The schools I went to never had sex ed.
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Poll: Big Issues with Abstinence-Only Sex Ed
- Thread starter Sir_Auron_the_Badass
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My school was in some wierd neither region (no puns please) between abstinence-only and the other one in 7th grade. Namely, they explained contraception and how to use it, but they said "Stay away from it until you are married." Most people did. I think, only one girl out of the classes 150ish girls got pregnant over the 12 years I was there, which I hear is the norm.
Then again, I skipped the class. The only reason I know what they went over is because of my girlfriend (who still kind of shudders thinking about the "Sock on Banana" they were shown on how to use condoms). I decided at the age of 13 that I would not have sex until I was married. Even after, my parents still tried to explain it to me.....they succedded once. Every time after that, I tuned them out and gave them a groan that translated too "Ok, I get it. If I want to have sex, use a condom, blah, blah, blah, isnt 100% safe. There. It isnt 100% safe. So I am just not going to have sex. NOW CAN WE PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, I HATE THIS SUBJECT!!!!?" And if I have the problem of my mind drifts off:
Ah, happy place.........
Then again, I skipped the class. The only reason I know what they went over is because of my girlfriend (who still kind of shudders thinking about the "Sock on Banana" they were shown on how to use condoms). I decided at the age of 13 that I would not have sex until I was married. Even after, my parents still tried to explain it to me.....they succedded once. Every time after that, I tuned them out and gave them a groan that translated too "Ok, I get it. If I want to have sex, use a condom, blah, blah, blah, isnt 100% safe. There. It isnt 100% safe. So I am just not going to have sex. NOW CAN WE PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT IT, I HATE THIS SUBJECT!!!!?" And if I have the problem of my mind drifts off:
Ah, happy place.........
The biggest thing wrong is the only part. That system offers little to no accurate information on masturbation, safe sex, contraceptives, and a couple other things, opting to say nothing to help guide and protect the teens that go ahead anyway (because, you know, teenagers can be very rebellious and horny, so it's bound to happen no matter what they're told). Don't get me wrong, abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent infections and pregnancies when properly used, and comprehensive sex-ed does cover this, but it would be a cold day in hell if every non-married couples stopped having sex because they were told to. So until that happens, people will constantly have sex, so it would be best for them to have the proper knowledge and how best to protect themselves doing it.Xan Krieger said:
I don't even think my sex ed class mentioned abstinence at all. I think the whole issue of how you feel was mentioned in passing, but for the most part, all I remember was "This is a condom, practice putting it on." Which, you know, is much more useful information should abstinence fail - or, ya know, you get the opportunity in a club toilet or something. I do remember, though, that you - or maybe your parents - had the option of pulling out (Pun partly intended) of the sex ed lessons if your parents - or you - had a problem with learning sex so early. Or something like that, anyway.
Or, and I know this is crazy, they could have LISTENED AND NOT DONE ANYTHING! I mean, its not out of the question, considering the whole "can not control it" thing is a myth. Most teens are smart enough to control what they do and not let thier hormones rule them, and its a small minority that cant.....or at least, thats what it seems to be in the Midwest. (maybe the whole "Shotgun cleaning" practice helps.)CrossLOPER said:
We were taught about condoms and the pill and whatnot. I don't think practicing abstinence was ever brought up as a serious alternative because, for a majority of people, it's not a realistic expectation. It seems to have a special place in the US school system though.
Only one girl in our class got pregnant during secondary school (and she was the only person to have been pregnant while I was there) and that was with her long-term boyfriend because the contraceptive failed, not because she didn't use it. I'm not sure which one she was on but she was an unfortunate member of that teeny-tiny percentage.
Only one girl in our class got pregnant during secondary school (and she was the only person to have been pregnant while I was there) and that was with her long-term boyfriend because the contraceptive failed, not because she didn't use it. I'm not sure which one she was on but she was an unfortunate member of that teeny-tiny percentage.
Which doesn't work. Tell most teenagers they can't have sex, most teenagers will turn round and say 'fuck right off'.Zaik said:
Tell them they can have sex, but to use protection and warn them about STIs [truthfully, none of this bollocks about AIDS being caused by gay people] and they'll not only listen to you, but they won't resent you for being a lying c*** later in life...
We got taught comprehensive sex education at the age of about... 10? 11? It was in year 6, not sure how that translates into the American 'grades.' Then we had all of it reinforced again a couple of years later, with more detail and info on self cancer checks and the like.
Guess what? Not a single girl in my school got pregnant. I left to go to a different college, but as far as I know, nobody from that school has gotten pregnant yet. Seems like a win for comprehensive ed to me.
Pretty much every single person in the western world who lives outside of the US bible belt is aware that abstinence only education is profoundly retarded.
There really isn't much left to discuss about it.
Get rid of the religious notions of purity and virgin worship. It needs to be done.
There really isn't much left to discuss about it.
Get rid of the religious notions of purity and virgin worship. It needs to be done.
Yes he should. I went to a catholic school. They teach us what sex is, that abortion is bad, that STI's are bad, and that we shouldn't have sex until marriage.Zaik said:
Lol thanks for the preachy shit.
So yeah, religion does affect this, and it shouldn't.
