My guess is it’s only people who were never teenagers or have completely forgotten what it was like that thought these programs would actually work. Biologically imperative raging hormones vs ‘just say no’ sex? Get real, dude!
Abstinence Programs Don’t Work
Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.
“At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners” among teenagers, the study concluded.
The report, which was based on a review of research into teenager sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
[…]
“Two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavior effect,” said the report.
The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called “myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates” including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiative of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.
None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.
The true result of abstinence programs
Abstinance works every time it’s tried. The problem happens when kids stop practicing abstinance, giving into pressure, internal or external. But, any program needs to be comprehensive, with an abstinance base, yet offering real life alternatives, such as contraception and counseling. It’s time to use common sense, and not catch phrases.
I think the author is painting with a rather broad brush. Abstinence will work when its tried. If you want to just go with Hollywood and give the impression that life is too hard, so the sooner you surrender the easier it will be, then fine give people all the contraception they can handle. (after all you can always get rid of it)
Just because a stance is the morally right, but tough one, doesn’t mean you should go for the low hanging fruit and claim victory.
The1st 2 comments miss the point altogether.
The evidence is that the program is unworkable. That can be a problem working with human beings – a bit more complex than reactionary superstition-based politics.
“Abstinence works when it’s tried” – well, duh! Not breathing results in unconsciousness when tried, as well. Natural behavior runs predictably counter to Dark Ages ideology.
Many of the studies are biased in one way or another. A couple years ago I found some evaluation of the various studies, which puts them in perspective. Bottom line is the same as this most recent study…abstinence-only works so long as kids are IN the program. But they aren’t IN the program for long, and the A-only program does not give them any options or knowledge or strategies for that time when the hormones control the brain. Other than just say no, and we all know how realistic that is when she’s ready to go and the other head has assumed control. 🙂
The end result is that A-only programs actually lead to more unsafe and unprotected sex than the alternative, abstinence-based programs. The A-based programs teach the kids about STDs in a non-frightening way, and also teach them about the effectiveness of birth control and where they might get it. Talk to your doctor, your parents, your religious leader. They ALL do this.
Frankly, most of the A-only programs are full of shit, saying condoms are largely ineffective and that STDs are a death sentence. Hell, these are the same nutcases who are adamantly against the HPV vaccine, and they are a bunch of friggin idiots.
Choose abstinence and there will not be a new generation. Besides, sex is more fun. Go back to the convent you uptight prudes.
Abstinence only programs are nice but if you truly want to protect yourself, you will gather several other methods to help you.
I would like to see the abstinence only supporters be placed in a room that has no oxygen but is filled with methane for a duration of one hour. They will survive by not breathing. How hard can that be?
I think the abstinence programmes would work fine if it wasn’t for all those school issued laptops:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=14455
Abstinence works great as long as you don’t do it all the time…. all things in moderation that is what I say….
Case in point: China & India
#3 Moss the only thing that is Dark Ages is your logic. How can you get out of bed in the morning?
You can’t fight nature. And the instinct to have sex is more powerful then any government, school or church.
Sorry, not buying this load of crap. I have 4 kids and stressed abstinence since they could understand sex. When kids engage in sex, most of the blame is to be laid at the parents feet. Parents are that, parents. They are not buddies, friends, or doorstops. They are to be parents.
Please explain to me how a girl gets pregnant when she does not have sex, i.e. abstains? Explain to me how a boy can get a girl pregnant when he keeps his pants zipped? Or do people think kids are just raging hormones who do not think at all? Is that the best we can think of the up and coming generation?
yes abstinence is the only 100% effective birth control and is the only way to ensure that you don’t catch an STD, but anybody who honestly thinks that teenagers will quit having sex simply because you tell them not to is a total idiot.
The thing that I think most people are missing here is that the issue of abstinence is really a heart issue. The kids have to OWN the idea for themselves or no amount of forceful rules will make them comply. I grew up with my PARENTS teaching me abstinence (not state or religion) and I OWN this idea for myself. Because of that, I’m not 20 years old and have never had sex (which some people in here may have a hard time believing) and I’m PROUD OF IT! When I get married, I want to be able to tell my wife that I haver NEVER had sex with anyone else! If not anything else, isn’t that awesomely romantic?
The problem that’s really going on is both groups are trying to place all kids into a single category and then force their own views on them (be it abstinence or “go crazy with sex, you hormone driven kids!”) and that doesn’t work!
#11
Yes, parents should help council their children on learning how to make decisions for themselves. It is naive to think that *only* telling children not to have sex is going to be effective. The right approach is to teach children how to evaluate the consequences of having sex *and* if they decide to do so, how to do it safely. Your precious little children will have sex at some point whether you know it or not (given you attitude, I doubt they’ll tell you). If you *only* taught them abstinence then you will have done them a huge disfavor.
#13
> isn’t that awesomely romantic
Not to burst your bubble, but fumbling around like a clumsy amateur does not sound romantic. Knowing what you are doing and loving the person you are with results in far more romance IMO.
#11: So let me get this straight. During your ENTIRE childhood until you were an adult you did every single thing your parents told you, without ONCE disobeying them. If the answer is yes, you are either a lier, suffering from amnesia or should be nominated for sainthood.
Get real, buddy! Even the best kids don’t listen to their parents all the time. That’s the way the world works.
“Is that the best we can think of the up and coming generation?”
Nope. The best is to teach them the truth about abstinence, contraception, etc. and don’t hide sex like it’s a shameful thing so if they decide to not be a saint like you, they will know what to do.
>>When I get married, I want to be able to tell my wife that I haver
>>NEVER had sex with anyone else!
I just hope the blushing bride is willing to give you some handicap points for sub-par performance, dude.
