From a post today on another board, I decided to archive my opinion. Like I’ve said before, I learn what I think when I read what I write:
I would guess a bunch of the “abstinence is evil” crowd has an STD and/or has had an abortion. Regardless, we should use them as our model of acceptable behavior. :blink:
Abstinence-ONLY education (Title V) is evil insofar as it leads to an increased rate of sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy among teens. Note I’ve never had an STD or suggested abortion as you impugn. Abstinence is not evil; abstinence-ONLY education in its current form — bribing school districts to abandon comprehensive sex education that brought down the epidemic rates of abortion and STDs of the late twentieth century — is evil.
Title V restricts discussion of or advocacy for any birth-control method other than abstinence. Violation of this restriction by even a single teacher in a district endangers the entire district’s federal funding. Is it the American way to pay schools to silence conscientious teachers who favor comprehensive sex education and don’t echo the party line?
What do you think the people in New York have been taught – abstinence? Hardly.
New York is an urban area, with a birth rate and STD rate among teens consistent with other demographically-similar cities. New York rejected the federal abstinence-only education grant because of the strings attached: federal interference in local education efforts. “Abstinence-ONLY” funds are statistically ineffective at reducing teen birth rates and STD rates, while comprehensive sex education — including abstinence — leads directly to a 60% reduction in teen birth rate, with a modest reduction in STD rates.
New York’s rejection of the Federal purse with strings attached was a smart move if the goal is to reduce teen birth and STD rates. Abstinence-ONLY education is ineffective policy, at best. Since abstinence-ONLY’s introduction in 1996, teen pregnancy has been on the rise. Comprehensive sex education, which was common until the 1996 Title V introduction, showed dramatic results in both STD reduction and teen-pregnancy reduction according to several CDC statistics.
Comprehensive sex education programs introduced in the 1970s and 1980s rebuilt the dam bridged by the rampant promiscuity of an earlier era. Today’s modification into “abstinence-ONLY”, at best, is a finger in the dike attempting to hold back the flow of STDs and unwanted pregnancy, with negligible results.
Deja vu
For those of you experiencing Deja Vu, yes, I have written about this topic before.
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Matthew P. Barnson
Common Sense
Just my ramblings here, but I wonder if people see the success of SADD/MADD and think, “Hey, this can apply to sex!!!”. The problem is, we’re not necessarily wired to drink, or to smoke, but we are wired to have sex. Yes, drinking and smoking are addictive behaviors, but there’s nothing in our natural makeup that tells us, “Hey, look at the fermented fruit or wheat, let’s drink it!” Most alcohol tastes nasty and has an acquired taste. And we’re definitely not programmed to want to put a flaming stick of tobacco plants in our mouth and inhale it…that definitely has to be acquired.
However, we ARE wired from the moment of puberty to have sex. The raging hormones, high concentration of pleasurable nerve endings in the genitalia, and maturing bodies of our teenage years are nothing BUT nature’s way of telling us to go get laid.
To think that some kids won’t have sex is just sticking your heads in the sand. Teaching them that abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy and disease is okay, but also let them know that there are other methods that are 90-99% effective as well.
“We don’t WANT you to have sex, we really HOPE you don’t have sex, but if you must, please take these precautions.”
But teaching kids about sex doesn’t cause them to have sex. Nature causes them to have sex.
My $.02 Weed
Bingo!
Bingo, sir. Really what I’m advocating is called “comprehensive” sex education, vs. “abstinence-only”. Currently, Title V federal funding will be withdrawn for any school districts that teach anything other than abstinence.
The only reference teachers are allowed to make to other forms of birth control and STD prevention is to mention their failure rate.
That’s both tragic and pitiful. My sex-ed class with Ms. Perlman in 7th grade went so far as to include a condom-placement demonstration with a banana and a video on masturbation as a contraceptive option. I credit that class with helping keep me from engaging in some of the riskiest sexual behaviors as a youth.
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Matthew P. Barnson
memories
Oh yeah–Ms. Perlman! I don’t remember any of those details, but I remember the rumor about a lucky male 7th grader being chosen every year to, well, c’mon, you remember too.
Reinforced…
Right, and I remember the class I was in, everybody thought Bryan Gregg was the lucky one selected. I clearly remember her telling Bryan after a particularly good answer in sex ed class, “I have something really special to give you at the end of the year.”
I still wonder what it was?
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Matthew P. Barnson
Heh.. I remember
There was once this guy who was dating this girl right down the street form one of his best friends houses.. and the guy wasn’t even having sex with the girl.. but the friend gave the guy a condom and said..
“I know you are, so if you’re going to make one mistake, don’t make two”.
Whatever happened to those people, I’ll never know.
Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com
I believe the correct answer…
I believe the correct answer is “the guy that used to sleep in my bedroom”.
For both the give-er and the give-ee.
Sounds kinky.
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Matthew P. Barnson
Touche..
Now thats funny.
Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com
The quote…
The exact quote came from a girl named Jeannie R. We were getting kind of hot and heavy over at her place. She pulled a condom out of her purse and asked “So should we put on one of these?”
I responded, “You carry around a condom in your purse? I thought you were a good girl.”
She replied, “I haven’t always been a good girl. I would rather make one mistake than two.”
That was a good reality-check. We agreed going further would be a mistake, kissed goodnight, and broke up a week later. There’s a bit of Matt-history for ya. Score one for condom-awareness promoting abstinence!
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Matthew P. Barnson