Ah... abstinence only sex ed. Some of you may have had it. Some of you may have had more comprehensive sex ed. Others might have had a very conservative course, a religiously themed course, or anything in between. Regardless, there is a wide spectrum of material you may or may not have learned. And in this inconsistency is an issue.
The U.S. is up in the air regarding sex education, especially in their laws. Each state has different laws and regulations regarding the subjects and treatment of all topics sexual. However, there tends to be a trend: more conservative states tend to have more abstinence only education and have a higher chance of having a secular education. In the heat of this, we have two camps: those who want comprehensive sexual education that includes abstinence but other forms of contraception, and those who want abstinence only education with little to no mentions of contraception.
Where does that leave us, and more importantly, our youth?
Many are left uninformed or even misinformed. It's one (still horrible) thing to leave a teenager in the dark, but it's another to use scare tactics to make them obey you. Other tactics can bruise a woman's self esteem and objectify them as just a vagina. And less noted, but still true: abstinence only education can dehumanize males and treat them like they have no control over their desires.
Some Blatant Lies Told to Youth In Some Abstinence Only Programs
- Gay sex will give you AIDS.
- HIV will leak through the pores of condoms (no, not just sheepskin, latex too)
- Birth control pills don't work
- Birth control pills are bad for women
This is just a sample of medically and scientifically incorrect 'facts' told in some sex ed classrooms. Maybe that is the reason various medical and scientific groups are opposed to abstinence only sex ed. Let's not forget lying by omission either. One common example is that males only see the male anatomy and females only see female anatomy in some sex ed programs. This could be contributing to the myth that women pee out of their vaginas.
In other abstinence programs there is a deliberate omission of the clitoris as well. These are just some of the misinformations out there with these programs, but many go deeper and try to use psychological means to control youngsters.
Women are Just Vaginas
Women are often objectified by their vaginas. Ever been a part of the "simulation" of what it is like to have sex before marriage? I have. There are many versions out there, but they tend to have the same idea. Every time you have sex, you lose some of yourself or your worth. Oddly enough, we were given pieces of candy. And every time we "had sex," we had to give away our candy. Only the girls held the candies by the way.
Many of these exercises say women are just used for sex and once they have sex, they have nothing left or are worthless. Brains don't matter. Career, athleticism, or ambitions don't matter. The number of time you have sex determines your worth in these exercises. It sets women back, and it doesn't help that many of these programs accept a male's "devious" behavior.
Men are Just Sex Fiends who have no Control
If you have a vagina, you may have been told that is was something to protect and cherish from the machinations of men. Men only want one thing at that age: sex, and they will do anything to get it. That is not limited to lying and manipulations. While there are sleazy guys like this, not all men are crazed, out of control sex fiends.
However, telling them they are and can't help it make it a self fulfilling prophecy. Telling boys they have no control over their urges can just give them an excuse to behave in such ways. A boy may even generally care for his sweetheart, but because we are trained they are evil, we have to be wary. And because sex is made so taboo and forbidden, it makes them want it even more.
These are just 3 of the major flaws of this form of sex-ed. I'll break down the stats on pregnancy and STD rates by state, as well as other stats, on a follow up post.