In any case, the bottom line is these programs just don’t work. And the FUD they spread, denying the effectiveness of condoms, etc., merely reveals that the perpetrators of this myth as charlatans, liars, and frauds.
Sure, abstinance “works” for those who abstain. For most kids though, trying to ram the “JUST SAY NO” mantra down their throats is a one-way ticket to teen pregnancies, STDs, and death from AIDS.
Mission Accomplished?
#13, Russell,
It’s more cool with me that you have made that decision than the fact you have bought into the “thought ownership” school. When did believeing in something come with the trite qualification of owning or not owning? I don’t get it. Belief is belief is belief.
With that said, I would not assume your possible future mate will appreciate that you will be inexperienced. I think it’s a more prudent policy to gain valuable experience before engaging in a life-long contract. I think the denial of the sexual relationship in order to make more holy the emotional, dare I say, “spiritual,” one is foolhardy. It smacks of false dualism, not to mention setting the stage for a disasterous let-down. Nevertheless, love vanquishes all, they say.
I once made the decision you have owned. The minute it turned out I fell in love with someone, of the same gender, things changed right quick.
As Heinlein said: virginity is a harmless affliction that is easily and pleasureably cured.
#13: I wouldn’t want to disappoint my new wife like that. I would want be so experienced and knowledgeable that I can satisfy her to such a degree that she would never want anyone else. And I would want her to be similarly experienced so we can enjoy each other as sexual beings to the fullest. If you get off on having sex only with virgins, go for it. Not for me!
#20 The logic of your argument escapes me? Do you want to have sex with your wife to bring you closer and give you both a lot of enjoyment? Would you rather she scored you after each session like an olympic event (a 5.5 from the french judge?) ????
I don’t get the experience vs. pregnancy angle this discussion has taken, thats a complete non-sequitor.
11.4WheelDrive When kids engage in sex, most of the blame is to be laid at the parents feet. Parents are that, parents. They are not buddies, friends, or doorstops. They are to be parents.
I agree entirely that parents need to be parents, and that parents that trying to buddies or friends aren’t going to make good parents, but that doesn’t mean you can sidestep your kid’s humanities. I don’t know if you noticed with your four or not, but one of the interesting things that I noticed with my four is that they are all different. They are, perhaps surprisingly, individuals. What is interesting with individuals is that they all behave differently as well.
Personally, I’ve councilled by teenagers that they are best of waiting to finding someone they really like, make sure its a good experience, and be sensible about it. If they want to have sex at 16, then that is up to them, if they want to wait until they are 20, then all power to them. The important thing with teenagers is that they learn to think for themselves and make their own decisions. Treating a teenager like you would a toddler, given them lots of arbitrary rules and being a control freak will lead to either kids that are far removed from their parents as they hide their real lives from them, or kids that will grow up to be great at following rules and being bureaucrat but useless at being a human being. Make your boundaries loose then make then stick rather than make them plentiful so they learn how to ‘get away with it’.
#13 – When I get married, I want to be able to tell my wife that I haver NEVER had sex with anyone else!
Sorry about your bad luck…
#21 – One thing he’s saying is that never having sex until you’re married is ridiculous.
It has always been shown, that something Banned/condemned/forbidden/without ALTERNATIVES tends to fail.
Ask any BOY thats covering an erection Whats happening. AND he HAS A PROBLEM. THEY THINK.
But understanding that THIS IS PART of growing.
I dont care if you hand out, sex toys, condoms, and teach Alt sex practices… You CANT beat the THING/emotions DOWN…
the other THING comes from NATURE. THIS is the PRIME TIME of their lives. Ask any animal in nature. Ask any Insect…THEY dont wait, until they are 1/2 way to dieing to HAVE a relation…
#24 Who wants to see other ladies in their head when you’re making love with your wife? I wish I’d waited and I’d only slept with one girl before I married my wife. I wish I hadn’t, as sometimes in the night she’s there in my mind. : (
Don’t fool yourself. You can’t go back
No surprise. Another sick idea from the Religious and Conservative wacko’s to fail.
Those dickless, shit head republican and religious pukes only want sex to take place in bathroom stalls and with under age boys.
#13 Russell
You have made a most important choice. Sex is something that is to be for you and your wife the first time. You are to be commended, and your wife will love you for waiting. Contrary to beliefs that you have to be a top performer, that has nothing to do with love and you will reap the rewards!! Kudos to you Russell.
Now let me be the one to tell you what all the sex education counselors have missed, what this blog misses, what Hollywood misses, what parents miss and what society in general has missed.
As long as the focus is on the promotion of “safe” sexual fulfillment – regardless now or sometime later – and not on what the natural purpose of sex is – to create more human life – no one should be surprised about the failures of any of these sex programs.
If kids and adults truly and primarily understood right from the start that the consequence of bringing a human life into this world to be as significant, momentous and decisive as, say, “taking out a life” ie: murder, the prevailing attitudes would be a little different than what is currently peddled in movies, culture and blogs. Life is a fair bit more than getting your jollies, or love itself.
Yes, birth control significantly helps but in a population of millions and billions, their small failure rates add up to a huge and shocking inadequacy that does not support our current culture of “getting it on.” A respect-for-life approach is desperately needed.
Kids can have crushingly strong sexual impulses, even as this is incited and supported by society, but kids also have a brain to think and make choices with too. Impulse and desire alone shouldn’t justify behavior as it doesn’t for sexual cravings for such things as as kiddie porn.
RBG
Asking kids NOT to deal with the emotions and changes from early hormones, is like letting a Alcoholic in charge of a liquor store…
ITS ALL OVER THE PLACE, and its HARD… GIVE me an alternative, something to placate me, and MELLOW me out… Dont leave me hanging…