Abstinence-Only: Does It Work?

[struggle4progress]

Sex education in American middle and high schools has taken on new meaning. At institutions that accept government money, teachers must advocate abstinence until marriage as the only certain way to prevent unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, and may not mention contraception except to point out the failure rates of various methods.
<snip>

"There is nothing in any peer-reviewed scientific journal to suggest that teaching abstinence-only is effective in getting teens to delay sexual activity," said one expert, Cynthia Dailard, a lawyer and senior public policy associate at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights.
<snip>

One national study, published in 2001 in The American Journal of Sociology, found that while some teenagers who promised to remain abstinent until marriage delayed sexual activity by an average of 18 months, they were more likely to have unprotected sex when they broke their pledge than those who had never pledged virginity in the first place.

And Columbia University researchers reported in March that in a national study of teenagers who pledged not to have sex before marriage, a majority did not live up to their vows. The adolescents also developed sexually transmitted diseases at about the same rate as teenagers who had not made virginity pledges.
<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/health/policy/01brod.html

<edit:oops. wrong URL>

[truthbetold]

1. I'd have to say no.

I was raised Roman Catholic, and do not plan on waiting until marriage. If anything, it encourages those who want to "rebel" (i.e. myself) to have sex.
And oh yeah, the only schools that should teach abstinence only are religious schools. Public schools using "waiting for marriage" are adopting a mostly religious stance and shouldn't be encouraged.

[Occulus]

2. What. A. Shock.

"don't have sex," to me, is the same as:

don't shit
don't eat
don't breathe

"Don't perform this bodily function."

How cracked is that, anyway?

[eyesroll]

11. What's particulary galling is the mixed message:

If you're not married, sex is dangerous and painful and will scar you for life with a horrible disease, or at the very best possible scenario emotional havoc, if it doesn't kill you, which it probably will.

Sex within a monogamous, heterosexual marriage is a wonderful expression of love.

Somehow, the "don't have sex until you're ready; use protection when you are ready; monogamy generally exposes you to less risk than multiple partners do; no means no" education I got (from parents and from a reasonably sane sex-ed curriculum) seems so much more logical. No, I didn't wait until I was married -- but I did use protection each and every time, because that's what I was taught reasonable people who don't want to get pregnant and don't want a disease do.

I shudder to think what our teen-pregnancy rate is going to look like if abstinence-only sweeps the country -- perhaps the average pregnancy age will shift older, but the overall rate will be higher. I don't think that's a great trade-off.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. If you tell a kid not to do something...

they will do it because you told them not to. I know. I use to be a kid. :7

on edit...This day and age...with AIDS and other STD you had better provide the kids with PROTECTION. Thinking they are never going to have sex just because you told them not to is foolish and deadly.

[slackmaster]

4. I remember being in my teens and early 20s pretty well

No force in the known universe could have taken my mind off of sex.

In my mid-40s the urge is much better managed. I'm a lot more aware of the consequences, implications, responsibilities, repurcussions, etc. of sex.

[mikeytherat]

5. It didn't work for Jesus' mother.

[ironflange]

24. A really short Christmas pageant

A bustling street scene. Joseph, looking panicked, and Mary are talking.

Joseph: Aw shit, your old man is gonna kill me.

Mary: Don't worry, I thought up a great story.

Curtain

[yellowcanine]

6. Common sense tells you no - if one gets condoms that implies planning for

sex - which is incompatible with abstinence-only propoganda. So what it it does is encourage dishonesty about the biological sex drive and thus results in unprotected sex.

[seabeyond]

7. studies show, children that advocate abstinence

gets preg sooner and more

[Mandate My Ass]

8. there are higher rates of unplanned teen pregnancy

and STDs among those who believe in abstinence only. Something about planning for sex being as bad or worse than having sex.

[boobooday]

9. Kinsey Spins in his Grave

He worked so hard to get people to acknowledge the role of our sexuality in our lives.

The average American gets married at age 27 for males, and 25 for females (I think those are the current stats). Humans reach sexual maturity in adolesence. Is it likely, or normal, to delay sexual activity for so long? No and no. Do you know anyone who waited this long? Probably. But it isn't the norm.

Not that we should be encouraging our children to have sex before they are mature enough to deal with the bigger issues involved, but DAMN, abstinence-only is a deluded and dangerous policy. The main defense against STDs and unwanted pregnancy is open and honest education, and the availability of birth control without shame or risk for those who are sexually active.

That's my rant. I wrote a piece about Kinsey a couple of years ago, and realized how wise he really was, even if some of his methods were a bit unorthodox.

