Scanner : abstinence only education

Even Christians Admit That Abstinence Pledges Don't Work

Emily Farris — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:07:00 GMT

We liberal athiests can talk all we want about the fact that virginity pledges and purity rings don't really work, but even with statistics, it's just us against them. But when Christian bloggers start writing about it, we have to ask: I can haz sex education?

Mark Gungor, a writer for the Christian Post writes:

A recent survey showed that teens who take abstinence pledges are just as likely to have sex and are less likely to take precautions against pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Many in the faith community are disheartened by such study results, but I can see how this happens. And it’s not a problem with the kids; it’s a problem of parenting. Parents assume because the church is doing something like having the kids make abstinence pledges and wearing promise rings, they don’t have to do anything. Parents are not taking their responsibility to parent and raise these kids; they get them to take the pledge and then take their hands off. They allow these young men and young women to spend inordinate amounts of time together alone and think that a purity ring on their finger is going to be the magic force field of protection. Listen, for teenagers to have sex, they have to have the opportunity to have sex and poor parenting is giving them the opportunities.

Unfortunately, he goes on to advocate for less privacy for teens. You know, don't let your kids hang out alone in the basement. But hey, at least he uses the word boobies:

I am stunned at how blatantly stupid some Christian parents seem to be when it comes to sexual things. They let their kids watch all kinds of blatantly sexual images in movies and on television with little thought of how those images and messages can affect them. I know of a pastor friend who allowed his young daughter to see the movie Titanic at least 11 times. This same pastor was all worried about anything she saw that he deemed to be satanic, like Harry Potter, but not at all concerned about his 14 year old daughter learning the lessons found in a movie like Titanic. And the lessons are very simple: If you really like a boy you can let him see your boobies and he can draw pictures of your boobies, and if you really like him, you can have sex with him two days later…

Look, the chances of your teenage daughter wanting to jump on a broom and fly around the room are pretty low. But, the chances that your daughter’s boyfriend will want to touch her boobies, well… I’d give that a pretty big chance, wouldn’t you? Talk about straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel! We need to get our priorities straight.

What he forgot to mention are the chances your daughter will want to dry hump the hell out of that broom. And parents: let her do that.

[Christian Post: Abstinence Pledges Fail]

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Happy Abstinence-Only Education Day!

Michigan Backs Teen Pregnancy and the Spread of STDs with $1.4M Grant

Abstinence-Only Education Doesn't Work

Because We'd Rather be Watching C-SPAN

Emily Farris — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:05:00 GMT

Hey, at least it's better than lolcats, right?

My Obama, My Choice

Emily Farris — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:01:00 GMT

Thursday will be Barack Obama's second full day in office. It is also the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States. And according to "three Democratic sources" Obama is not going to let the day pass quietly.

According to CNN, Obama will most likely use the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to reverse a Ronald Reagan policy reinstated by Bush in 2001 that "prohibits U.S. money from funding international family planning groups that promote abortion or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion services. It bans any organization receiving family planning funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development from offering abortions or abortion counseling." You may know the "Mexico City Policy" as "the Global Gag Rule."

Clinton reversed the policy shortly after taking office in 1993 and Bush, of course, reinstated it on the 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

[CNN: Sources: Obama may quickly reverse abortion policy]

Send Flowers to Your Abortion Doctor

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Michigan Backs Teen Pregnancy and the Spread of STDs with $1.4M Grant

Emily Farris — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:41:00 GMT

Michigan, Michigan, Michigan. What the hell is up? You went blue in the election (of course Missouri went red while electing a Democratic governor, so what does that really tell us?). You're pretty cool with Detroit and all. But what the fuck is up with the Michigan Department of Community Health giving out $1.4 million dollars in grants to fund abstinence-only education? Don't you have, like, homeless people to feed? Or school music programs to keep alive? Do you know how many condoms you could buy with that money? Oh, right. Silly us. Who needs condoms when you will be totally successful in keeping kids from having sex before marriage?

"The grant programs are directed at youth ages 12-18 and parents of youth in that age group. Of the money, $875,000 will go to community groups and organizations, while an additional $542,000 will fund technical staffing and an abstinence-only public awareness campaign. Michigan spends $700,000 a year on other sexual health education programs.

“The Michigan Abstinence Program is geared to promote abstinence from sexual activity and other related risky behaviors,” said MDCH Director Janet Olszewski in a press release. “This funding will further help our communities and the abstinence program guide our youth away from risky activity.”

The problem, activists say, is abstinence-only education doesn’t work. According to numerous studies, abstinence only, which is an education model that teaches young people to abstain from sexual behavior, but not how to prevent sexual transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancies, does not work."

Where have we heard that before?

