THE LAST WORD

Anna Quindlen

Let’s Talk About Sex

Congress loves abstinence-only programs so much it has thrown big bucks at them. The public? It's got better ideas.

Published Mar 7, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Mar 16, 2009

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that there is a deep schism in this country, a schism between those many Americans who support comprehensive sex education in the schools and an equal number who believe that only abstinence should be taught, between those who want teenagers to be told about masturbation and HIV prevention and the like, and those who believe they mostly need to hear that true love waits.

It is one of those universally acknowledged truths that happen to be utterly false.

The poll results are astonishing. While respondents in some surveys are divided over whether more emphasis should be on contraception or on abstinence, nearly 90 percent of those sampled in several recent polls support the notion of sex ed in schools. I'm not sure that many people would agree about teaching long division.

But none of this is what you would hear if you put your ear to the ground in Washington, D.C. In yet another example of how things can go horribly awry within that zone of magical thinking, Congress has poured $1.5 billion into what is essentially anti-sex ed, abstinence-only programs, despite the following facts:

1: They don't work. A study conducted for the Department of Health and Human Services during the last Bush administration showed that teenagers who took abstinence-only classes were just as likely to have sex as those who didn't.

2: They're actually counterproductive. Other studies have shown that adolescents in abstinence-only programs were less likely to use contraception, perhaps because those programs emphasize only the failure rates of even the best methods.

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Posted By: logicteacher @ 03/18/2009 5:20:31 PM

Laminin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4&feature=related
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Posted By: k8inred @ 03/18/2009 3:40:26 PM

I received four years of sex education in a public junior high school, and I am most grateful for the education I did receive. I was able to talk to my mom about what I learned, and there were so many aspects of the education I received that my mother would never have known to present to me. There are standards to our education system, believe it or not, and it is so vitally important that kids be told, shock, THE TRUTH. Why is it so difficult for people to be willing to let their kids know, as early as possible, how their bodies work and how to protect them?

I'm sorry, most parents are not intellectually equipped or informed enough to teach their own kids about the scientific facts involved with sex education. If they were, we wouldn't need to discuss oral sex as an alternative (which, by the way, was forbidden as a subject of my sex education class), nor would we be worrying so much about kids thinking they can have sex without repercussions. In my experience, my sex ed. teacher not only informed us about the importance of abstinence as a means of never contracting an STD, but she also helped us to appreciate so many things about who we are as women, and why it is so important to know these things about ourselves. My favorite quote of hers was,"Mother Nature made the clitoris for no other reason than to give you pleasure. Isn't that amazing?" It is amazing, and why is that a problem? A friend's mother pulled her from the class, saying my teacher was promoting masturbation. And why not? I would much rather have girls at home masturbating than performing sexual acts for someone else at school or on the bus. I think the issue is that, when we want the answer to the sex problem to be ignorance of one's own physical drives, we are basically telling today's youth to figure it out for themselves. I can only classify it as neglectful and irresponsible to do so.

Now I know plenty of parents who were upset with my teacher, but only a slight few who refused to sign a permission slip for the class. I think the point is, it doesn't matter what our sexual issues are in this country. If we are keeping information from adolescents and teens in fear of them having sex, then perhaps it is the adults who need to take a sexual education course. It might help them to at least face the truth: humans have sex and have the right to be informed about it.

Abstinence is a great promotion, but only as long as the truth about what happens when you do have sex is presented alongside it. I don't think this is an outrageous approach, and, let's face it, the world could use a little more practicality these days.
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Posted By: Qidisrupt @ 03/17/2009 11:27:38 PM

Popular culture doesn't need to even influence a teen having sex....teenagers have these internal hormonal urges raging through their bodies....so, yes, teens may make wrong choices and have sex....so, if a teen makes the choice to be sexually active, they would be much better off using protective measures from pregnancy/STD's. This article does not argue the fact that abstinence is the best choice, but in reality abstinence sometimes doesn't work because of people's personal choices...Bristol Palin is one example...I am sure of one thing, there is always forgiveness and hope for people who make wrong choices in life. Imerryangelmom, noone is arguing the fact that abstinence is the best choice, but even under the Bush administration, the Department of Health and Human Services simply reported accurate statistical information....not because they were "liberal biased" as you may assume. Many people in the DHHS may also believe that abstinence is the best approach; the results were simply reported as to the success rate of the abstinence only program. The Heritage Foundation....is this a foundation that is abstinence only and no mistakes allowed??? If so, their findings may be just from a small sample of the entire poulation so the findings may not be accurate. Comprehensive sex education teaches every approach to sex....from abstinence to contrception/protection....so to say that we are the condoms to protect crowd is ludicrous and misinformed. The contraception/protection is for those who make the choice to have sex so they won't have unwanted pregnancies or STD's. Yes, abstinence is the best choice, but it doesn't happen 100% and fails a lot due to people's personal choices. It is far more dangerous to teach people abstinence only and then they slip-up and choose to have unprotected sex and cause unwanted pregnancy or STD's; FAR MORE DANGEROUS!!! I am not justifying wrong choices we all make, but if a person does make the wrong choice and has premarital/extramarital sex....then they would at least be more responsible by having PROTECTED SEX!!!