R: Romance and Revolution: Love and intercourse in the Free City of Jubylon after the disposal of the High Circle

"Our government is stable, but that does that necessarily make the members of the government stable or without fault. We will however do our best to secure the health of our citizen-patients.

People will have intercourse no matter what we do. Men will sleep with men, women will sleep with women, men and women will sleep with each other. We can take offence at this fact or we can take the necessary steps to ensure public health and avoid unwanted pregnancies. As a doctor, I’d suggest that the latter is the best course of action."

This short comment about the policies set into place says quite a lot about the Doctors’ government in the free City of Jubylon. It was made shortly after they carried out a government coup and drove the members of the High Circle into exile. The doctors set a policy into place, where they distributed condoms and similar forms of protection and birth control through boxes set in the boats used in the underground canals. They taught sexual education through posters and flyers that nightclubs and similar establishments were required to exhibit and have on display. The language used in those publications seems to have been extremely matter-of-factly, as in “we know that you are going to do these things anyway. Please take the following precautions.” No romantic poems included, not erotic phrases spoken.

There were clearly those who took offence at the language and actions taken here (including a more or less indirect acceptance of pre-marital and/or homosexual sex by the government), especially by various churches. The government's response was more or less a shrug, as they had just lost a member (Minister of Justice) to suicide and were busy finding a new minister. When the public outcry carried on, the Government simply responded by quoting the Hippocratic Oath they had all taken.
“I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death.”

One thing that is for sure is that the majority did not object to the “poster policy” as it quickly became known. Being “well-read in the posters and flyers of the government” soon became slang in Jubylon for being a good and experienced lover. The birthrate fell (as would be expected), which was especially visible in orphanages, as there was fewer orphans to raise there. Numbers for sexually transmitted diseases fell as well. I have no data about how the initiative affected quality of life, but I strongly suspect it increased sharply as a result of the “poster policy” initiative.