With videos about the ‘Down There Song’ and ‘Horse Penis Virus,’ Planned Parenthood’s newest campaign to educate teenagers on sexual health has instigated a wave of outcry from conservative groups that say the organization’s motives are questionable.
Until last week, Teenwire.org, the portion of the new Take Care Down There campaign that is geared toward adolescents, featured skits in which teenagers engaged in sexual situations or learned about the consequences of sex from an older, mustached man. These videos, which dealt with topics like masturbation, sexually transmitted infections, threesomes, oral sex, safe sex practices and homosexuality, supplemented Planned Parenthood’s standard fare of forums, interactive diagrams and question-and-answer sessions.
‘This campaign seeks to talk to this audience in a relevant way,’ Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Liz Delapoer said in an email. ‘Planned Parenthood believes it is critical that we all do everything we can to protect our young people from dangerous threats to their health.’
Delapoer said the video campaign was ‘respectful, interesting, engaging, and humorous,’ and had hosted more than 200,000 different users and received positive feedback from all corners of society.
Though the videos were Teenwire.org for less than one year, Planned Parenthood garnered considerable backlash from conservative commentators and organizations.
‘It is incredibly naive to believe that they are doing this for our youth’s good,’ said Mark Crutcher, president of the pro-life advocacy organization Life Dynamics, Inc. ‘This is part of their strategy, and to suggest that they are doing this for the betterment of the people is hypocritical.’
Crutcher said Planned Parenthood deliberately profits from abortions and is also partly responsible for the rise in teen pregnancy. He said the website will not prevent teen pregnancy or educate teens.
Rev. Johnny Hunter, president of LEARN, Inc., an African American pro-life ministry, said the campaign is racially charged, referring to a video in which a black male talks about initiating a threesome with two other females.
‘They always try to target the black community,’ Hunter said. ‘They have no respect for the black community. They think our women are a bunch of whores and that our men are indecent.’
