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505 Comments
- inactive, on 05/09/2009, -39/+716The anti-science, pro-silliness crowds are going bonkers over the de-funding of what everyone with half a brain understand is a failed policy. Abstinence-only doesn't work. And leaving kids who are going ot have sex anyway misinformed & ill-equipped to make the diecision as repoisble as possible, ends up with a Bristol Palin.
Happy Saturday! - dtr300, on 05/09/2009, -7/+371I have no problem with offering abstinence as a viable option to teenagers, and having honest discussions with them about the possible emotional and physical results of being sexually active. In fact, I wish such education had been available to me as a teenager. However, it is completely unrealistic to expect that advocating abstinence (alone) will prevent teenage sexual activity. Also, providing information about birth control and other aspects of sexuality isn't something that is going to be used only during the teenage years. There are a lot of people who would probably be better at marriage and parenthood as adults if they'd had some basic information beforehand.
As a side note, I attended an in-school seminar for teachers years ago at which some group presented an outline of a sex education program they were introducing to the school. It was all about "Girls, those boys are out of control. You have to say no to them." There was no acknowledgment that girls also have raging hormones, no advice to girls on how to say no to themselves, or to boys on how to say no to girls, or any suggestion that boys can also learn self-control. I thought it was ridiculous but was too shy to speak up. Now I wish I had. - Vosona, on 05/10/2009, -8/+182http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5649/abstinencep. ...
- swordedge, on 05/09/2009, -12/+185Bush funded the Abstinence only nonsense
Science shows that teens that have all the facts and access to proper birth control have the lowest pregnancy rates and also have the least amount of sex.
Teen pregnancy rates during the Bush administration was at the highest levels in 30 years.
And I am a registered republican saying, get your teen on birth control.... YES YOU, parent of the young teen daughter that is a "good" girl. - DouglasQ, on 05/10/2009, -9/+151Those people really need to get laid.
- liquisoft, on 05/10/2009, -11/+133I've never understood how ignoring the human body's natural functions and urges could be considered "sensible."
Human beings are supposed to have sex. Teenagers, especially, are biologically designed to want to have sex. They're going to do it no matter what, so it's best to educate them so they don't make big mistakes during the process. - bsmang, on 05/09/2009, -14/+133Very awesome. Abstinence-only education is simply ineffective. Maybe children will finally receive useful and appropriate information about the consequences of being sexually active and how to keep themselves safe and non-pregnant in the event that they should happen to entertain their natural urges...
And it's wonderful to see the side of intelligence be triumphant over that of stupidity. Needs to happen more often. - charm803, on 05/10/2009, -2/+98Nonsense. MY daughter would never do that.
/s - cfuse, on 05/10/2009, -8/+100Bristol Palin is so upset by this that she's refusing to get pregnant again.
- JoeMondo, on 05/09/2009, -2/+87I'd say there are some good daily life functions people could stand to learn in school. How to balance a checkbook, how to put together a presentation, some basic biology including reproductive systems and pregnancy prevention.
- TheNik, on 05/10/2009, -1/+76I'm just going to teach my kids that masturbation is much more enjoyable and much safer. I will make sure they understand that sex isn't worth the relentless bitching you have to endure to get to that level.
- jull1234, on 05/10/2009, -1/+69Wait wait wait, everyone knows that to remain virginal and safe you just have to limit yourself to oral and anal. Makes sense, right?
- dtr300, on 05/09/2009, -2/+66Sorry, but children ARE sexual beings. It's debatable whether sexuality should be a subject taught in school (I have no problem with it myself, as a parent of a daughter who did not become a teenage mother), but I think the key here is age-appropriateness. Obviously you wouldn't want 5-year-olds learning how to use a condom, but is that really going to destroy the moral purity of a 16-year-old? If you were that 16-year-old's parent, wouldn't you rather have him or her knowing how to use a condom, as opposed to being in a situation where "Oops, I didn't expect this to happen, and now I'm unprepared"?
- Toshibi, on 05/10/2009, -1/+65We should make this man the Sex Education Tzar!
- vacax, on 05/10/2009, -5/+68You know what they say about abstinence education... 8% of the time, it works every time.
- str1fe, on 05/10/2009, -0/+60He's a digger, he doesn't have to worry.