The hypocritical hyper-repression of the Republican party is one of their last, most desperate tactics for controlling people and shaming them into obedience. We see the results in their obsession with particular sex acts and sex in general. Ultimately, they don't abstain, they only repress and/or shame.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Delano]

10. If the schools aren't going to teach about contraception...

I'm sure as hell going to teach my kids. Abstinence, my ass. I waited 'til I was 19, and I was STILL too immature, but I don't know when my kids will decide to do it, so the minute they are old enough they will have access to condoms, and will be made aware of just how pissed I will be if they do it without them...

[HEyHEY]

21. Waited? I was trying the whole time!

;-)

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. Abstinence only has NEVER worked

People lose a lot of perspective. Perhaps more women are having babies out of wedlock now than they used to, but they also have no need to get married as early as they used to. It was easier to be abstinent when you expected to get married at like 16 or 18 years old. That method doesn't work nowadays when more and more people aren't getting married til their late 20's/early 30's.

[PATRICK]

13. Useless

The Church has been trying this for 2000 years and some wide-eyed neo-fundie curriculum is going to save the day? That is more pathetic than liberals thinking they can 'educate" people to saner ways of thinking and civilized values.

There has probably been nothing more effective or to the point than showing vivid consequences of common sex and the remarkable price women have to pay from beginning to end. Of course they won't be scared straight or suddenly take vows of temporary chastity but it starts them making decisions based on accountability and responsibility which should be a mainstay of all decisions. If they could teach compassion and emotional intelligence it would be a bigger plus(Buddhist idea, very much better than dry psychological or values education).

Going for the whole enchillada by drawing a line in the bed only ends up in dumb hypocrisy for most and ludicrous affirmation for those who would have been celibate anyway.

By the way, the same cure-all myth should be trashed for those that think contraception is 100% foolproof or that safe sex will always be perfect.

Another silly idealistic distraction from real ideals and real world facts. Idealism has better fish to fry than this issue.

[demnan]

14. Sure of course it works

it's the most certain form of birth control, been practicing it for years and never got pregnant.

Will most teenagers be willing to follow it is the question? The answer is no.

[Vert]

15. I work in a doctor's office

so I see kids coming in all the time that are pregnant. I had this same discussion in my English class last semester. I don't mind if a school says abstinance is the only way to prevent pregnancy and STDs 100 percent, but students need to have some idea of contraception and how to properly use it.

[newyawker99]

50. Hi liberalchick!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Warpy]

16. You'd think 2000 years of Judeo-Christion bullshit

that punished young women for sex would have worked by now, wouldn't you? The point is that it hasn't worked in the past and won't work now and will never work. The human sex drive is too strong to be overcome by a lot of guilt and shaming, which is what this stupid program is all about.

I would rather educate our young folks so that they won't end up pregnant, sick or dead from the experience. How about you?

[demigoddess]

27. Good old double standard if you ask me

Condemning natural urges and not dealing with the consequences. Teens can get pregnant and when they do they are condemned and left to cope as best they can, as punishment. Teen just naturally want to "attain adulthood" by having sex and yet all our society tells them they are children til they have a baby, we are practically training them to rebel and have babies too young.

[lolly]

43. Ah, but it DOES work

You're all assuming that the PURPOSE of "abstinence only" is to prevent teen pregnancy.

I submit that the real PURPOSE is to keep teenagers/young adults in a permanent state of frustration and guilt.

Think about it--keeping them in this state will lead to hostility, which will have to be unleashed at someone. Makes them easy pickings for the whole conservative agenda.

A bonus? Lots of white babies available for adoption, since stigmatizing unwed motherhood severely will force young women to choose between keeping their babies and facing universal condemnation, or giving them up for adoption.

(Disclaimer: I am NOT criticizing anyone who adopts or gives babies up for adoption. I am criticizing the mindset that says this decision should be based on shame)

[sui generis]

17. this message / myth persists because

in a strict sense it's true. You can't get pregnant or STD's if you practice abstinence.

Now let's put a little Zen into this: People fuck, and anyone who thinks that you can successfully overcome millions of years of evolution with scare tactics is not living in the same reality that I am. Education, knowledge, and rigorous adherence to rubbers and birth control are how you mitigate teenage pregnancy and STD transmission (hey, adults too!).

And to be blunt, love counts for a lot in the success of a relationship, but you still gotta be able to take that car out for a test drive before you buy, or that marriage may not last.

[HEyHEY]

18. Telling teenagers "Don't do that" always works

What's the problem?

[Kazak]

19. It's a farce...

and a waste of resources, IMO.

[indigobusiness]

20. Works for me...

...damn it.

[Beatrix]

22. As a 17 year old

I don't really think it matters what is "taught in school". My school has no sex education what so ever yet I know of no one who is not fully aware of contraception options. Seriously, we aren't idiots.

[fudge stripe cookays]

37. Things have only recently begun to change.

After a few years of this, the kids behind you may not be as up on things as you are.

After 5 to 10 years of this farce, kids may begin to dumb down unless their parents compensate by educating them about this at home.

