Article by Cameron Spink

Tony Abbott, the shadow Prime Minister, has come under attack today because he said, in an interview, that the advice he would give his daughters was that the “greatest gift you can give someone, the ultimate gift of giving” was their virginity. The deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s reply to this was that “Australian women don’t want to be told what to do by Tony Abbott”.

Upon reading this article in The Age today I was both encouraged by Tony Abbott’s moral convictions and discouraged by Julia Gillard’s response. As Christians our position should mirror Tony Abbott’s. Sexual intercourse, regardless of gender, is the greatest gift you can give someone else. We are designed by God to have one partner alone and by the act of sex we become one. This is why sexual transmitted diseases are abundant. We weren’t meant to have more than one partner. Furthermore, it is demeaning to both women and men to promote sexual activity. If one respects their partner they will wait.

Julia Gillard’s response is both childish and immoral. Why shouldn’t Tony Abbott give sexual purity advice to his daughters? Julia seems more concerned with not being told what to do than with weighing up the ethical reasons for abstaining from sex. This makes her retort very unhelpful and disappointing for the country’s second-in-command.

Towards the end of the article LaTrobe University sex education expert Associate Professor Anne Mitchell is asked for her opinion. She voices the statistics of the ages of sexual activity. This is very disturbing but not unexpected in the 21st century. Around one-in-three students have had sex before they turn sixteen Mitchell proclaims. The reason she gives for not abstaining is simple, the majority of people don’t have a moral issue with having sex. This is clearly nonsense. The majority don’t determine what is and isn’t moral and we are very lucky that they don’t. Furthermore Mitchell states people have sex merely because they don’t want to wait. This is very animalistic. One shouldn’t do something just because one wants to. A person should practice restraining from their desires not just giving in.

It is frustrating to see the decline of morals in our society. According to a recent poll 68% of Australians believe in God. It is so disappointing that for the majority this has absolutely no impact on their lives.

Click here to read the article in todays Age.

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