- Rivetgeek, on 05/10/2009, -2/+61you sir, owe me half a dr pepper and a new keyboard.
- zamnation, on 05/10/2009, -2/+61We were submitted to these awful things every year.
To me, one of the funniest things about the abstinence only programs was the massive amount of misinformation. This was especially true in my high school in North Texas.
For example, during the assembly for my class, the speaker told us that "escapism that occurs when you masturbate" causes a person to develop into a sociopath. She specifically cited Ted Bundy. - sugarazor, on 05/10/2009, -4/+62Teachers are strangers?
- elmundio87, on 05/10/2009, -2/+59i wonder how embarrassed she was when a baby fell out of her vagina
- NinjaGod, on 05/10/2009, -3/+59I know, isn't it awesome?
Finally, we get away from the failed Bush polices.
I know this sounds sarcastic, but it isn't. - avataros, on 05/09/2009, -18/+74Another huge but under-the-radar move by the Obama administration to roll back backwards policies brought upon the American public by the second Bush regime. The Obama machine rolls on...
- enki25, on 05/09/2009, -10/+62Abstinence is boring. Even that freaky blond retard couldn't stop talking about how awesome wombs are. Let's just try to give more people the ability to choose when they want to make a new person ok? There's too ***** many of us already anyway, the less people we make by accident the better.
- charm803, on 05/10/2009, -3/+55"If anything she was probably to embarrassed to buy them or didn't want her parents to find out from the pharmacist, which wouldn't change if she had effective sex ed classes in school."
When we stop treating it as taboo such as these groups, the mind set of getting 'embarrassed' will stop.
I was never embarrassed to be on birth control.
I'd be MORE embarrassed if I had an STD, personally. - nyxerebos, on 05/10/2009, -3/+54... with a circus midget.
- mentallyinhell, on 05/10/2009, -8/+58Yes, let's ignore the reports on how your programs are failing and just throw money at them until they work.
- CVL4317, on 05/10/2009, -5/+53do they realize that they can freely teach abstinences in their own places for free?
abstinence-only education doesn't require a book or a classroom, just a single statement: "no xxx, k?" - PhoenixSmasher, on 05/10/2009, -2/+49Abstaining from sex does prevent pregnancy. Will kids stop having sex? Helllll no. Wrap it before you tap it.
- Ekdog, on 05/10/2009, -4/+50As an adult, I can honestly say that you'd better start giving this issue some thought.
- inactive, on 05/09/2009, -15/+60How much does abstience cost for God sake- ah nothing, but when it doesn't work (which is 99.99 % of the time) it can cost a hell of a lot. Usually, those who promote it- don't educate teens on an alternative, so the funding would be to just tell teens don't do it, or what? I think Gov. Palin would be perfect for the job of educating our youth. Seriously, Gov. can you get back to us on that- ASAP.
(Palin maybe shouldn't include the part about letting her daughter's "BF" sleep in her bedroom, and how the favorite family pass time is playing Russian roulette, Russia is right out there in the yard and all). - LilRabbitFooFoo, on 05/10/2009, -4/+49Remember that all of these so called Faith-based initiatives were just excuses to get around the separation of church and state by sliding federal dollars into missionary coffers. None of these programs came with no strings attached. There was ALWAYS an explicit "come to Jesus" as part of message.
So, I'm so very glad these ignorant, superstitious fools are back to fleecing their own sheep instead of the secular by law public till. - ElChapusero, on 05/10/2009, -1/+45Or rather, it's evidence that Obama is keeping religion far away from politics. Y'know, the way it should be.
- bsmang, on 05/09/2009, -6/+50Well written comment, but if your main goal is still to "prevent teenage sexual activity", then I think you're missing the point. I think that offering abstinence as their best option is good, but it absolutely must be backed up with all the education you should give them under the assumption that they would not pick abstinence.
- dtr300, on 05/09/2009, -1/+43No, I'm just describing what seems to be the rightwing approach. I agree with you 100 percent.
- Rivetgeek, on 05/10/2009, -4/+46uh he can be totally religious without sucking the right wing fundy ***** like georgie did for 8 ***** years.
