Abstinence-only = lies

[lunadelcorvo]

I must say, in a way I have an additional reason to be happy when this thesis is done and over. Some of the crap I have been reading is really starting to get to me. The material I have been researching is distrubing, infuriating, and deeply scary. From Promise Keepers and other groups promoting "godly familes and marriages" to the insidious mix of 'cure and condemn' anti-gay rhetoric - its just sickening.

One of the things that has been especially disturbing is finding out just how horrendous the "abstinence-only" sex-ed programs really are. When I think of the numbers of young people fed this crap, and the damage it can and will do...

These 'abstinence-only' programs incorporate utter nonsense and blatant lies; things like misrepresenting the failure rates of birth control and condoms as protections against HIV/STDs, suggesting that birth control measures (or abortions) cause cancer, miscarriage, infertility, and so on. They also promote sexist stereotypes, by suggesting that since boys 'only want sex' and 'can't control themselves,' it is up to the girl (since girls don't like sex) to ensure that a couple does not have sex. (With the obvious implication that it's her fault if they do - hello, Eve!)

This is a report issued by the US government on such programs. Some specifics cited in the report are:

• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."
• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.
• No evidence demonstrates condoms’ effectiveness against HPV transmission.
• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.
• Touching another person’s genitals can result in pregnancy.
• Remaining a virgin all but eliminates the possibility of becoming pregnant. (Emphasis mine-WTF?)
• Five to ten percent of women will never again [be able to] be pregnant after having a legal abortion.
• A woman needs to feel a man’s devotion to her, and a man has a primary need to feel a woman’s admiration.
• A Bride price is actually an honor to the bride; it says she is valuable to the groom.
• Abstention from sexual activity eliminates depression, poverty, loneliness, substance abuse, and suicide.

I don't care what your religious beliefs are, or how you see sex in your personal morality. Lying to children and teens in the guise of education is WRONG. It's as wrong as giving them lies about how to cross the street safely, or how to get out of the house in case of a fire, or anything else that involves their personal safety. As a parent, I can't describe the depth of anger I feel when I see that this crap is being taught to young people in schools, with all the borrowed legitimacy that implies. Worse, it is federally funded, meaning my taxes and yours have paid people to write this garbage, and paid people to indoctrinate young people with it. I have no words for the wrongness of this.

Comments

[mutantenemy.livejournal.com]

Touching another person’s genitals can result in pregnancy.

Since when did sperm and eggs gush out of our fingertips?? Did I miss a health class in school?

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Only if you were very lucky, by these lights!

I knew this stuff was junk, but until I started pulling research, I had no idea it was THIS bad....

Love your icon! Hubby and I were joking that only those who can recognize stupidity can really ever gain enlightenment. Why? Because they are constantly massaging their third eye, until it breaks through, in that very gesture...

In fact, is it gankable? I need to send it to him! LOL

[mutantenemy.livejournal.com]

LOL! It is completely gankable. Just make sure, if he uses it, to credit misty_creates. :-)

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Done and done. I might use it myself, as well.... hmmm... *looks to see if she has any slots left*

*hugs*

[doctoreon.livejournal.com]

My mom used to believe that if a boy touched her elbows she could get pregnant. That's why she always wore sweaters on her dates. That's also why I was born. buh dum cha!

[mutantenemy.livejournal.com]

ROFL! Well, I always wondered why I found fingerless gloves kinda sexy. *wink wink*

[thewenchywiccan.livejournal.com]

There are no words, other then that it cements my decision of having "The Talk" with my child personally and leaving the School OUT of it. Touching another person’s genitals can result in pregnancy. Who writes this crap? Probably the same person that put the lovely Make Raped Women Have Babies - Ban Abortion sign outside of a Church. GAH.

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Absolutely, I don't by any means excuse parents from taking responsibility here, nor do I think it is up to the schools alone to educate young people on anything like this. But offering outright lies? As if parents don't have enough to do supporting what the schools teach, with this they have to work to counteract it? It's insane.

