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?

[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.

[hope-guides-me.livejournal.com]

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

UG!

[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.

[doctoreon.livejournal.com]

Abstention from sexual activity eliminates depression

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

[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.