The anti-vaccine movement's use of "Vaccination Portrayed As Rape."

[HuckleB]

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/09/30/anti-vaccine-not-pro-safe-vaccine-vaccination-described-as-rape/

"One of the things you can say to someone who is antivaccine that will really tick them off is to “call it like you see it” and call them antivaccine. Sure, there are a few antivaccine activists who are antivaccine and unashamed of it, but most antivaccinationists, sensing that society in general quite correctly takes a dim view of people who threaten to allow the return of dangerous vaccine-preventable diseases. Indeed, as I’ve pointed out many times before, that’s why antivaccine activists try to hide behind claims that they are “vaccine safety advocates,” often signified by saying, “I’m not ‘antivaccine’; I’m pro-safe vaccine.” Sometimes, these attempts to deny being antivaccine take ridiculous extremes.

...

Antivaccine activists like Obradovic love to wrap their pseudoscience in lofty sounding beliefs about “accountability,” “ethical science,” and “informed consent.” Of course, the antivaccine version of “informed consent” is in reality “misinformed consent,” and the sorts of science antivaccinationists want is profoundly unethical, but antivaccinationists see themselves as warriors for good fighting the evil forces of big pharma, the government, and defenders of science like Paul Offit and, yes, yours truly, among others. They compare vaccines to the Holocaust, the Oklahoma City Bombing, and the Titanic.

They also compare vaccination to rape. I’m not kidding. Don’t believe me? Check out this incredible piece by someone named Marcella Piper-Terry (Facebook page here) on an antivaccine blog known as VaxTruth entitled Coerced Vaccination and the Medical Rapist:

I have been thinking this morning about the parallels between vaccine-injury and sexual assault. I happened to hear a news story today about the incidence of rape on college campuses, and as I was listening, I could envision several commonalities.

..."


-----------------------------


Do I think all anti-vaccinationists go to this ridiculous extreme? No, I do not. Does it happen? Yes. Should it be ignored, considering all the social contexts in play? I do not think so. Anti-GMO activists have used the same analogy.

It's not appropriate. Period.

I hope everyone at DU can agree with that, regardless of their opinions on vaccines or any other matter.

Take care.

[pnwmom]

1. You can't point to one bit of science, one reliable statistic, proving the thesis

that all or even most people who advocate for vaccine safety are actually "anti-vaccinationists" -- i.e., liars who actually oppose vaccines. Or, for that matter, liars who compare vaccinations to rape.

I am deeply grateful for the advocates of vaccine safety who pressured the government to fund the research that allowed for the development of a much safer DPT vaccine. Thanks to the combined efforts of the vaccine safety advocates, certain members of Congress, and researchers, the new vaccine is now available to everyone -- including families like mine, which had suffered fatal injuries from the old vaccine but could now be protected by the new one.

[HuckleB]

3. Unfortunately, this piece actually puts your response to shame all by itself.

Please don't play that game. You've played it for years, and you've never been able to sustain it with a consensus of evidence. I'm not going to waste my time on the same old stuff.

People are getting sick and dying because of the anti-vaccination movement. There is no excuse for it.

[pnwmom]

5. This piece contains not a single statistic or bit of science proving the thesis that

all or even most vaccine safety advocates are actually anti-vaccinationists.

But you will keep playing that game, because it's the only game you know how to play.

[HuckleB]

7. You keep telling yourself the same old stuff.

You've played the same game for years. It's a horrible game. People get hurt and die because of it.

Ugh.

[gollygee]

2. I have heard this before

I vaccinate my kids to the hilt, for background's sake.

But I know people who don't vaccinate their kids and I've heard this kind of thing when they feel coerced to vaccinate their kids to send them to school, or when every pediatrician's office in the area refuses to accept unvaccinated kids, or they feel coerced for any reason. They see it as an issue of bodily autonomy - that something is being done to their bodies (or their kids' bodies) against their will and under coersion. I don't think they're calling it rape but comparing it to rape based on the bodily autonomy issue.

[HuckleB]

4. Of course, there is another side to that story.

If they want to send their kids to school unvaccinated, they are putting other bodies at risk, for no good reason. Autonomy comes with responsibility. The anti-vaccine movement does not care about responsibility. In fact, it does everything it can to pretend that it doesn't do what it does do in order to avoid responsibility for any return of vaccine preventable diseases.

[gollygee]

6. I agree with that.

I don't understand the fears of vaccines. I personally fear the diseases much, much more.

One woman said to me, "How can you put vaccines in your kids' bodies? Do you know they're made of animal material? You're putting animal material into their bodies." I asked her if she was vegan, and she said no and was puzzed as to why I'd ask, and I said if she isn't her kids are probably having animal products enter their bodies three times a day. I just don't get the mindset.

But anyway, my only point was that I don't think it's fair to say they're calling it rape. I think it would be more fair to say they're comparing it to rape because they see it as an issue of bodily autonomy.

[HuckleB]

8. If you read the piece, you'll see that some anti-vaxers do call it that.

And it's not like the anecdotes in this article are the only ones. We've seen it for years. That's why the change is language that some use is still just as unpalatable, because we know what they're saying. We know the hyperbole they're attempting to use.

[gollygee]

9. OK, fair enough

I feel like you've heard me and I'm fine with that.

[HuckleB]

10. Cool.

But did you read the whole piece? And, again, the anecdotes in this piece are not uncommon.

[gollygee]

12. I didn't read to the end

I know enough people like this that I've heard much of it. The right-wing moms and the hippie left-wing moms (except me!) agree about this particular issue. It's weird.

[HuckleB]

13. Yeah, it's an odd phenomenon, but the Internet promotes it.

It's much too easy to insulate oneself in a community that does not allow questions and evidence against beliefs.

[zappaman]

11. Bring back polio!!!!

[HuckleB]

14. Sadly, it's hard to understand what the anti-vaccine movement thinks it wants.

Of course, the same goes for the anti-GMO movement, the alt-med cancer cure movement, the anti-fluoridation movement, and on and on...

[HuckleB]

15. It's startling, to me, to see the lack of response from DUers this type of crap.

I'm starting to wonder if DU has not crossed over into a world of upper class denialism.

I hope I'm wrong.

[SidDithers]

16. DU rec...

fucking anti-vax asshats.



Sid

[HuckleB]

17. Thanks! And, yup.

[LostOne4Ever]

18. Kick and rec! (nt)

[HuckleB]

19. Thanks!!!