Abstinence only sex education

[Locut0s]

Yeah I know none of this is ground breaking news, I just felt like letting off some steam.

When the heck are people going to learn that a healthy positive attitude toward sex is a thousands times healthier for kids than the god fearing religious based abstinence only sex education that spews forth day and night from Americas health officials? Just look at countries where sex is seen as just part of the social landscape, where sex education actually involves telling kids more than just horrible negative consequences where levels of STD transmission, teen pregnancy, and ignorance about sex are all lower.

What we need is sex education that tells kids - "I know how you feel, you know what, I feel the same way. Why? Because we are all sexual beings and sex is a wonderful thing that we all share. No you are not the only ones who are thinking about sex 24/7 and it's not abnormal. Heck I think about having sex myself all the time. But before you make the decision to go ahead with it here's some information you should all know about." Instead we get "sex is evil, never have sex before you get married, sex will lead to pregnancy STDs and death. The only way to protect your wonderful innocent virginity is to swear never to have sex until you're married." Not only is such a message impracticable it does a lot more harm than good.

I was watching something on CNN the other day where they were talking about children taking "virginity vows" and how studies show that students who take them actually have higher rates of STD transmission because they can't keep these vows and have oral and anal sex while still calling themselves virgins. Because they are in denial about having sex they have much lower rates of condom usage and the girls usually aren't on the pill. Well they brought on a doctor to talk about these issues, I think he may have been a reproductive specialist. The very first words out of his mouth were "everyone agrees that abstinence is the way to go". A few weeks ago I was watching something else on TV about sex education where they mentioned that federal funding in the US for sex education can only bee used for abstinence only teachings. Even worse they said that you could not get federal funding if your sex education program talked about condom usage as a positive means of preventing STDs. The only way you could get federal funding if you talked about contraception and STD prevention is if you only mentioned how these methods could fail. Here in Canada we by no means have a stellar sex education program, but even from this vantage I find this attitude baffling. WTF are we living in the stone age?

[eyesroll]

1. My take..

http://www.wisconsinite.net/dairyconspiracyarchives/000610.html

[Locut0s]

6. Good sex education is too important to society to leave it up to the..

parents to decide. The article you posted makes some good points however for every kid who grew up relatively well adjusted there are two or three who grew up thinking that sex is something to greatly fear and only having the vaguest of ideas what sex even is. All because their parents themselves are scared to death to admit that their child is a sexual being. More often than not these kids will end up having sex anyways, they are human being after all, and when they do it's all the more likely to be a traumatic and dangerous event because of their upbringing.

[eyesroll]

8. I emphasized that the morality part of sex ed was for the families.

Let the schools teach the science -- including contraception, STDs, gestation, etc. Even emphasize that abstinence is the only guaranteed way to avoid getting pregnant (assuming male-female intercourse) or to avoid getting STDs. But make it a science issue, not a moral issue.

Let the parents tell their kids they should remain virgins until marriage if that's what they want. But the schools shouldn't be teaching that.

[bunkerbuster1]

2. A: CNN sucks. And B: No, we are not living in the stone age.

CNN is hopeless--they're a slower version of Fox News. If you want RW garbage, you might as well get it straight, no chaser.

Anyway, this isn't the left-right issue some would have you think it is. In my corner of Red State Hell, I've come across otherwise loyal Republicans who are willing to accept that we might be deluding ourselves with abstinence-only education.

Here's an excellent place to go for ammo:

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet/fsest.htm

and note:

In the United States, the teen pregnancy rate is more than nine times higher than that in the Netherlands, nearly four times higher than the rate in France, and nearly five times higher than that in Germany

I've shown these stats to co-workers and some concerned-citizen types who are otherwise conservative republicans, and they're impressed.

We should spread the word--honesty's the best policy.

[satya]

3. Well said! The radical fundamentalists are beginning to infiltrate

our local school board and are pushing abstinence-only education.

You're lucky to be living in an enlightened, civilized country. I wish I could say the same about my country.

[China_cat]

4. Boiled down to

Sex is evil and dirty and nasty and ugly and should only be done to someone you love. After you get married.

[HockeyMom]

5. And then

to ONLY make babies.

[gollygee]

7. I drove by a billboard the other day

that says: "Think he loves you? He only wants sex!"

What is that teaching kids? That boys and men are incapable of love? That they can't want love AND sex?

I'm not sure what to make of that billboard but it rubs me the wrong way.

[Locut0s]

9. That's really wrong! It's also sexist, it reinforces the stereotype that..

girls only want love and boys only want sex, when the obvious truth is that both want both.

[gollygee]

10. That's what I thought too

I don't want my daughter growing up thinking that boys can't love, or that she's wrong if she's interested in sex. If that garbage gets taught in the schools here it'll be another sign that I should homeschool.