It would seem that abstinence doesn't work. I know, I know, of course abstinence works if it is honestly adhered to, but according to the latest Centers for Disease Control numbers, the falling rates of teen pregnancies and STD's either stalled or increased, in some cases sharply, by 2005 - Bush's 6th year in office.
According to the CDC, birth rates among teenagers aged 15 or older had been in decline since 1991 but rose sharply in more than half of American states after 2005. The number of teenage girls with syphilis had risen by nearly half after a big decrease, while a 20-year fall in the gonorrhea infection rate was being reversed. AIDS cases in adolescent boys had nearly doubled.What do abstinence groups say in response to these telling numbers? What is their answer? Why, more abstinence of course! Now, the fact is that even though abstinence is in fact a certain way of not getting pregnant or spreading STD's, it's not a viable solution to teenage pregnancy or STDs. Why? Because teenagers are horny and they are going to get down, whether you give them a condom or tell them to think about Jesus and take a cold shower.
The emphisis should be on a healthy approach to sexuality, not an approach which leans toward shame and ridicule when a person or two people feel compelled to react on completely natural urges. No one should feel strange about having sex or not having sex because it's a personal choice - one that you might make at 15 or 35 - and while as a mom I would hate to think of my beautiful baby boy knocking boots at 15 I would also rather he have every oppertunity to engage in that kind of activity safely and with the utmost amount of education on the subject rather than trying to pull out or perpetuating other ridiculous myths in regard to sex.
Sorry kids, if the chick is on top, she can in fact still get pregnant.
It's no secret that abstinence programs and religious institutions more often than not are interweaved with one another which leads me to ask this question - what needs to happen before these organizations face the fact that less education will never result in positive trends? When will these groups be held accountable for the fact that ignoring the teen pregancy problem by only offering an outdated and unrealistic solution is the same thing as willingly allowing teen pregnancy to become a much much worse issue?
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Joreth 15p · 820 weeks ago
No, they give kids driver's ed, swimming lessons, and 50 pounds of safety equipment to play football.
For all of life's dangers, we educate our children, but sex is the exception. For some reason, people think that letting them out into the world with absolutely no information on the dangers of the activity that we are biologically driven to seek out is the best method of protection.
I think there needs to be a scientific, psychiatric evaluation of adults who react to the idea of their kids having sex by putting their fingers in their ears, closing their eyes and screaming "MY kids won't have sex ever!" over and over again.
AngieAntiTheist 86p · 820 weeks ago
handwashcold · 820 weeks ago
Of course, sex ed is just the place to start the licensing process...at least, hopefully we'd end up with fewer idiots. :) My only complaint is that there isn't ENOUGH sex ed in the schools...a couple hours per school year in elementary school is in no way enough preparation for what's to come, socially, hormonally, emotionally, et al. Kids seriously need to have it handed to them straight...and just like math and science, it needs to be repeated until they've got the formulas down pat.
For that matter, let's hit them with some testing! <grin...and failure = what, no sleepovers?>