Sex Ed In and Out of Schools

On Sunday, I watched a crazy, but not surprising, report on 60 Minutes called Taking the Pledge by Ed "cool guy" Bradley. It was about how the U.S. Government has recently abandoned teaching that condoms are an effective way to reduce the risks of getting an STD and how abstinence is the only way. The U.S. Government is doling out hundreds of millions of dollars promoting absitnence-only programs inside and outside of schools to young adults. Those organizations receiving these monies are not allowed to say that when used properly, condoms are about 99% effective at stopping STDs and unwanted pregnancies. They are also not allowed to answer the question as to how to properly use one.

The 60 Minutes piece highlighted one man's, for lack of a better and more fitting word, crusade, and the venture he formed: Silver Ring Thing. I won't even bother getting into how fucking stupid that name is. Since 1996, Denny Pattyn, a Christian youth minister, has been travelling all over America trying to convince young adults to take a pledge of abstinence and as a symbol, wear a silver [colored] ring until s/he gets married - obviously to a heterosexual counterpart. And when they get married, they are to give the ring to their new spouse as a token.

I have no problem with teaching abstinence as a way to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies. What I do have a huge problem with is that for those who do have pre-marital sex - every single person I've ever known - they are no longer offering a message. Pattyn's sermons warn to not use condoms.

Pattyn doesn’t just preach the virtues of sexual abstinence. His show is full of negative messages about condoms – messages warning that condoms won’t protect kids from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
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"You’re telling kids not to have sex. But some kids are going to have sex," says Bradley. "What do you tell those kids. You tell them not to wear a condom?"

"What I would say is if you chose to use a condom, don’t think you’re getting the protection you think you’re getting," says Pattyn.

"A kid’s part of your program, and he comes to you and says, 'You know, I’m going to have sex. I’ve reached a point and I’m going to do this. Should I use a condom?' What do you say?" asks Bradley.

"My own daughter, my 16-year-old daughter, tells me she’s going to be sexually active. I would not tell her to use a condom," says Pattyn. "I don't think it'll protect her. It won’t protect her heart. It won’t protect her emotional life. And it’s not going to protect her. I don’t want her to get out there and think that she’s going to be protected using a condom."

But wouldn't his daughter be more protected with a condom than without? "Not long term," says Pattyn.

Now that is just insane. It would be one thing if taking an abstinence pledge was 100% effective, but it isn't.

Peter Bearman, Director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Center for the Social Sciences at Columbia University, went out and reserached the effectiveness of taking these pledges.

It was a $45-million project, funded by 17 separate federal agencies. Bearman’s investigators interviewed more than 20,000 young people about virginity pledge programs -- and there was some good news.

"Pledging will help them delay sex for, say, 18 months — a year and a half," says Bearman. "It's a big deal in the lives of teenagers. Eighteen months is a phenomenally long time. It’s almost two school years."

So what's the downside?

"The downside is that, when they have sex, pledgers are one-third less likely to use condoms at first sex," says Bearman. "So all of the benefit of the delay in terms of pregnancy-risk and in terms of STD acquisition -- poof -- it just disappears because they’re so much less likely to use a condom at first sex."

Why do they not use condoms?

"They’ve been taught that condoms don’t work; they’re fearful of them. They don’t know how to use them," says Bearman. "Their peers don’t use them. They have no experience with them. They don’t know how to get them. They’re had to get access to. For whatever reason they don’t use them, that has long-term consequences."

Bearman's study found that of the 20,000 pledgees they interviewed, 88% of them had pre-marital sex.

It's also been found that when comparing those who take virginity pledges and those who don't, the ones taking the pledges are more likely to engage in oral and anal sex - to protect their technical virginity. And the pledges are less likely to be tested for STDs because they feel that if they're not "having sex" they can't get them which, in turn, makes them a higher-risk sexual partner. All this comes from the out of school teachings. In school, it's scarier.

Claude Allen is W's abstinence-only education czar. He and the administration feel that teaching abstinence first and safe sex second is sending out a mixed message.

"What’s wrong with telling kids, 'You should be abstinent, abstain from sex. But if you are going to be sexually active, use a condom?'" asks Bradley.

"If I were to say to that same group of teenagers, you know what, don’t drink and drive, but if you do drink and drive, make sure you wear your seatbelt," says Allen. "In the case of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, the only 100 percent prevention message is to abstain."

"So you’re saying if you say abstain, but if you do have sex, use a condom, that that’s sending a mixed message to kids?" asks Bradley.

"Well, certainly it sends a mixed message, and I believe what you need to look at is that first of all, kids are most protected in an environment where they’re getting clear messages from the adults in their lives," says Allen.

Bearman disagrees: "The message is clear. I care about your health. I care about your safety. Here are the things you need to do to protect yourself. First, don’t have sex. Second, if you do, use a condom."

Now that is both frightening and just about what I expected to come out of his mouth.

60 Minutes went down to McDonough, Ga to have a look at one school which includes abstinence-only "education" in their curriculum.

What teachers like Laurie Sponsler can’t do, if they follow the curricula, is tell students that when condoms are used correctly, they are nearly always effective. And if a student asks how to use a condom, Sponsler's not supposed to tell.

Now that's a nice education.

And Bradley also spoke to a couple who had taken the pledge. Both Rick and Amy were wearing their Silver Ring Things [Rick a "born again" virgin"]. Bradley asked them if they knew that 88% of the pledges broke the pledge. They both said they were aware. Bradley pressed on

"Right," says Bradley. "But if most of the people who take it break it, then it doesn’t work."

"It’s working for us," says Amy.

And there you have it in a nutshell, the American way. "It's working for us" oh Chroist. When will this country - myself included on many occassions - learn to look at the big fucking picture? If it's okay for "us" then what about everyone else. Those who chose to do things in another way. A way that I/we deem wrong for one reason or another.

And with big things looming like the Supreme Court hearing an abortion case, the stepping down of Chief Justice Rehnquist, the appointing of the successor and a replacement Justice, the filibuster still on the table for future review... sometimes, it makes me want to curl up into a ball and just curse the world around me. But that doesn't accomplish shit. Writing helps. Spreading the word is better. Really getting involved at a micro level is even better. I've been getting more and more involved in things over the past year and it feels good to know that I'm doing good. I wanna keep doing good. I've, more or less, made a commitment to myself to live by the Google mantra "Do no evil" — I know I will slip up along the way, but I gotta do. In the immortal words of Master Yoda: "Do. Or do not. There is no Try."

Comments

[Becky]

Since Newsweek is obviously such a powerful publication, maybe the administration should get them to print an article about the virtues of abstinence.

[yoko]

I would love to see if the government would do anything about additional funding for health insurance from an increase in teens contracting STDs and having pregnancies.

So maddening.

[addie]

this is really just disgusting. are they creating these asinine programs just to make us mad? i feel like the answer is yes. they are.

[katestryker]

it makes perfect sense. now people can have their "sacred marraiges" earlier and earlier. and then they can get divorced when they want to go lay someone else. and in the meantime, they can ass-fuck all they want, because, apparently god approves of hetero ass fucking but not homo. geez.

[Seuss]

/me hands addie a silver ring.

NOT!

Would this guy even wake up to his own moronic line of thought if his sweet sixteener came home with some lovely oozing crotch? Gee maybe I should have mentioned condoms to her after all.

I'm all for teaching abstinence as the main defense but there has to be a failsafe.