European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday october 11,1994 Anna Quindlen arts groups by Well i Haven t seen so much Tippy toeing around since the last time i went to the Ballet. When members of the arts Community were asked this week about one of their biggest benefactors Philip Morris and its requests that they lobby the new York City Council on the company s behalf the Pas de Deus of self justification was so painstakingly choreographed that it constituted a performance All by official of one group put it thus we were riot lobbying on behalf of Phili Morris. We were lobbying on behalf of ourselves and the Money Money Pool of tobacco profits from those aesthetes who bring you Marlboro America s Best Selling social Carcinogen As Well As impressionist paintings and modern dance is enormous and essential to arts underwriting. " so that Man spoke under cover of anonymity and he was not alone. Not � single official or Board member of any cultural organization supported by the tobacco giant would speak for attribution Tonew York times reporter Paul Goldberger about the lobbying efforts. Outside of the accounts of White House shake ups few news stories run with so Man Anonymous quotes. Either culture vultures were terribly afraid of offending the company or they thought they were doing some thing Shady. Or perhaps years now Philip Morris has carefully gilded its emphysema image by giving millions of dollars to Char Ity. The company s most conspicuous efforts in Newyork City were on behalf of the arts. It became nearly impossible to attend the opening of an exhibition with out finding the quasi baronial Crest of the company on the the More mundane transactions of paid advertising the philanthropic approach provided an Aura of simple goodness. Although before those cards and letters Start coming i too readers wish papers that editorialize powerfully against smoking did not run tobacco ads Philip Morris pursued philanthropy with the Canni Ness that has made its marketing of the addictive Legal drug nicotine so successful. It developed a Large knowledgeable and likable cultural affairs staff removed from the source of its largess. V and the largess was stupefying. It put you in mind of a private school that might turn up its nose at a $100 Check from a father who was said to be involved in Shady enterprises but could t afford to say no to a new open handedness and the depth of their need commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 May have made it possible of arts organizations Nolt think too hard about where the Money was coming from. " .-/.,/ ". But when new York s City Council recently began to consider a Bill Banning smoking in most Public places and arts organizations were urged by the Tobac co company to let legislators know How much it had done for culture payback made passivity less possible. The Surprise was that so Many were Bun sided by the fact that the quid came with a pro quo several year Sago the executive director of tie coalition for the homeless decided to Stop taking tobacco Money after Public relations firm representing the Industry asked her to write to the City Council then considering a Bill to mandate anti smoking ads. The pitch was not to attack the Bill but to buoy the reputation of its opponents. Which is of course what Philip Morris has had in mind All the time. The tobacco companies Are extraordinarily powerful institutions. Yet they Are being steamroll ered by health organizations arid anti smoking citizens groups that have succeeded in revolutionizing governmental attitudes toward smoking. The Way in which opponents of the tobacco Indus try have done this is simple they Are right on the Mer its ". With nearly half a million people dying from smoking every year almost everyone knows someone who was suffocated by the product Philip Morris uses to subsidize dance and theater. Perhaps there is now sufficient sentiment to form a philanthropic consortium of those who will give to worthy organizations that won t take tobacco Money. Thank god for sinners the spokeswoman for a dance company said. They re the Only people to sup port the like the reaction of so Many to the relationship Between culture and cigarettes the comment had at its Core the argument that the end justifies the Means. Only it does t. A " c Newyork times / v sex education fails i for More than 30 years those who favor a certain kind of sex education i Public schools have told us that by giving younger and younger children information about How their sex organs work and then handing them contraceptives and abortion information society can re Duce the number of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted , in a searing cover Story in the october Issue of the Atlantic monthly Barbara Dafoe Whitehead writes that the curriculum known As comprehensive sex education mandated in 17 states has failed children and has neither reduced pregnancy nor slowed the spread of venereal diseases. Whitehead avoids the moralizing often associated with the subject but she does explode a number of myths about sexed biggest one is that simply by giving children information and removing their inhibitions their behaviour can be modified in a Way that will produce positive results. Whitehead s Model is new Jer sey. In 1980, new Jersey adopted one of the nation s first required comprehensive sex education courses beginning in Pri Mary grades. The program enjoys wide spread support among politicians and parents. It contains a number of assumptions that Are common to most sex Educa Tion curriculum is first children Are sexual from birth. Sex educators reject the notion of a la Tency period or time of innocence. They want kids thinking sex organs As soon As , children Are sexually mis Edu rated and parents Are incompetent to Dothe Job so they need professionals to do it for them. Discussions about morality Are to be avoided because that Only confuses the Issue an brings in guilt which they con tend is the cause of so much a dysfunction. The curriculum known As learning about family life Dis cusses divorce his masturbation the usual Litany but there is Little about what used to be considered nor Mal or at least desirable such As marriage self control and virginity a he As sumption is that everybody is either doing it or will soon do it. And in fact doing Itin whatever manner and with whomever and whenever is of by the state so new Jersey s official sexual Posi Tion is grounded in condoms abortion and the advantages of protected abstinence is Given Short shrift because it is not based on the closest the Cal Thomas state gets to promoting abstinence is a discussion of no coital sex known As sexual expression without risk Rutgers education professor William Firestone who conducted a study of new Jersey s sex education curriculum says this approach offers real opportunities to re Duce dangers to Many teens who engage in sexual behaviour despite recommendations for Whitehead writes that teaching teen agers to explore their sexuality through no coital techniques has Only perverse effects since it is Likely to Lead to coitus and that it comes close to educational Mal prac v. ,.,. Since these comprehensive sexed cation courses were implemented sex Ual activity and its unwanted consequences have increased. In new Jersey in 1980, 67.6 percent of teen age births were to unmarried Moth ers. By 1991, the figure had increased to 84 percent. At some Point if the advertised results Are not produced prudent people might look for another Way. Whitehead writes it is hard for advocates to claim that the state with the nation s fourth largest percentage of unwed teen age births is a showcase for their is typically taught sex education has Little effect on teen agers decisions to engage in or postpone sex. Nor do knowledge based sex education programs significantly reduce the incidence of teen age Whitehead concludes formal sexed cation is most successful when it reinforces the behaviour of abstinence among Young adolescents who Are prac timing that behaviour. Religiously observant Leens Are like Lier than others to refrain from Early sex while the highest level of premarital Intercourse occurs among teens with no religious affiliation that would seem to offer an often neglected Opportunity for churches and synagogues to begin or expand their instruction about sex within a moral Frame work that has demonstrated considerable Success in achieving the goals the state has failed to produce. What makes us think that children who Are forbidden to drive cars in most states until they Are 16, can handle sex Steven earlier Ages the state ill serves the Public by attempting to put children in the sexual Driver s seat before they Are ready and with incorrect signposts that have led them astray. C los Angeles times the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
