"Clearly, the safe-sex message is fooling our children because there is no such thing."
There's no such thing as a safe-sex message? I would agree with that. Where would South Dakota teens be getting such a message? Not from school. Not from parents like this. Seems to me that the LACK of a safe-sex message might be the issue here. The Argus didn't bother to talk any one who was pro-comprehensive sex ed for this article (all that research and investigating you have to do as a journalist...who needs it??), which is really too bad because the article provides basically zero context.
"The best way to avoid getting an STD is no sex or to have one partner," [family physician Mark] Huntington says. Bottom line, "it makes good medical sense to be monogamous for life."
It also makes good medical sense to run five miles a day and never eat any cheese. Guess what? Any health education plan based on the idea that more than 1% of people is going to adopt such a lifestyle is going to fail. Let's spend millions of our tax dollars on a campaign to convince people to throw their TVs out their windows, while we're at it.
And considering the that more than 90% of adults have had pre-marital sex, there's a pretty good chance that almost everyone advocating abstinence until marriage for teens is a big fat hypocrite. But kids respond really well to "do as I say, not as I do," right?
As if by divine providence, I got an email this morning from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice informing me that today is National Interfaith Call In Day to Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education (click here to learn more and participate!).
They're trying to get Congress to support the Responsible Education About Life [REAL] Act.
REAL would provide states with much needed funding for programs that would:
•be required to be age-appropriate and medically accurate;
•teach that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and stress the value of abstinence while they also teach about the benefits of contraception and protection;
•encourage family communication about sexuality;
•refrain from teaching or promoting religion;
•teach negotiation skills for young people;
•teach young people about the effects of alcohol and drug use on responsible behavior.
Sound like good stuff to me. Exactly the kind of programs that South Dakota teens are apparently in desperate need of.
2 comments:
That Argus story was truly outrageous! Where did they find two parents and one doctor all of whom are living in a dark cave in the mountains? That doctor should be shunned by his colleagues for doing nothing more than stating the obvious....if you don't have sex you won't get a SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTION! Huh, amazing. I just can't believe they couldn't find one parent or doctor who could make a statement on keeping our teens safe by educating them. Too bad...a real missed opportunity.
Maybe next time he can tell us all that the only way to completely avoid food poisoning is to stop eating:P
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