Dear Friends of the Family,

It has been an exciting spring. In March, I had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, at the United Nations. The theme for the conference was "The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Violence Against the Girl Child." I saw how a statement like this that seems so good can be used to present ideas that are just the opposite. As was typical of these conferences, the topic of abortion was front and center. Along with this, I saw an undermining of parental rights. There was a movement to eliminate the need for parental consent and to give the state more say than parents. I felt an undermining of the need for the family structure, as well.

I attended a side event on HPV vaccinations where representatives of the GlaxoSmithKline and Merck drug companies were presenters. My attendance at this event has caused me great concern as to the safety of the vaccination. I learned that even the manufacturers of the vaccine do not know the side effects, or if a booster is needed for the vaccination. This is without question an issue where parental rights should not be violated. I am thrilled that the Texas Legislature has rescinded the governor's mandate that each young girl should be given the HPV vaccination.

We need to watch our own state for similar attacks on parental rights. Our last alert was about teen driving legislation and the need to protect our parental rights here in Arizona. We will continue to watch and let you know what can be done to maintain and protect our rights as parents.

We want to thank all of you who attended our Constitution Seminar and Same-Sex Attraction class. They were great successes! We received great feedback on them. There were many of you who contacted me that had prior commitments and couldn't attend. I would like to give you some contact information for both of these classes:

Floyd Godfrey, a therapist who conducted the class on same-sex attraction, has compiled helpful information on his website. We offer thanks to Floyd for this insightful and important presentation.

Our Constitution seminar was a day well spent. I personally came away with a greater desire to learn even more about the Constitution. Earl Taylor is an excellent teacher. If you go to this website, you can test yourself on your knowledge of the Constitution. We are planning to offer this seminar again in the fall, so watch for the announcement.

As summer approaches, I encourage you to look for every opportunity to spend time with your family and build strong family ties. As Arnot Sheppard said, "If you want to leave footprints in the sands of time, don't drag your feet." So if you have not planned time for your family, stop dragging your feet and plan it now!

Sincerely,

Marilyn Crittenden, President
United Families Arizona
 

 
The Wild West Phenomenon

By Mark Smith

Many Phoenix-area television viewers were shocked on the night of March 12 when a news program they were watching was suddenly interrupted by images of sexually explicit acts. By some act of sabotage, a pornographic film was substituted for the station's regular programming. Consequently, Cox Communications and the television station received media attention and numerous complaints from outraged viewers.

Sadly, however, that incident was not the only sexual content on TV that day. Without encountering much protest, TV dramas, sitcoms and talk shows routinely showcase sexual themes and the commercials in between the programs are often just as bad or worse. Advertisers for lotions, weight-loss products and even cat food have all utilized sex to sell their products. Furthermore, TV, movies, music, video games and the Internet are all heavily infused with portrayals of killings, beatings and hate.

The prevalence of violence and sexuality in entertainment is troublesome and especially frustrating for parents. It can be a difficult task for parents to find child-centered entertainment and to minimize their children's exposure to adult-centered entertainment. However, adult-centered entertainment is not a new problem. A look back into Arizona's history will show us that "there is no new thing under the sun."

In its early days in the 19th century, Prescott was a rugged, Wild West town. To this day, its most famous stretch of road is Whiskey Row--a full block of saloons, gambling halls and hotels--about which Prescott poet Gail Gardner wrote:

Oh they starts her in at the Kaintucky bar,
at the head of Whiskey Row,
and they winds up down by the Depot House,
some forty drinks below.

After the drinking and gambling at Whiskey Row, men did not have to stagger very far to reach the nearby red light district or the town's opium dens.

Another town, Tombstone, was not any less wild. A prominent part of life in both of these Wild West towns was the entertainment: drinking, gambling, cussing, fighting, wild women and opium. This entertainment is hardly surprising when we consider that adults -- most of them unmarried men -- comprised nearly all of the population. There were not many children present in those early Arizona towns, and without children around, the adults followed the natural tendency of adults--to seek adult-centered entertainment. Rough men of the Wild West were not accountable to anyone. They did not need to censor their behavior or serve as examples to children; and perhaps many even enjoyed not having to answer to a wife when stumbling through the front door at two in the morning.

The factors that made these adult-centered entertainments of the Wild West the dominant ones of their day are not unlike the factors behind violence- and sex-based entertainment today. Why do we see so much adult-centered entertainment today? As Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director at The National Marriage Project of Rutgers University, puts it,

The answer lies in a recent and dramatic change in the adult life course. For most of the nation's history, Americans expected to devote much of their life and work to the rearing of children. . . Today, however, child rearing occupies a smaller share of American lives. An ever-diminishing proportion of the entire adult life course is devoted to the nurture and care of minor children.

Whitehead says fewer people are getting married, people who eventually marry are getting married at later ages, married couples are waiting longer to have children and people are having fewer children. Overall, the percentage of households with children has declined from half of all households in 1960 to less than one-third today.

Just like in the Wild West of yesteryear, the absence of children in the lives of adults today has made a significant impact on the type of entertainment that is prevalent in our culture. Many adults filter television viewing when children are present. Without children around, however, adults may not be as prone to screen their own entertainment decisions. When child-centeredness diminishes in a society, the natural result is violence- and sex-based entertainment. If the presence of children tends to keep adults away from these types of entertainment, then their presence is a welcome one indeed.

As turbulent as it may have been in its early days, Prescott is a much more subdued place today. Over time, the West lost much of its wildness. Since history has always served as a faithful guide, we do not need to think that the present state of our wild entertainment culture cannot improve.
 

 
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United Families Arizona