Oh, when we learned that abstinence-only education doesn't work. Or, if you didn't hear, abstinence-only education doesn't work. Hey, did you hear the one about abstinence-only education and how it doesn't work?

We'll see you at Planned Parenthood, young ladies of Michigan!

[Michigan Messenger: Michigan gives out $1.4 million in abstinence-only education grants]

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[Image]

FOXNews Claims Jesus Will Guard Your Daughter's Vagina

Emily Farris — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:55:00 GMT

Forget everything you heard in 2008!!! It turns out hanging with that hepcat Jesus really does contribute to keeping America's youth free from sin.

According to Janet Rosenbaum, a post doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, young people with strong religious backgrounds become sexually active about three years later than their non-religious peers. (It should be noted that her numbers are based on data collected from middle and high school students in 1995 and 1996, way back when even we were religious and not having sex.) But don't be fooled by those pesky virginity pledges or purity rings, she says.

Rosenbaum's study showed that making a virginity pledge doesn't play a role any sexual behavior because teenagers who take a pledge are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence. The study also revealed that those who took virginity pledges where less likely to use condoms that non-pledgers, she said.

So those kids with their purity rings can stop frontin'! However, if Rosenbaum thinks the numbers reflect the actions of today's teenagers, by "sex" she must mean purely "penis in vagina," because if we remember correctly, teenagers across the nation are gladly taking it up the ass—and other orifices—these days.

Of course, only FOXNews would report on a story that's based on 13-year-old statistics about 13-year-olds.

[FOXNews: Study: Religious Teens More Likely to Abstain from Sex]

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When "You May Kiss the Bride" Is the First Kiss Ever It's Apparently "Magical"

Emily Farris — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:47:00 GMT

Claudaniel Fabien and Melody La Luz practice what they preach. You see, they are "abstinence educators" in Chicago (you know, in the public schools) and they have been all kinds of abstinent.

The couple married on Saturday. And had their first kiss right about the time the preacher said "You may kiss the bride," because they didn't want to get too close to temptation.

So, what was it like to finally lock lips?

"It was surreal," said Claudaniel "CD" Fabien, 30, after his marriage to Melody LaLuz Fabien on Saturday. "It was like, my other self came out and said, 'Look dude, you're kissing her!' "

The bride described the kiss as "magical."

"It feels like such a gift," Melody said after the ceremony. "When you value a kiss, it becomes something of worth."

A few minutes later she was giggling as her new husband said, "We got business to take care of tonight."

We would like to think they've been secretly banging in the band room the entire time.

[Sun Times: Now You May Kiss the Bride]

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Abstinence-Only Education Doesn't Work

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Hey George Bush, See What Your Abstinence-Only Education Has Done to America's Youth?

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(Thanks, Andrew!)

Top 3 Reasons "Twilight" Isn't Cool…or Sexy... or Worth Your $10

Scanner Matt — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:13:00 GMT

1. Mormons
2. Abstinence
3. There’s a better vampire movie you should be watching

Reason #1: Never let devout religious people teach or describe sex to you. It’s like having George Bush explain his foreign policy (a bunch of cautionary bullshit and no results). Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon. Yes, those guys who helped spearhead the anti-gay “Yes on Prop 8” campaign… and by the way, who the hell are they to talk about marriage?

How Mormon is she?

Well, she did get her writing degree at Brigham Young University.

Reason #2: Abstinence is not the answer. Just ask Sarah Palin how well it works. And furthermore does it ever make for good entertainment? Meyer substitutes a teenage vampire boy’s horny desires for his thirst for blood in a thinly veiled metaphor that’s supposed to teach “us” (parents and their confused teens, of which we are neither, admittedly) about “our” carnal urges.

Reason #3: Nine times out of ten there’s always a better movie out there than the one you’re watching. Not that our readers are knocking down theater doors to get to this holiday blockbuster (which they keep urging us to refer to as “the next Harry Potter”), but if you are in the mood for an entertaining vampire movie try Let The Right One In, still in theaters. A super hip and smart Swedish film (also based on a novel, not written by a Mormon) that tells the dark and soulful story of a little kid vampire. And it’s rated R the way all vampire movies should be.

"The Real World: Facebook" or Scanner Emily vs. The Mormons

This Week In Gayness: Lesbians Under Attack

Male Mormon Missionaries Go Topless For The Hell Of It

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Photo: NYT

Porn Star Lunch Lady Scares Parents

Scanner Matt — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:44:00 GMT

Louisa C. Tuck, formerly known as Crystal Gunns, has incensed a number of sanctimonious parents who are demanding she be fired from her current job as their elementary school’s part-time cafeteria worker and playground monitor due to her porn star past.

