Liberal abstinence
I was listening to Air America the other day, yeah I know I was surprised it's still on the air air too, anyway, it was Jerry Springer talking about how teaching abstinence in school doesn't work. Now judging by his TV show I didn't even know he knew what that term meant, let alone talk about it. His main point was that kids don't always listen to teachers or there parents. All the while he was talking I was thinking to myself, "Wow I almost agree with him" which surprised me even more. He pointed to a study that showed that students going to schools that only teach abstinence in sex ed had no difference in percentage of std's and pregnancies than the students from schools that taught "safe sex". Well of course there is no difference, the problem is with who is teaching it and how it is being taught. To often abstinence is taught as a birth control and not as anything moralistic. If you tell a student "the best way to not get pregnant is to not have sex", the first thing he will think is "well it's not the only way, and besides MTV says sex is fun and ok." So there is a need to tell these kids why it's wrong to have sex before marriage, that what's happening in the movies and on MTV is wrong, it's not only cheating them but it's cheating their future wife or husband. Abstinence has nothing to do with birth control, it's about morals, something that I don't know if Jerry Springer has.
posted by Nicholas Gray at 8:51 AM
14 Comments:
Nick, you have hit the nail on the head! Non-Christians have no clue why we value abstinence...it is not about birth control, or transmission of std's.
First of all, I doubt those stats. I always look up and examine such stats given by someone like that. Often it's not a sincere study and the numbers sexed up (so to speak).
If parents don't tell children that sex before marriage is wrong, no one will. Teachers certainly won't. Counsellors won't.
Good post.
I agree with Amy. Statistics are one of the most misused and misquoted forms of information available. There is so much interpretation that goes into stats. In fact, I heard it once said that 80% of statistics are made up on the spot.
80% of statistics are made up on the spot and 40% of people care.
nonetheless, when you're talking about something life threatening (AIDS) or life changing (pregnancy, herpes), it's idealistic and negligent to completely ignore safety measures and just tell peple "don't do it". abstinance is somethiing christians should do because they believe in it. abstinance for non-christians should be recommended but not as a be-all end-all. to pretend that people can just not have sex is a victorian ideal. it will _never_ happen.
Adam, I was looking at this post for a while, and I was thinking, "who is this and how did he find my site?" I went to your blog and read a little but still I couldn't figure it out, then I had an idea check your profile and other site, and to my surprise it's Freets!!! sorry it's great to hear from you, and thanks for your input.
heh, i wasn't sure if it was that, or if you were just that offended. i found you from your brother's blog.
how is it that you, your brother, and dave monreal all discovered blogger in the last 3 months? did they launch some massive ad campaign i was unaware of?
ben is the one who got me on this, and everyone is free to have there opinions here, as long as they watch there language and don't attack any one else, so i think you'll be fine.
Adam, I agree with you that if non-Christians are going to have sex, they need to protect themselves...but please, give them all the information. For example, condom use is not a very good protection from AIDS. They have a word for people who use condoms for birth control: parents. Now if condoms don't prevent a sperm from getting through 100% of the time, how much riskier is it to use it to stop a virus. If you're using a condom to prevent AIDS, you're playing Russian roulette.
to follow your wordplay:
they have a word for places where they pretend no one has extra-marital or pre-marital sex: africa.
the more information you have, the better off you are, i agree. Abstinance by one person isn't perfect either, because it assumes your partner has also been abstinant. Abstinance coupled with mandatory STD testing would be the only perfect system. so yes, you're always taking a risk when you have sex, even married sex.
I enjoyed reading your blog. In fact, I've bookmarked yours!
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