- flashback87, on 05/10/2009, -4/+46.... so sex ed should be abandoned.... yet you are opposed to children learning about sex from strangers?
crawl back into your conservative shell. - Duffle, on 05/10/2009, -0/+41This deserves its own Digg post.
- dtr300, on 05/10/2009, -6/+45ZhiZaki: Read up on child psychology - Freud's "oral phase," "latent phase," etc. "Sexual beings" is not a term that implies that preadolescent children should be engaging in adult sexual activity. If NAMBLA wants to use it that way then that's strictly their own creepy interpretation.
If you want to educate the adults so they can teach their kids, that's fine, but how will you fund this? And how do you get parents to take part? Take a look at some of the adults you see around and guess how many of them are actually giving their kids correct information, or even any information at all about sex. Btw, as far as I'm aware parents are given the option to opt out of sex education classes for their kids, so if you don't want your kids given this instruction you're perfectly free to keep them out of it. - JoeMondo, on 05/09/2009, -1/+40I'm going with: children have a right to learn scientific information about their own bodies.
- str3ama, on 05/10/2009, -10/+46They had their fun when Bush was around, now it's about time for a bit of a reversal - taking away money from these organizations clearly formed and managed by these hypocritical religious group.
- FujiwaraTofu, on 05/09/2009, -1/+37Well, I can understand where you're coming from, but the problem with what you're asking for is that if the schools don't teach kids/teenagers safe sex practices, then who is? In many cases, the parents completely avoid the topic past the old birds and the bees story. And it's not as if sex education classes are teaching kids to have sex. There's no coverage of positions and how to give orgasms.
Sex ed classes are especially important to female students as well. How many parents tell their daughters WHY they're having a period? It's a confusing topic to a young girl, and educating her on the how and why can help a great deal. - itsthemechanic, on 05/10/2009, -0/+35Seconded.
- Suricou, on 05/10/2009, -0/+34Joycelyn Elders, former Surgeon General of the US, once suggested that sex ed programs should teach that masturbation is acceptable.
This is why she is former surgeon general. Her subsequent firing wasn't even wrapped up in an excuse or cover story - the official reason she was fired is that she advocated masturbation be taught as acceptable in sex-ed.
That was back during the very liberal Clinton administration. Even back then, to just suggest that teenagers be told it's ok to masturbate was an instant career-ender. - solistus, on 05/10/2009, -4/+38They are if you home school to avoid the guv'mint and its evil pro-science agenda.
And yes, us liberals are 'excited' at the prospect of children being educated about their own bodies, particularly when they are undergoing a transformative period in which their entire bodies are gearing up for sexual activity and media, parents and peers can give a confusing mix of contradictory messages on such basic subjects as birth control use. You conservatives sure love ignorance to suit your anachronistic social views. - pilzburybizkit, on 05/10/2009, -1/+34"17. You ready"
- NJSlacker, on 05/10/2009, -1/+34actually, humans are supposed to work together, which is why we evolved such complex language and communication abilities.
- p3ngwin, on 05/10/2009, -3/+35"Unfortunately, the president's budget ignores research that documents a 50% decrease in sexual onset among teens that are enrolled in abstinence programs."
there's spin right there. that's not the way to present balanced truth.
1st you take the whole of the topic at hand, in this case number of teens in the US . THEN you find out how many are in abstinence programs, THEN you find out how many IN THOSE programs had a difference from being in the program.
THAT final number put against the other numbers gives you perspective. - Billions, on 05/10/2009, -4/+36We looked at the stats, and we decided you're gonna have to carry the budget of saying "Don't have sex" to someone all by yourselves, abstinence support teams. Sorry to burden you with that, we're in an economic crisis over here in reality.
- flashback87, on 05/10/2009, -2/+34i-n-f-r-a-s-t-r-u-c-t-u-r-e.
it does make sense. - Lykil, on 05/10/2009, -1/+33I'm a christian, who goes regularly to church, and I once came across a book written for teenage girls about how to dress, so as not to 'tempt' the guys. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen, following precisely that train of though, that girls don't really like sex, and only need the strength to stand up to the guys. It had passages that went literally like: "When you dress in a tight top, the guys are gonna be looking at you, and thinking about you naked. Yuck, that's disgusting! How gross." I'm paraphrasing, but I'm not exaggerating. That was LITERALLY the message.
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