#200 Birds, Bees, and Breeding Teens
The Issue
A study has shown that an increasing proportion of teenagers in @@NAME@@ are falling pregnant.
The Debate
1. "We need comprehensive sex education to be mandatory in all schools," says teacher @@RANDOMNAME@@, while tidying away some diagrams that make your eyes water. "The plain fact is that teenagers will experiment with sexual intercourse despite what society or their parents wish. So I say give these kids free contraceptives, and make them fully aware of the consequences of their actions. Information is what they need, not condemnation. If they ignore it then hey, it's their own damn fault."
2. ???
3. "If you give them contraception it'll just encourage them to do... terrible things," says @@RANDOMNAME@@, a religious parent and member of evangelist group Moral Minority. "And what's with giving them so much information? There's even diagrams for goodness sake! Have they never heard of 'monkey see, monkey do'? They'll just go and try it out, mark my words! The solution is simple: girls should be kept at home and away from the monkey house of lustful impetuousness and young males until they are of age. Teaching teenagers abstinence and chastity is the key, not giving them step-by-step manuals."
4. "However sex education is taught, it is still social engineering and so undermines parental authority," says conservative moral crusader @@RANDOMNAME@@. "My own son learned about something called 'homosexuality' the other day! For shame! We all know it should be Adam and Eve, not Adam and... Geoff? Anyway, my point is that sex education should be dropped from schools and instead taught by parents the way they see fit. That way children will get consistent messages and parents, not society, will cop the blame if any of their kids fall pregnant."
5. "No-one's asked me my opinion yet," says teenage mother Catherine Gratwick, as she bottle-feeds her baby. "I think it's perfectly obvious what the cause of teenage pregnancy is - teenage boys! My son's father is the one that got me into this mess. He's the one who pressured me into having sex, but all the education is focused on the girls. Teenage fathers should be made responsible for their actions for once and be made to join the military so they can send their wages back to pay for their children's upkeep. If that's not a deterrent, then I don't know what is."
6. "I think we've missed the fact that maybe this teenage pregnancy phenomenon is not such a bad thing," says famous demographer @@RANDOMNAME@@. "We need the population to grow, we need more men of working age, we need more folk to pay taxes, et cetera. There are plenty of sound demographic reasons why we should be encouraging women to have families as soon as they can. I don't think we ought to discourage teenagers from procreating - it's nature's way you know."
Issue by Eta Carinae
Edited by Sirocco and Candlewhisper Archive
Strangely, the actual issue text changed less than I expected. Changes are limited to reorganizing "@@RANDOMNAME@@, a teacher" to "teacher @@RANDOMNAME@@,", italicizing "Moral Minority", removing the word "marriagable" before "age", and adding another editor credit... and adding a new option, that I didn't get. Sources indicate that it's for nations that banned contraception.Wait, that's because you already updated it partially at some point. Comparing against
my own historical log, I see more changes: the addition of "evangelist group" to option 2, changing "newspaper columnist" into "moral crusader", and another rearranging of "Catherine Gratwick, a teenage mother" into "teenage mother Catherine Gratwick,"... but the
really significant changes are in the last option. Oh sure, there's the minor stylistic rearranging of "@@RANDOMNAME@@, a famous demographer" into "famous demographer @@RANDOMNAME@@" and trimming of "demographical" to "demographic", but more importantly, the "By all means educate them about the dangers, but" text was cut entirely, encouraging women to have families was newly qualified with "as soon as they can", "more tax for public services" was reworded into "more folk to pay taxes", and sneakily, "we need more people of working age" was changed to "we need more
men of working age". All this adds up to making the option sound much more extreme.
