also, I would like to point out that Cervical Cancer is not an STD. It is associated with exposure to an STD. Even if she has sex, and is exposed to HPV, she is not destined to contract cervical cancer. I also believe (but would have to verify) that sexual contact is not REQUIRED to contract Cervical Cancer. Not sure if the vaccine protects against that though. But why take a risk you don't need?

For most people it's a question of getting the information there in time. If you don't have the talk early enough, what the kids are left with is whatever rumours and misinformation they can collect from their friends.

I understand that many parents would want their children to wait as long as possible before becoming sexually active. I know I do. But that's not the reality in the world we live in. Teenagers have sex, with multiple partners, before marriage. Parents can try to steer them to right direction, but in most cases, they can't stop this from happening.

Yesterday my daughter turned four. We had the first "talk" about a week ago (good touch/bad touch). If you care about your child at all, you have to do those things, no matter what your personal beliefs are. Because the only person whose behaviour you can control is yourself.

when i first heard about the vaccine i thought that it was adding yet another carefree element to young peoples sex lives...but than i realized even in marriage you can be exposes to HPV...for example if your husband isnt faithful...so i think that the vaccine along with sex ed. is a godd idea

I don't see how anyone could say that this vaccine is a green light for (fill in the blank) sex. There are still plenty of other things to worry about besides cervical cancer. Aids, herpes, pregnancy.

Give her the damn vaccine.

well said

Rape...


that is all

I'm writing this in the least offensive way imaginable, so please don't take it that way.

I don't have any intention of telling my kids about sex until it's necessary.

I found out too early and it caused me some major problems. Not really wanting to put the burden of sexuality (and the responsibilities that go with it) on my kid's little shoulders just yet. I'm thinking probably fifteen is a good age.

Kids don't have sex with reckless abandon no matter what you tell them. Kids behave exactly the way you train them to behave. And if you train them that sex outside of marriage (or just with random people, if you don't have a problem with premarital sex) is wrong or dangerous, they'll stick to it. You have a lot more clout with your kids than you think.

What you do with your kids is completely up to you. You're the one responsible for them. My care factor is zero. I just prefer to wait until later with my kids. Information is good. Communication is critical. But giving a child too much information before they know how to use it responsibly is, I think, unwise.

Umm.. did I miss something? You cannot "train" kids, people are born as individuals and as such they will make their own decisions. It was my decision not my parents to become a vegetarian, to be an independent, and to accept gays. My parents were against every one of those but as an individual I chose to disagree.

don't you think that if you wait until 15-ish society will teach you'r kids something about sex before you can, and in the long run it would be hard to explain?
...and as far as training kids don't you think if you "train kids' to recognize a line of acceptibility in their decisions then it will affect how they act and what they support in the future, I guess raising would be a better word than training.