I went to a private Christian school throughout my entire elementary and high-school education. I remember my first exposure to their policy on sex was in 4th grade. The teacher asked the question "what kinds of relationships can people have?". I replied with a list of possible relationship types, which included "sexual". I was suspended for the next two days.
By their logic, having sex outside of marriage was akin to committing adultery against your future wife. Thinking of sex was equally sinful, since desiring to sin is exactly as bad as committing the sin in the eyes of God.
Our only analog to sexual education came in tenth grade, during the reproductive health portion of our health class, taught by the gym teacher. For that portion, we were made to watch some old videos from the 1980's with a bunch of crazy-eyed lecturers naming off every STD known at the time and pretty much saying that we would catch them all if we had sex before marriage.
In late high school, teachers were more forthcoming about sex, though their policy towards it didn't really change. Among the extra things they told us: STD's are God's way of punishing those who have premarital sex. For that reason, it is a sin to try to find a cure for any STD.
(We also had one crazy Spanish Language teacher around for about a year, who insisted that American scientists created AIDS to wipe out all the black people in Africa. He was kicked out after his first year teaching.)
The downside to all this is that every student in our class, save for one or two ultra-religious kids, instantly recognized this line of teaching as bullshit and simply listened to it to entertain ourselves. Most students didn't have sex, but that was due to the steeply unbalanced boy-to-girl ratio, more than anything else.
Suffice to say, everything important that I learned about sex, I learned from the internet and from a friendly cable guy who liked to hang out with my mom. He bought me a playboy and explained proper condom usage to me. Thanks, cable guy.
By their logic, having sex outside of marriage was akin to committing adultery against your future wife. Thinking of sex was equally sinful, since desiring to sin is exactly as bad as committing the sin in the eyes of God.
Our only analog to sexual education came in tenth grade, during the reproductive health portion of our health class, taught by the gym teacher. For that portion, we were made to watch some old videos from the 1980's with a bunch of crazy-eyed lecturers naming off every STD known at the time and pretty much saying that we would catch them all if we had sex before marriage.
In late high school, teachers were more forthcoming about sex, though their policy towards it didn't really change. Among the extra things they told us: STD's are God's way of punishing those who have premarital sex. For that reason, it is a sin to try to find a cure for any STD.
(We also had one crazy Spanish Language teacher around for about a year, who insisted that American scientists created AIDS to wipe out all the black people in Africa. He was kicked out after his first year teaching.)
The downside to all this is that every student in our class, save for one or two ultra-religious kids, instantly recognized this line of teaching as bullshit and simply listened to it to entertain ourselves. Most students didn't have sex, but that was due to the steeply unbalanced boy-to-girl ratio, more than anything else.
Suffice to say, everything important that I learned about sex, I learned from the internet and from a friendly cable guy who liked to hang out with my mom. He bought me a playboy and explained proper condom usage to me. Thanks, cable guy.
The trouble is, the numbers tend to show that abstinence-only sex ed doesn't reduce teen pregnancies.Zaik said:
I can't remember where any decent papers are available online at the moment (just had a big lunch, brain not working very well), but the Wikipedia article has a few references I seem to recall.
In the UK, abstinence-only sex ed is only taught in Muslim and Catholic schools.
I truly don't understand why anyone would think abstinence only-education would be a good idea. It means more teen pregnancies, more STDs and a lot of social stigma towards the subject, and to what end? To make sure that kids don't take part in one of the most enjoyable activities you can take part in?
I mean, the "ruin something fun, delightful and full of love, and make the world worse for it at the same time" would be something you'd expect from a comic book villain, were we talking about any other subject.
I mean, the "ruin something fun, delightful and full of love, and make the world worse for it at the same time" would be something you'd expect from a comic book villain, were we talking about any other subject.
The first time Junior meets the father of the girl he is dating, Daddy will be sitting in his big chair, box of shotgun ammo next to him, cleaning a 12-guage, then look junior in the eye, and say "Nothing is going to happen with you and my daughter, RIGHT???!" I DARE you to try ANYTHING on her knowing that daddy is armed, and very protective. (Ah, the memories. Her dad trust me now, though.)CrossLOPER said:
Well, going by what my school was, we were all the kids of farmers, soldiers, and blue-collar workers. Considering I was really popular with girls (I knew just about all of them), I can say with 85% certainty that most of them did not have sex during the year. Because most of them were smart enought to know that it was better to wait, because again, out of my class, only 2 girls got pregnant (and only one was on accident
).
Sex ed in my school can best be summarized by the phrase "If your penis is ever outside of a condom, it will catch on fire and fall off. Have a nice day."
So yeah.
Pretty bad, they actually encouraged a lot of masturbation
My female friend went to the women's sex ed class (Obviously) said part of the lesson was which vegetables are safe to masturbate with. (No joke)
Mostly what they did for the men was pass around picture after picture of STD ridden penises.
So yeah.
Pretty bad, they actually encouraged a lot of masturbation
My female friend went to the women's sex ed class (Obviously) said part of the lesson was which vegetables are safe to masturbate with. (No joke)
Mostly what they did for the men was pass around picture after picture of STD ridden penises.