FSC

[Philostopher]

23. Who was the Surgeon General candidate ...

Didn't Clinton propose a candidate for Surgeon General who advocated teaching teenagers about masturbation as an alternative to prematurely experimenting with sex? I can see her face, but can't remember her name. They practically tarred and feathered her.

I know the evangelicals (and if them, then doubtless the fundies) want their kids to believe that masturbation will condemn them to hell -- I grew up in an evangelical church, and remember sitting in a room full of skeptical, snorting fellow teenagers twenty-five years ago watching a slickly-produced video determined to convince us of that -- but let's get real, here. Teaching these kids that there's an alternative to full penetration sex would cut down on unplanned pregnancies. Even mutual masturbation, if practiced with relatively minor precautions, is a much less likely vector for STDs and seldom results in pregnancy.

It's all part of the 'sex is dirty' ethic that makes sex so tempting to teenagers in the first place. But I remember being a teenager, and I remember the moral relativism I practiced. I was a virgin when I married, but only on technical grounds. So what? If the people I went to church with had known some of the stuff that happened before I got married, they wouldn't have considered me one; however, I sure as hell wasn't going to get pregnant doing what I did.

[Mandate My Ass]

29. Jocelyn Elders (iirc)

She had to resign over that remark, didn't she?

[Rob H.]

36. That would be Joycelyn Elders

A friend of mine is a counselor for people with HIV/AIDS and heard he speak when she came to town. Someone asked her about her ideas about masturbation, and he said she gave a thoughtful, reasoned, positive answer, and ended it with "...and the great thing about masturbation is, you're having sex with someone you love." :-)

[ibegurpard]

38. The problem is that the fundamentalists approach it from the "sin" angle.

Rather than trying to figure out realistic solutions to the problem, they just hold on to the "it's a sin...DON'T DO IT" approach. Encouraging masturbation should be a GREAT way to deal with the raging hormones and yet avoid the potentially life-threatening consequences. But, unfortunately, it's a "sin" as well so there you go. I've always said that I think that the most rabid anti-abortion people are NOT as concerned about the lives of the unborn as they are about people being able to avoid the "punishment" of having sex by aborting the pregnancy.

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Didn't work for us, and hubby's dad is a minister.

And yet, hubby wants to raise our kids the same way. What makes him think our kids will be any different? :eyes:

[chimpy the poopthrower]

26. failure rate vs success rate - what's the difference?

If contraception method A has a failure rate of 2%, it has a success rate of 98%. If method B has a failure of 7%, it has a success of 93%. If both methods combined have a failure rate of .14%, well... you get the picture. Seems like that would be a good way to get around such gag rules.

Anyway, I don't think schools should be teaching values one way or the other. I don't want schools advocating remaining abstinent till marriage, but I also don't want schools saying "If you are going to have sex, use a condom." Just teach the facts and stop advocating any particular course of action. It's true that abstinence is the only 100% effective method (assuming you don't get raped) of birth and disease control. It's also true that you can get almost 100% protection through combining methods.

Incidentally, I feel the same about drug and alcohol education. It's not necessary to say "Don't use drugs. Don't use alcohol. Don't use tobacco" Just teach the health effects related to their use and abuse and let people make their own decisions.

[Fear]

28. WHAT"S THE DIFFERENCE????????

Between this type of Christianity and the 'evil :S' Islam the us government is fighting :S

It's starting to look that it has some *not so* shocking similarities now

[Fear]

30. ow and ehm......wrong URL for the article?

[struggle4progress]

39. oopsie! try one of these!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/health/policy/01brod.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/health/policy/01brod.html?ex=1086667200&en=37d4556a28425a6e&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

:(

[ibegurpard]

31. Abstinence definitely works

You can't get pregnant and you can't catch diseases if you aren't having sex. Now, having said that, how many teenagers does anyone know who have the maturity and presence of mind to be able to weigh the pros and cons in the heat of hormone overdrive? I know I didn't. If I could go back in time, with the mind I have now, there are a lot of sexual experiences that I would never have allowed myself to get into... and I grew up in a family and religion that was very conservative. It didn't stop me. We should be ENCOURAGING kids not to have indiscriminate sex but ABSOLUTELY should be stressing the importance of protection. And we should be able to talk about sex OPENLY and WITHOUT SHAME. Kids will NOT listen to unrealistic preaching but they WILL respond to open and unrecriminating dialogue where they feel they are participants.

[Emboldened Chimp]

32. Sure, it works

if your goal is to go insane.

[elfwitch]

33. No only doesn't it work but I feel it is part of...

the further conspiracy by the right to dumb down and trap the masses. Follow with me for a moment.

