Abstinence=Crap

J

John Uskglass

Venerable Relic of the Wastes
Mon Jan 31,
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President Bush (news - web sites)'s education plan, have had no impact on teenagers' behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study.

Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teenagers in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active, mirroring the overall state trends, according to the study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University.

"We didn't see any strong indications that these programs were having an impact in the direction desired," said Dr. Buzz Pruitt, who directed the study.

The study was delivered to the Texas Department of State Health Services, which commissioned it.

The federal government is expected to spend about $130 million to fund programs advocating abstinence in 2005, despite a lack of evidence that they work, Pruitt said.

"The jury is still out, but most of what we've discovered shows there's no evidence the large amount of money spent is having an effect," he said.

The study showed about 23 percent of ninth-grade girls, typically 13 to 14 years old, had sex before receiving abstinence education. After taking the course, 29 percent of the girls in the same group said they had had sex.

Boys in the tenth grade, about 14 to 15 years old, showed a more marked increase, from 24 percent to 39 percent, after receiving abstinence education.

Abstinence-only programs, which have sprouted up in schools across the nation, cannot offer information about birth control and must promote the social and health benefits of abstaining from sex.

Pruitt said he hoped the study would bring about changes in the content of abstinence-promoting programs.

"These programs seem to be much more concerned about politics than kids, and we need to get over that," he said.

One program technique has been to try to bolster students' self-esteem, based on the theory that self-confident teenagers would not have sex. Those programs, which sometimes do not even mention sex, have shown no effect, Pruitt said.

Other programs that focus on the social norms and expectations appear to be more successful, he said.
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People are going to have sex anyways, so teach em about prevantion instead...
Absinence is right for somebody, but for most people (atleast here) it is a minute minority :P
 
Its a shame abstinence doesn't work, because these kids really shouldn't be having sex.

That's what college is for.
 
My town has had the highest teen-pregnancy rate in the state for upwards of 7 years now. I believe the state is the highest in the country.

The Teen Sex & Health Commission or whatever it's called here preaches abstinance and nothing else. They've been doing so for the past 7 years.

Hmmm...
 
This whole 'abstinence' deal seems incredible foolish to me. I mean seriously, how many people are going to avoid having sex because of that? I have a hunch those abstinence programs in the Southern states are most likely religious-based too, which makes their chances of succes even lower.

I personally 'waited' with sex until I turned seventeen - something my girlfriend then and I agreed on (she was a year older); but I can see why people would want to have sex sooner. I know people who had their first sexual encounter at the age of 14-15, and they're no poor or uneducated people.

Teenage pregnancy is not something you're going to be able to counter with moralistic rubbish, it's something you have to fight with contraceptives. We even have condom devices in our high schools now here, and teenage pregnancy in Belgium already was very low even before they started with that... Pheh.

It's reality they should be teaching those kids, not utopic morals. I only have sex with girls who take the Pill, and that's because I had several lessons warning me about pregnancy at the age of twelve.
 
To me it seems like the only country with this problem (in the western worlsd that is) is the good old U.S of A.....
Agree with the "less moralistic more realistic" way to teach stuff.... :roll:
 
And their going to pay $130 million on this thing?

Do they realise how many beer, condoms, and cigarettes you can buy with that amount of money?

20 million times sex?


Sweet.
 
mucksmall.jpg
 
Nocturne said:
To me it seems like the only country with this problem (in the western worlsd that is) is the good old U.S of A.....
Agree with the "less moralistic more realistic" way to teach stuff.... :roll:
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Britain has (or had, at least) it very bad too.

That's not because they teach moralistic sexual education, though, it is (was) because they taught none at all.
 
Jebus said:
Nocturne said:
To me it seems like the only country with this problem (in the western worlsd that is) is the good old U.S of A.....
Agree with the "less moralistic more realistic" way to teach stuff.... :roll:
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Britain has (or had, at least) it very bad too.

That's not because they teach moralistic sexual education, though, it is (was) because they taught none at all.
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Yeah, forgot the UK....
 
I do find it interesting in Dove's (very useful) link that both teen birthrates and abortions are decreasing. So perhaps while kids do see right through the asinine sex ed arguments for abstinence they still use more contraceptives. Sort of like saying that there are a few levels of restraint: abstinence, 'third base', sex w/ contraceptives annd sex w/o contraceptives; they will still get it on, but at least they still move 'up the ladder' to safer sexual practices relative to ten years ago when sex ed was in its infancy, to use a bad pun.

Note: I turn 26 on Feb 8. :cry:
 
Mere fact that something as absurd and moronic as an official sex-abstinence program exists in the American education sytem just shows how fucked up USA is under Bush administration. My suggestion to Americans who still give a damn about their country's future: overthrow these primitive convervative fucktards before they turn your country into a backward dictatorship more fundamentalist than Iran.

Also, it is said government the people have is the government they deserve. So, to ensure this kind of disgrace doesn't happen again in the future, round up all Republicans and club them to death. Nobody would judge you for doing humanity a favor.
 
The question about abstinence is whether that population that decides to abstaint from sex does so becuase of school programs or because of other, unmentioned variables. For example, some get a strong religious education that is anti-premartial sex, others get a lot more family counseling. And of course some folks are just butt ugly.

Still the number of kids who have sex by the time they are 13-14 is pretty high. That said, I wonder if those numbers are inflated because of poor survey design.

Dove said:
Nope, Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, then Texas.

http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/state_pregnancy_trends.pdf
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Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas- also have high latino populations that generally go without education. Latino males are perhaps the least likely to pursue advanced education and break through social class barriers.
 
One program technique has been to try to bolster students' self-esteem, based on the theory that self-confident teenagers would not have sex. Those programs, which sometimes do not even mention sex, have shown no effect, Pruitt said.
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The only kind of teenagers who don't want to have sex also don't have a pulse.

Ratty said:
Mere fact that something as absurd and moronic as an official sex-abstinence program exists in the American education sytem just shows how fucked up USA is under Bush administration. My suggestion to Americans who still give a damn about their country's future: overthrow these primitive convervative fucktards before they turn your country into a backward dictatorship more fundamentalist than Iran.

Also, it is said government the people have is the government they deserve. So, to ensure this kind of disgrace doesn't happen again in the future, round up all Republicans and club them to death. Nobody would judge you for doing humanity a favor.
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truedat.jpg
 
I wouldn't go as far as to say that teenagers that dont want to have sex dont have a pulse. I believe in abstaining from premartial sex, and most teens that dont have premarital sex have either strong religious roots or are just aware of the advantages of abstaining.

On a lighter note it is easer for the "butt ugly" to join the ranks of the sexually active, as there are more and more ugly people and ugly people need love too........
 
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