Your Abstinence Dollars At Work!
Rob Stein writes for the WaPo about the failure of abstinence programs -- just as Congress and the new Obama administration are about to reconsider over $176 million in funding for such programs:
Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.
"Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."
...By 2001, Rosenbaum found, 82 percent of those who had taken a pledge had retracted their promises, and there was no significant difference in the proportion of students in both groups who had engaged in any type of sexual activity, including giving or receiving oral sex, vaginal intercourse, the age at which they first had sex, or their number of sexual partners. More than half of both groups had engaged in various types of sexual activity, had an average of about three sexual partners and had had sex for the first time by age 21 even if they were unmarried.
"It seems that pledgers aren't really internalizing the pledge," Rosenbaum said. "Participating in a program doesn't appear to be motivating them to change their behavior. It seems like abstinence has to come from an individual conviction rather than participating in a program."
My mom told me it was best not to have sex before marriage (we see how well that advice worked). However, no taxpayer was harmed in the dispensing of her message. I'm not understanding why we need to pay to tell kids to keep it zipped -- especially in such a tanking economy.
AHH SEX - nothing like it when it comes to messing everything up. Sex and education that is a whole interesting mess in it self. Asking the question - How much should be taught and what should be taught?
None - DO NOT HAVE SEX! What is sex? Shut-up kid! Or I will wash out your mouth.
Everything! Yes children today after naptime we will have a demonstration on the proper way to put on a condem and later we will have Mr. Sparkles the puppet talk about the joys of FISTING.
Religious - Sex is great! Only if you are married, only do it one Sundays, Missionary position only, and NO birth control! Other wise SEX is horrible and dirty and you will BURN BURN in hell.
Technical/Scientific - the pensis is inserted into the....... The sperm fertizilzes the ovum....After 40 weeks of gestation a bay is born...
Feminist - sex between a woman and woman is beautiful and spiritual. Men and Sex - NEVER! Sex with a man is just another method that the partiarcy uses to keep the goddess women down..... Sex is not sex it is RAPE. RAPE! RAPE!
Men's Rights - sex is a tool women use to keep money broke and in relationship they do no want. Still sex is great and try to get as much as you can you stud.
Ignorant/Fanciful - SEX - there is no such thing. We found you in a cabbage patch!
sorry in a slightly silly mood.
My opinion is sex education should be rational, sensible and pretty much to a standard point. Preferbly given by a parent but if not given by someone responsible and mature. And at the age when (maybe just a bit before) they will likely start!
John Paulson at December 31, 2008 1:54 AM
Heres a thought, why teach it in schools at all?
Let parents do their fucking job.
And lets suppose your dumbass kid winds up getting his brain destroyed by syphillis or has to have his dick chopped off due to all the infected boils, or maybe little Susie will wind up sterile due to untreated gonerrea.
At least they wont have kids and perpetuate they cycle of ignorence.
Its time to remove all of societies warning labels people, let the ignorant condem themselves to infertility and death.
lujlp at December 31, 2008 5:40 AM
Amy, do us a favor and keep an eye on this budget item for us. It may be the kind of think no president could ever kill, no matter how much it deserves to die.
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at December 31, 2008 5:53 AM
The way our school district handled it (and I think statewide in PA) was to have a primer class in sixth grade and then in eighth grade a "health" class and then really ramp it up in tenth grade. But that was 20+ years ago now.
They didn't say don't do it, but just made everyone conscious of the consequences -- especially the 10th grade class. The picture of a woman with a 15 pound, 4 foot circumference genital wart encouraged me to be picky. ;-)
It should be the parents responsibility, but having the conversation is hard. I still haven't had it with my mother -- divorced mom no father in the pic. But the school class was a good substitute.
Jim P. at December 31, 2008 5:54 AM
Abstinence until marriage is such a stupid idea. First of all, how old do you expect your kid to be when they get married? The average age for marriage is up to about 27 now - do you honestly expect them to remain clueless and inexperienced for that long? I wouldn't want my kid to be the first kid in class to lose his/her virginity, but I don't think I'd want them to be the last one, either.
And another thing, wouldn't you want to make sure you and your partner are compatible in that regard before you married them? Do you want to end up like those poor unlucky saps who get married and then discover their spouses only want it once a year? For crying out loud. I can understand not wanting your teenager to get pregnant, or get someone else pregnant. But abstaining until marriage? If I had a kid I would't want him or her to get married until they were at least 35, and no I would not expect them to wait that long to have sex.
Pirate Jo at December 31, 2008 7:59 AM
I agree with you Amy - the funding is absurd.
The solution is simple: the growing obesity of American youth will make sex before marriage less and less likely. Hell, it'll make postmarital sex less likely.
As long as the boys are given internet access to porn so they know how a woman "should" look.
Though their HS teachers seem pretty intent on relieving teenaged boys of their virginity these days.
BlogDog at December 31, 2008 8:05 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/12/31/stupidity_only.html#comment-1617630">comment from BlogDogThat's very funny, BlogDog. I took my 15-year-old friend Oliver, who was in town from NYC with his parents, to Hollywood yesterday -- drove past Hollywood and Highland (a big mall/the location of the Kodak Theatre) and all, and it was amazing the change in the landscape: how fat the people suddenly looked. We have fat people here, too, but a lot of the tourists were pretty enormous.
