Idealism vs. Realism in sex education

Other Countries

• "Only education; no promotion in favor of neither abstinence nor safe sex (Indonesia)("Sex education for Muslim kindergartners").
• According to some Public Health officials, making sure parents are aware of what their children are being taught is critical.

"...Public Health officials try to help teens by giving out free condoms and emergency contraception, but [but this society believes that] “the use of condoms destroys the whole notion of marriage("Sex Education in Other Countries").

Realism

"Since 1997 the federal government has invested more than $1.5 billion dollars in abstinence-only programs – proven ineffective("Comprehensive Sex Education: Research and Results").

No abstinence-only program has yet been proven through rigorous evaluation to help youth delay sex for a significant period of time, help youth decrease their number of sex partners, or reduce STI or pregnancy rates among teens("Comprehensive Sex Education: Research and Results").

Don't Have Sex You'll Get Pregnant and Die!

Sex Ed. in Other Countries

U.S

Idealism

Some argue that sex education that covers safe sexual practices, such as condom use, sends a mixed message to students and promotes sexual activity("Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S").

Idealism

The public supports a broad sex education curriculum that stresses abstinence as the best way to avoid unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) but that also conveys complete and medically accurate information about contraception and condoms("Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs: Ineffective, Unethical, and Poor Public Health").

Realism

• SAFE (sexual awareness for everyone) project in Europe
• Race and gender specific sex education
• Includes STI screening, counseling, and treatment
• "Nearly 68 percent of women in the intervention group reported no partner or only one partner in the 12 months after baseline compared to 56 percent of women in the control group" ("Project safe").

• "There's almost no sex education in Greece, Italy and Ireland. Yet teen birth rates are much lower in all those countries than the USA's 42 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 (Jayson).

what does that say about us?

Statistics;

• 1/6 high school students think having sexual intercourse is no big deal.
• Boys between the ages of 15 and 17 feel pressured to have sex, so they do.
• 1/4 girls have sex because they don't care.
• 4/10 sexually active teens or their partners already took a pregnancy or STD tests.
• Last but not least by the age of 16, 17% of girls and 29% of boys have had sexual intercourse ("Condoms in Schools Don't Boost Teen Sex").

Age is timing

Prevention;

Some religions don't sex before marriage. Even if they are married some religions don't believe in having sex until mid 30's.

One thing you can do is put condoms in the boy bathrooms like they do for girls with tampons and pads. (Condom Access in South African Schools: Law, Policy, and Practice)

Why we should do it? It prevents pregnancy(not always), STDs, Aids, and yeast infections (Response / Why Schools Should Make Condoms Available to Teenagers).

Back in the day;

They used sheep intestine. When they were done they cleaned them out with water and then put them away until the next time ("Sheep-intestine condom").

In the religion for example Amish if you have sex before marriage and before the age of 30(in some cases) you will get shunned.

Devil or Angel?

If you have sex before marriage you are considered an atheist.

In certain religions they quote at church ceremonies "Atheism is a religion, like abstinence is a sex position."

Condom use:

In certain religions (Catholic and Christian) if you have sex before marriage people will look down on you.

religion and abstinence

Are you ready?

In some churches they say " you shouldn't have sex unless you are ready for a child because everything God makes is perfect and for a reason."

Schools;

They also say sex causes damage to you physically and relationally.

Clovis High School got sued for not teaching sex education (Parents and Doctors Sue Clovis School District Over Sex Education).

If you have sex you are no longer a virgin, so you are not considered pure anymore.

In Massachusetts though they thought handing out condoms is going to promote sexual activity but actually it did the complete opposite (Parental Rights in Education).