I always get frustrated when I see the Religious Right handle the issue of teen sexuality. Their approach is totally unrealistic-- teach abstinence, and only abstinence, even though teenagers aren't going to abstain. When teenagers get pregnant (which isn't as often as they advertise) or contract a disease, they cluck their tongues and say "We obviously need to teach abstinence more." It's moronic. Teen sexuality is a real issue, and they not only refuse to address the problems, they go out of their way to make sure that no solutions can be provided. The problems get worse, and they use this to justify their position.

Now, I don't make a practice of bashing Christianity in my columns. I don't bring this up to mock the Christians-- actually, I'm about to take another potshot at the Pagan Culture. A lot of us are just like this. But the topic isn't sex, it's politics.

Think about it.

Once again, I think we're suffering from Post Religious Stress Syndrome. Most of us came from Christian religions, and many of those religions and/or their organizations are rife with politics. So when we think of politics, our hearts race, we start to sweat, and we just want to get away from it. But we can't.

Teenagers are going to have sex. Period. If you believe that you can legislate, indoctrinate, or irritate your way around this fact, you're a fool. If you ignore the problem, it's going to get worse. Similarly, any group larger than two is going to have politics. That's what "politics" are-- the way groups of people relate to each other. There are family politics, extended family politics, office politics, church politics, neighborhood politics, city politics, county politics, state politics, industry politics, national politics, and coven politics. And pretending that there is no such thing only leaves you more vulnerable to it.

Why do we try to run away from anything political? It's just like pretending kids aren't going to have sex because we tell them it's wrong. If you're a parent, and you discover your child is having unprotected sex, do you just walk away because you don't like it? Do you refuse to speak to your child until they stop? It's a bad idea with parenting, and it's a bad idea with politics.

First of all, if you leave your coven or organization because it's become too political, you're surrendering that organization to the people with the practices you don't like. It's not unlike abandoning your children because they won't do as you say. Second of all, it's an approach of enforced ignorance.

In both cases, you have to understand the problem if you're going to do anything about it. With teenagers, you have to prepare your children with all the knowledge you have and hope they make the right choices. In politics, you have to make sure you understand politics so that you can make the right choices. Any other solution is wishful thinking.

The easiest type of group to manipulate is the kind of group that likes to pretend that people are other than they are, and has made no preparations to deal with people who play politics. The decision to be apolitical is necessarily a political one-- thus failing its goal just by its existence. Even the much-touted consensus model can be thwarted just by refusing to consent-- or by phrasing the motion in such a way that a failure to achieve consensus supports you, rather than opposes you.

Politics aren't inherently sinful, either. Politics are a dozen interconnected and/or contradictory systems to get things done, and they weren't born out of a desire to manipulate people. They were born out of a desire to channel human behavior in such a fashion as to get things done. Yes, sometimes the processes are drawn out-- but usually it's to avoid mistakes that have been made before. Yes, it's usually a lot of work-- but anything worth doing is worth working for. Yes, it's often unpleasant-- welcome to the real world.

People who don't understand politics are at the mercy of people who do. A decent parliamentary procedure doesn't make an organization fascist, and too often the people who insist they don't want to deal with such a political process just want you to do things their way. Too often people will cry "unfair" when they don't get their way, but a person who knows the game can find the logical holes.

You can't regulate human desire. When humans get together, natural human urges are going to take over, there's going to be the ritualistic dance around each other until somebody's getting screwed. And whichever issue you're talking about, the best solution is to be educated and prepared.

© 2003 by Cather "Catalyst" Steincamp