The effect lines, though, are completely different. The old ones were:
#200 Birds, Bees, and Breeding Teens
1. schoolchildren have twice-weekly sex education classes
2. dark alleys and public toilets are filled with furtive sexual activities among teenagers and unmarried adults
3. a study has shown that many parents are too embarrassed to teach their children sex education
4. teenage fathers are forced to join the army
5. the lowest age at which one can marry has been recently lowered to 12
While I think the new ones are:
#200 Birds, Bees, and Breeding Teens
1. teenagers are told they're not thinking about sex enough
2. teenagers are told they're not thinking about sex enough
3. boys are forced to pair off for the school disco slow dance as the girls are all staying at home
4. the most common answers to where babies come from are "uh... ask your mother" and "um... ask your father"
5. soldiers have a preference for fire-and-forget payloads
6. young girls often attend the same schools as their children
And here's option 3 on #848:
#848 It's a Girl Thing
The Issue
A commercial for a new childrenswear boutique has been unveiled, sparking debate over gender stereotypes in advertising. It features a young girl ballet-dancing in a rose-pink bedroom, holding a baby-pink toy unicorn and a fluffy cameo-pink magic wand, while wearing matching cotton-candy pink dancing shoes, a tiara and flounced pink tutu.
The Debate
1. "This is explicit sexism for all ages!" cries feminist @@RANDOMFEMALENAME_1@@, while graffiti-tagging an advert that depicts a woman cheerily vacuuming as her family unwraps their Maxxmas presents. "Don't you see that such stereotypes are harmful to everyone, that you're telling all girls that the only thing they're good for is being beautiful? We've got six-year-old girls who only want to grow up to be pretty. How's that helping to encourage them to be productive citizens? Eliminate ads that perpetuate the lie of gender-specific roles. Allow everyone to grow up as the wonderful, unique individuals they are!"
2. "You've got to be kidding me," groans Man's World Inc. CEO @@RANDOMMALENAME@@, while uploading a photo of @@RANDOMFEMALEFIRSTNAME_1@@ to the Man's World blog under the heading 'Today's Crazy Lady'. "We use stereotypes because they're what customers want! Girls like pink and enjoy playing house; boys like guns and cars. It's basic biology, nature not nurture, as countless biopsychology experiments with chimps have shown. Advertisers shouldn't be censored, and normal people who are happy for little girls to be little girls will shop away, happy as clams."
3. "You've got to be kidding me," groans Man's World Inc. CEO @@RANDOMMALENAME@@, who's writing copy for his company, the advert for which features a man in a garish shirt being served coffee by a bevy of kneeling maidens. "We use stereotypes because they're what customers want! Girls like pink and enjoy playing house; boys like guns and cars. It's basic biology, nature not nurture, as countless biopsychology experiments with chimps have shown. Advertisers shouldn't be censored, and normal people who are happy for little girls to be little girls will shop away, happy as clams."
4. "The impact of ads can be used to our advantage," states your Minister of Niceness @@RANDOMNAME@@, tutting disapprovingly at Ms. @@RANDOMLASTNAME_1@@, who is still writing anatomical suggestions of where you might stick the vacuum. "Pay financial incentives to advertisers who depict @@DEMONYMNOUNPLURAL@@ in stereotype-shattering roles, so society will become more open-minded. Imagine: women playing exhausting sports, toasting friends in a coffee shop, wiring a plug, administering a company, even growing a beard. And men, too long derided as incompetent homemakers, unafraid to nurture a baby in public, tend a sick parent, or cook a meal. Break antiquated gender roles and protect your citizens' freedom!"
Issue by Braskia
Edited by The Free Joy State
It's not a communist variant. I guess communists are just ineligible for this entire issue, which makes sense.
I did get it on what's usually my communist puppet these days, but during a temporary lapse in communism.
Rather the change is:
while uploading a photo of @@RANDOMFEMALEFIRSTNAME_1@@ to the Man's World blog under the heading 'Today's Crazy Lady'
to
who's writing copy for his company, the advert for which features a man in a garish shirt being served coffee by a bevy of kneeling maidens
It looks to be due to banning the internet.
I didn't actually get option 2, but I copied it and touched it up because you made some macro errors (also in option 4).