You tell kids that they should wait to have sex until they are married. Let's even say for a moment that they believe it 100%. According to several studies currently in the United States the average age at first marriage is 25.7 for women and 28.3 for men. I honestly do not see people waiting that long to have sex for the first time. It is just stupid and unreasonable to assume. So first off, the average age of first marriage begins to drop drastically. People start getting married younger and younger because they want to have sex not because they want to get married. So one effect is that the number of divorces dramatically increases.

Then, if you are only teaching abstinence, the pregnancy rate increases as well. If you are told you should only have sex if you are married and are not given any information on how to prevent pregnancy, then you get married at 17 and you start making babies because you do not know how to not make them.

Result is that you have more first time parents under the age of 20. If you increase the number of individuals having children at younger ages, you decrease the number of people attending colleges. You increase the number of people taking jobs at lower wages because they have to support their families. you increase the number of people being forced to work at Walmart slave labor wages. And then all of the sudden what do you know, you have a country full of undereducated underpaid workers too tired to do anything but try and earn enough money to feed all the babies they don't know where they are coming from because nobody ever told them about condoms.

Outrageous? Sure. But not entirely improbable. If you teach abstinence only, if you don't teach about birth and disease control, if you outlaw or restrict reproductive freedoms, this is what could happen. It is already hard enough to get an education and make a living wage if you are single.

Expecting people to not have sex is as ridiculous as it is unlikely. Sex is a perfectly natural thing. It is an impulse that each human being has. Denying that impulse completely is deviant. It can be done, but why should it be?

[cap]

34. I am getting freaky about abstinence only sex ed...

is this just telling the kids to say no...

Do the kids learn about their reproductive system in these abstinence only classes?

A lot more goes on in sex than just talking about the sex act and contraception. Are kids being taught how babies start and how their reproductive systems work and what the diseases are and the symptoms of those diseases.

Even if you are abstinent until marriage you must understand your biology in order to have kids and to know when your body is malfunctioning...

Oh God, I am thinking of the wives tales I've heard and it aint pretty.

[JVS]

35. There needs to be a dual system

Different kids learn in different ways. So it is only natural that these differences be respected in teaching how not to accidentally procreate.

Here is an example of how one teaching regimen could work. The school teaches about STD's and pregnancies along with modern methods to prevent them that don't necessarily mean abstinence. Meanwhile the parents take up the abstinence side of it by telling kids all the unfortunate things that could trouble them if they do engage in intercourse (You'll be bad at it, he'll tell all of his friends and you'll be a known slut, vaginas have razor-sharp teeth, you probably won't look as good as the playboy he's been ogling for several years, she will start rumors that your genitalia is defective if you stop getting along, if you get pregnant we'll toss your sorry ass out and nobody will ever marry you, if you get a girl pregnant you'll have to pay child support and the girls father might go berserk and cut your nuts off. ) Teach them these, mock the child for beginning to show any interests in the opposite sex (Ooohh, guess who has a crush), pry intensively into any private life , and repeat Carrie's mom's "They're all going to laugh at you" constantly and you will find that your efforts will not go unrewarded. A strong foundation of shame, fear and mistrust will forge a stronger barrier around your child's innocence than steel of concrete. Even if the child ignores the warning and does engage in intercourse it should work out ok because the school's teachings let them take the proper precautions. Besides the baggage that you've given them will likely curb their appetite to the point where the chances of being victim of a birth control failure would be extremely low.

Some would argue that this approach may endanger the child's growth into a fully functional adult. I would remind them that after they are 18 you are no longer responsible for them and if they are screwed up in the head at say 28 then it is their own problem.

[struggle4progress]

40. Republicans should abstain!

[JVS]

41. I think abstaining is a good idea for pubescents

People who gladly listen to Nsync or Brittney Spears clearly are having trouble with the whole rational decision-making thing.

[struggle4progress]

42. In general, I agree. But just saying "Don't do this" ...

without anything else is counter-productive. Teach kids the facts, including how to protect themselves and the costs of not doing so. That will actually lead to better decision making.

I still say Republicans should abstain, both before and after marriage.

[JVS]

44. I agree

That is why you have to have them learn the facts and then inhibit them by preying on their adolescent insecurities

[struggle4progress]

45. ??? Does "preying on their adolescent insecurities" ...

actually inhibit adolescents?

Many of my adolescent friends dealt with their insecurities by over-compensating and dis-inhibiting.

[JVS]

46. would you mind elaborating on that?

[struggle4progress]

47. I think the situation is often much like a game of "Dare":

Insecure about sex? Try to get laid ...
Insecure about violence? Fight ... Play with guns ...
Insecure about authority? Flaunt it ...

Of course, some of the kids I knew really were wackos ...

[rucky]

48. Nope. My girlfriend & I practice it but she still got pregnant.

???

[struggle4progress]

49. LOL

[kodi]

51. sure. just ask any roman catholic priest

on second thought, maybe not.