The Daily Journal reports that parents insist Tuck/Gunns be ousted from their Vineland, New Jersey elementary school after learning of her former career, but lawyers on both sides of the issue say there are no legal grounds to give her the pink slip due to the fact that she hasn't done anything illegal.

Tuck says she’s only making $5,772 a year and claims she quit the industry five years ago when she was twenty-seven. We are sure some of these self-righteous parents would rather not talk about the things they did in their twenties, so why not leave the poor woman alone and end the witch hunt?

We assume this may inspire an onslaught of humor-intended pun-ridden porn flick titles (Sloppy Second Joes?) or give new meaning to Adam Sandler’s goofy adolescent 90's anthem, “Lunch Lady Land.”

::Sigh:: we miss Chris Farley.

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Photo: Wikimedia

NPR Talks Sex With Sue Johanson

Nicole Pasulka — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:57:00 GMT

We have proclaimed our love for Canadian sexpert Sue Johanson long and loud, and in the wake of pregnant Bristol Palin and more evidence that abstinence education doesn't work NPR talks with Sue about what your daughter is doing, where she's doing it, and the only thing that frightens the sex-ed legend.

Some highlights from the interview below:

On the success of her drop-in confidential clinic in Canada: "When kid's need birth control, they need it TONIGHT!"

Abstinence ed doesn't work (ahem-Sarah Palin) because, "Your daughter is out in the back '40 doing it." We aren't sure what "the back forty" is but if you're looking for your kid--she's probably there...TONIGHT!

It's not all men who pressure for sex, "Some of those ladies are coming on like blockbusters"

Though it's true, you can't faze Sue, she is scared of one thing, and that thing, of course, is...anal sex.

Voice of Reason: Jason Bateman Says 'Juno' is Not to Blame for Teenage Pregnancy

Emily Farris — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:29:00 GMT

Juno is not to blame for the 17 teen pregnancies at a high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts, says Jason Bateman:

“I don’t know the specifics, but I can speak about what sort of responsibility entertainment should hold for social behavior,” Bateman, who starred as one half of adoptive couple the Lorings in “Juno,” told Access Hollywood. “Unfortunately, we’ve had these instances where guys kill people because of what they hear in rock ‘n roll lyrics or some garbage like that. Look, if you’re going to blame a movie or song for your actions, whether they be good or bad, I think you’re looking at the wrong things to influence your life.”

Amen, Brother Bateman.

How about: if you're so easily influenced by movies like Juno, your parents might be to blame? And maybe the Bush Administration for its abstinence-only education?

We, too, are kind-of tired about hearing of the Juno Effect. We would imagine psychopaths are just as impressionable as teenagers, and we never heard about a Silence of the Lambs Effect. But maybe we were too young to remember that?

Anyway, like Bateman says, let the movies remain sources of entertainment. And like we say (as of now), if you child is so easily influenced by the movies, maybe you should save for energy for trying to figure out why, instead of blaming the movies.

[Access Hollywood: Jason Bateman Defends ‘Juno’ In Wake Of Massachusetts Teen Pregnancies]

Hey George Bush, See What Your Abstinence-Only Education Has Done to America's Youth?

File Under The Worst Idea Ever: Teen Pregnancy Pacts

Sloppy Seconds: Pregnancy Pact Girl Speaks Out, "There Was No Pact"

File Under The Worst Idea Ever: Teen Pregnancy Pacts

Emily Farris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:43:00 GMT

Oh, how we wish this was the plot to a bad after-school special.

After officials at a Massachusetts high school noticed a spike in student pregnancies (17 in one year), they learned that many of the girls had made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together.

But it gets worse.

One of the fathers was a 24-year-old homeless man.

You think it can't get any sadder than that? It can.

The question of what to do next has divided this fiercely Catholic enclave. Even with national data showing a 3% rise in teen pregnancies in 2006—the first increase in 15 years—Gloucester isn't sure it wants to provide easier access to birth control. In any case, many residents worry that the problem goes much deeper. The past decade has been difficult for this mostly white, mostly blue-collar city (pop. 30,000). In Gloucester, perched on scenic Cape Ann, the economy has always depended on a strong fishing industry. But in recent years, such jobs have all but disappeared overseas, and with them much of the community's wherewithal. "Families are broken," says school superintendent Christopher Farmer. "Many of our young people are growing up directionless."

The girls who made the pregnancy pact—some of whom, according to Sullivan, reacted to the news that they were expecting with high fives and plans for baby showers—declined to be interviewed. So did their parents. But Amanda Ireland, who graduated from Gloucester High on June 8, thinks she knows why these girls wanted to get pregnant. Ireland, 18, gave birth her freshman year and says some of her now pregnant schoolmates regularly approached her in the hall, remarking how lucky she was to have a baby. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

The high school has done perhaps too good a job of embracing young mothers. Sex-ed classes end freshman year at Gloucester, where teen parents are encouraged to take their children to a free on-site day-care center. Strollers mingle seamlessly in school hallways among cheerleaders and junior ROTC. "We're proud to help the mothers stay in school," says Sue Todd, CEO of Pathways for Children, which runs the day-care center.