Amy Alkon at December 31, 2008 8:30 AM
Fat people fuck too, sometimes with each other, sometimes with thinnies.
Sex ed needs to be well rounded-the public health aspect of condoms most certainly, and the responsibilities of parenting no doubt and how to avoid that via birth control. But also that it is ok to not have sex at any point in your life. That you don't have to keep having it once you've had it. That it needs to be right for you and only you, and the chances of you knowing that at 15 are slim.
Yes, people who sign that pledge can't "plan" to have sex, so are less likely to have a rubber with them. I am religious and would like my girls to be old enough to enjoy their sex life when it starts instead of being scared or pressured. But I am also practical. They will learn all sides. From me. Before they hit the teen years. If I happen to be that mom who has 10 year olds who still play with barbies and are having sex, I guess I'll just be screwed.
momof3 at December 31, 2008 8:30 AM
So, why haven't I heard about how the French handle this yet?
I really doubt that they infantilize their children for as long as we.
Radwaste at December 31, 2008 9:46 AM
The schools here start "heatlh classes" in 6ht grade, in middle school, and continue them through freshman year, I believe. They cover pretty much everything, including drug abuse, smoking, STD's, the reprodcutive system, etc. But, I have always talked about sex with the girls whenever they have asked any questions, modified for age-appropriateness. I have always told them the truth, and have not tried to "scare" them from it. Honesty is the best policy, always. Why is is that some parents just don't get this?
Flynne at December 31, 2008 10:36 AM
Dang! Typos everywhere with me today - I'm tired from taking down the tree and shoveling the snow (3 inches so far, and it's still coming down!), though, and still have preperations to get to for the Open House we're having tomorrow. (On the menu: Standing Rib Roast with Yorkshire pudding, turkey breast with gravy, venison medallions in a butter and garlic sauce, baked sliced apples and sweet potatoes, broccoli and carrots, and shrimp cocktail. Various beverages, including wine, beer, and mimosas (for Mom). Wassail with spiced rum. Pumpkin and cherry pies, cookies, and a birthday cake for my uncle, who will turn 70 on the 6th. Sssshhh, it's a surprise!) I'd best get moving - see you guys Friday! o.O
Flynne at December 31, 2008 10:44 AM
Flynne!
Open House! What time? I will even bring some cookies or something? Oh yeah, what state?
Jim at December 31, 2008 11:21 AM
cake for my uncle, who will turn 70 on the 6th. Sssshhh, it's a surprise!
Its a surprise for the rest of you that he made it to 70? Or he doesn't know know he's going to turn 70? :-p
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Jim P. at December 31, 2008 12:10 PM
Jim, if you're in Connecticut, c'mon along! I'm making chocolate chip cookies, but you can bring whatever kind you like.
HAH! We're turning the open house into a surprise birthday party of sorts, for the uncle; my mom had a cake made in the shape of one of the trucks he used to drive. Although, yeah, I think we're all surprised (inlcuding himself!) that he made it to 70! o.O
Flynne at December 31, 2008 12:45 PM
Ah, any time after 2 p.m. o.O
Flynne at December 31, 2008 12:46 PM
Flynne, you had me at standing rib roast. Wish I could afford a flight.
momof3 at December 31, 2008 1:43 PM
I think the best sex ed is example. I used to volunteer with a HIV/AIDS support group, helping people in their homes and towards the end helping moderate some of the newly infected groups. The most effective speaker to talk in schools, was a nineteen year old women I met in one of the earlier groups. She was fourteen when she was diagnosed HIV positive.
The first time she spoke in a health class, was when she courageously spoke up in her own. She speaks in several every year and is one of the most effective speakers I've run across. Kids really get squirming when she talks about the horrors of the disease and especially the side effects of the medications used to keep the disease from progressing (adult diapers anyone?).
I'm all for bringing real addicts into the classroom too. Not the addict who's been clean for thirty years. Bring in someone from the halfway house, who you had to test that morning to make sure they hadn't slipped up before they come to school. Let them hear from people who've lost everything and/or done time for their addictions. Let them hear descriptives from a guy who was sleeping on a steam grate in the park, until he got popped and ended up in treatment last week.
Be honest with kids and forget this bullshit. When I talked with parents from my old church who were really uncomfortable with anything but an abstinence only take, I simply make it clear that they are doing nothing less than gambling with their child's life. At best, they're making it very unlikely that their child is going to discuss their decisions with them. It needn't be a mixed message to tell kids that they shouldn't fuck, but if they do, they should use precautions.
I also think there needs to be much more focus on helping kids truly understand that having or not having sex should be their decision. That there is absolutely nothing wrong with not having sex, nothing wrong with being a person who doesn't want to have sex. Repression really sucks - causes all sorts of heavy psychological problems. The flip side is, so does fucking when one doesn't wish to yet or even ever.
DuWayne at January 1, 2009 3:16 PM
"So, why haven't I heard about how the French handle this yet?"
In Paris the traditional 10th birthday gifts are a pack of Galuoises and The Talk.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at January 1, 2009 7:33 PM
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