[thewenchywiccan.livejournal.com]

I agree. As Yoda would say, Scary it is. XD

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Totally! Not to go too far off track, but I have to say, re-watching the first three Star Wars movies has been very interesting given current politics. The whole 'emergency powers' and the contrived war.... Kinda eerily familiar, I must say...

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

You know my religious beliefs and that still annoys the PISS out of me.

UG!

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

That's just it - I can respect religion to a large degree, and I respect anyone's right to make the decisions they find to be appropriate. But this goes way beyond that sort of self determination, to a promoting a downright dangerous level of ignorance. Grrrr....

BTW, love the icon! That's a ticket I could get behind!

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

I agree. When I teach my boys, I'll be telling them not to have sex before marriage but if they do they need to be SAFE. I don't want grandchildren because my children are ignorant.

[primitivepeople.livejournal.com]

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm really glad that abstinence-only programmes have failed to take off in the UK, as they are - if you'll excuse the language - total bollocks.

Decent sex education and fair and easy access to contraception is the way to go. Yes - encourage people to wait until they're committed before they have sex. But don't leave them completely ignorant and unprepared for when they do.

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. All this crap is just a head-in-the-sand approach, that accomplishes nothing but making health and reproductive problems WORSE.

Thankfully, these programs are starting to feel some backlash here, too, though it's slow going under the current regime administration. Over here, we are just hoping this election clears they way to removal of this nonsense, rather than solidifying it....

[primitivepeople.livejournal.com]

For the sake of all of us, I hope Obama wins. The prospect of a McCain/Palin victory is too ghastly to contemplate.

[raven-moon.livejournal.com]

It is indeed, and not just within our borders. For the sake of the world, I hope this country isn't that far gone... *shudder*

[primitivepeople.livejournal.com]

I think it's going to be a dirty battle. The hardcore conservatives are not going to let go of power without a fight, and they'll dress it all up as some sort of apocalyptic conflict between Good and Evil. Unfortunately a lot of people will fall for this.

[samuraiartguy.livejournal.com]

That's what I am seeing shaping up... the more it looks like they might lose.. the more the Karl Rove book of dirty tricks and nasty fighting will get plumbed...

Got this from the Obama campaigh in my email today...

"The Republican National Committee is distributing a mail piece that says "Terrorists" on the front and opens to a big picture of Barack saying "Not Who You Think He Is."

John McCain -- who promised to run a respectful campaign -- said that he was "absolutely" proud of it. "

It's already started.

[sinmantyx.livejournal.com]

Let's just hope that Obama is the man we all seem to think he is. He has WORKED in "faith based" programs and seems to support them. However, not ALL "faith based" programs are pro-ignorance.

In other words - we need to stay vigilant whoever wins.

[primitivepeople.livejournal.com]

I agree. There's nothing wrong with faith-based programmes per se, but they need to be factually accurate and are no good in isolation.

[doctoreon.livejournal.com]

Abstention from sexual activity eliminates depression

Funny, it's always had the opposite result for me.

[lucretiasheart.livejournal.com]

Me too... and leaves me feeling lonely and suicidal-- not caring if I take drugs...

[doctoreon.livejournal.com]

I find abstinence to actually be a gateway to all sorts of behavior like drugs, pornography masturbation, and general malaise.

[lucretiasheart.livejournal.com]

Exactly. We should start a new pro-sex campaign: "Abstinence: the gateway drug. Friends don't let friends go it alone..."

8^P

[doctoreon.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem is, I also find that sex is a gateway to masturbation, pornography and occasionally drugs. So...six of one, half dozen of the other. I think it's called "human nature." You might just want to teach that shit.

[lucretiasheart.livejournal.com]

Damn it! Where's the clear black n' white, good vs. evil demarcation line my American education taught me to look for..?

[samuraiartguy.livejournal.com]

* blinking from the bare-naked audacity of the lies *

Whufffff... SO with you. And what infuriates me is that American aid for family planning and HIV/Aids prevention in the Thrid World is limited on the condition that the recipient nations toe this INSANE abstinence-only line... INSANE.