Today’s Rapid City Journal reported that recent studies of those programs advocating sexual abstinence only to prevent sexually transmitted disease are ineffective. Most people with a sense of reality have known that for a long time. The study found that kids who were taught abstinence only were just as likely to have engaged in sexual activity at the same age and to have had as many sexual partners as those who were not taught abstinence only.
Sexual activity among teens is going to happen no matter what we old folks want to happen. It has been going on from time immemorial. I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s and it was happening then even though no one talked about it.
The entire push to teach abstinence only has been about promoting a religious agenda and had little or no concern about HIV or AIDS. After all it was a just punishment for not following the religious mores of the day. Do we really want sexual indiscretion to have a death penalty? That has been the result of the abstinence only movement.
If Churches and religious organizations wish to teach abstinence only, that is their right to do so. However, we should not be spending public funds to promote a religious agenda. Especially spending money on ones that don’t work.
It’s time to teach reasonable and realistic sex education. If we want to stop HIV, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases then we have to be honest about the information we give and to understand the nature of the people with whom we are dealing.
Those parents and educators who don’t want to deal with the issue need to ask themselves if they would rather be dealing with sick and dieing kids.
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