The sound of double-standards: Silence

Today's news that (male) circumcision can cut the rate of AIDS infection somewhere between 50 - 60 percent must surely provoke a call from the Religious Right for an end to the practice. Because we all know that if men don't live in fear of mortal disease, they might engage in promiscuous sex.

Right???

So I actually held my nose for long enough to visit various theocon websites, and what do I see on the topic? Nada. Squat. Diddley. Zilch. Bupkis to the power of Sweet F.A.

But...but...surely the crowd that thundered so recently about the HPV vaccine should be firing off press releases on fully auto even as I write? Isn't their self-righteous brand of voyeurism just as obsessive about men's sex lives as it is about women's?

Why, no, actually.

Dunno about anyone else, but I shan't hold my breath waiting for the latest screeds from our latter-day Puritans. (As an aside: I do not use that comparison lightly. When I do, I'm not thinking so much of Hester Prynne as I am of Oliver Cromwell, of Quakers hanged for being not-Puritan, of a pre-schooler jailed for witchcraft.) Because if anyone believes that women can expect the same treatment as men from the Jesus-jihadists, they're just flat-out delusional. Give any of these extremists the helm, and we'll all be living in the Republic of Gilead faster than you can say "Baptist Taliban".

I fear that, while the silence speaks volumes about the hypocrisy and inherent mysogyny of the Religious Right, many people will just hear silence.