[Time: Pregnancy Boon at Glouchester High]

Related:

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Today in WTF: Virginity Pledges Actually Work?

Emily Farris — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:11:00 GMT

According to a new study (that we're thinking might have been funded by neocons?), virginity pledges could be an effective way of keeping teenagers celibate until marriage. If you consider engaging in "sexual behaviors that fall short of full intercourse" staying true to one's pledge.

A study by the Rand Corporation research institute found that 34 percent of youths who took such pledges as teens had had sexual intercourse within three years compared to 42 percent of similar teens who did not make virginity pledges.

The Rand team said they had taken into account differences such as religious beliefs, parenting and friendship characteristics....

"Making a pledge to remain a virgin until married may provide extra motivation to adolescents who want to delay becoming sexually active," said Steven Martino, a psychologist at Rand who led the study.

"The act of pledging may create some social pressure or social support that helps them to follow through with their clearly stated public intention."

The Rand report cited estimates that 23 percent of U.S. females and 16 percent of males have made a virginity pledge...

"Waiting until you are older to have sex is good for teens from a health standpoint," Martino said in a statement. "There are lots of reasons for more kids to wait until they are older."

Martino and colleagues surveyed 1,461 adolescent virgins aged 12 to 17 in 2001. About a quarter said they had taken a virginity pledge.

The researchers interviewed them again one and three years later.

"These findings do not suggest that virginity pledges should be a substitute for comprehensive sexual education programs, or that they will work for all kinds of kids," said Martino. "But virginity pledges may be appropriate as one component of an overall sex education effort."

Really? It sounds to us a lot like making kids swear off of drugs. We won the D.A.R.E essay contest in fifth grade, pledging to keep our friends and family off of drugs and alcohol, and then spent our entire senior year in various stages of intoxicaiton.

[Reuters: Virginity pledges help some delay sex: study]

Related:

How Long Were You a "Technical Virgin?"

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Today in WTF: K-Mart Abstinence Pants

Hey George Bush, See What Your Abstinence-Only Education Has Done to America's Youth?

Abstinence-Only Education Doesn't Work

[Image]

Hey George Bush, See What Your Abstinence-Only Education Has Done to America's Youth?

Emily Farris — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:01:00 GMT

They're having more sex and using fewer condoms.

Is there any generation you haven't screwed in your eight long years as president?

Teenagers are having more sex than they were in 2001 and condom use declined after the U.S. government increased spending to promote sexual abstinence.

The percentage of teens who said they had sex rose to 47.8 percent last year from 45.6 percent in 2001, according to data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Condom use fell from 63 percent in 2003 to 61.5 percent in 2007, the survey of high school students found.

The Bush administration has more than doubled grants for abstinence programs since 1999 to a proposed $191 million in next year's budget. The programs limit discussions of contraceptives and advocate that teens avoid sex. The CDC study didn't attempt to explain why teen sex isn't declining and condom use isn't rising, as they were during the 1990s.

``We are concerned about what appears to be a flatting-out of sexual risk behaviors,'' said Howell Wechsler, director of CDC's division of adolescent and school health, in a conference call with reporters today.

That's it. We're handing out condoms with little how-to's this Halloween. In fact, we're going to start a campaign to hand out condoms to trick-or-treaters. Tricks and treats.

[Bloomberg: Teens Having More Sex and Using Fewer Condoms, U.S. Study Says]

Related:

Abstinence-Only Education Doesn't Work

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How Long Were You a "Technical Virgin?"

Abstinence-Only Tip Of The Week: A cup of Bleach A Day Keeps The AIDS Away

Katie Halper — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:10:00 GMT

Thanks to abstinence-only education, teens in Florida now know that all you need is one cupful of bleach to treat your AIDS. See how it works after the jump.

Nothing washes away your sins and gives you that fresh, white, clean , T cell abundant feeling, quite like Clorox. How does it work? I wasn't sure. I mean, I always assumed that the "cleaner with bleach" description meant that everything, including sex, was "cleaner with bleach." So I investigated and found the following scoop on the Clorox website:

Go ahead and let your kids be kids because you can trust Clorox® Regular-Bleach to help get rid of those tough kid stains like dirt, grass, and f~~ood messes~~ AIDS better than detergent alone or condoms.

You may remember when Scanner Emily broke the abstinence-only doesn't work story right here, on this very blog!