Sex Education

[DarthTofu]

Yay! Controversy time! After all, SOCL's and Tex's throats have both almost healed- we need to get the two slashing at each other once more! As the title says, what's you view on sex education? Abstinence? Safe sex? None? Something new? Be sure to include which type of education you had growing up. For some geezers the answer will be "it wasn't even culturally acceptable!" and for other geezer's it'll be "What the hell, Tofu, I'm not a geezer- I only took sex-ed classes a few years before you did!"

 

I had to write one mother of a paper on this topic, so be prepared for me to start bashing views with my 35 sources of bibliographical information of doom and ten pages of essayness!

[Darth_Rob]

I believe that "safe sex" is the way to go. It is ridiculous to promote abstinence. By forbidding something that teens know (from friends and media) is going to be a good experience will only make them more curious. This is very similar to my view on gun safety with children. Rather than prohibiting it, educate them. If the curiosity is taken out in some way, it leads to people making more educated decisions.

 

I had the stupid lame sex education class in school. This is necessary because some parents (as mine were) are not comfortable talking to their children about this. There is no way to force the parents to have "the birds and the bees" talk with their kids. Thus, the school has to step up in case the parents dont. Kids have to be educated on this subject, so that they dont make stupid mistakes that result in the ruining of their lives.

 

However, it is important to give the parents the choice in this matter. Sex education in school cannot be mandatory, and if a parent does not want their child participating in this class, then the chances are that the parent will have the talk themselves.

 

Bottom line: safe sex education is the only way to go. Teaching abstinence does not achieve anything because teens will do what they want regardless of what people say. At least this way they will make wiser choices if they do decide to do anything.

[DarthTofu]

*Wets fangs* Are you familiar with a 2007 report by the Department of Health and Human Services in cooperation with the Administration for Children and Families? http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/docs/comprehensive.pdf

You can read it if you want, or you can trust my summary of the 50 + pages of info there. Bottom line: Safe sex education has no impact on when teens will start having sex. It has a minimal impact on contraceptive use. We're talking tenths and hundredths of percentage points at best. Abstinence-only has the same set of issues: Nobody's listening to anyone.

 

I've gone through a lot of studies, and do you know what I found? Not one sex-ed program being evaluated was from later than 2003. Most were from the early nineties (91, 92, or 93). Some kids that were born when these programs were written are being instructed by them. The situation has changed, though- sex has become more prominent now than it was in the nineties. Different rumors are floating around, different escapades are being heard.

 

I'm opting for something totally new: an honest sex-ed program. Neither abstinence-only nor safe-sex gives anything approaching accurate, non-lying info on contraceptives, and neither program mentions anything about the other except in cusory. Abstinence is mentioned a total or sixty times in some safe-sex programs that discuss condoms over three hundred times. Give equal time to both, because abstinence is a way to keep kids healthy- but also give them the real facts, and reach out to who they are today, not their older brothers and sisters.

 

I'm DarthTofu, and I approve this message.

 

Admittedly I went into this with the same preconceptions as Rob, but the studies don't lie- neither abstinence-only nor safe-sex have been very effective (by "very" I mean "even a little bit.") They're outdated, out of touch, and need to be replaced. I'm sending my research paper to Congress once I get the grade on it.

[Mad78]

That sounds like an interessting paper you wrote up. If you decide to make a pdf of it be sure to send me a copy.

 

I personnally believe that sex ed is a necessary thing. Even if it doesn't have much impact at least its better that just standing there and doing nothing. But then again the sex-ed in the States may be vastly different from the one which is given in Switzerland.

We had AIDS patients come and talk about their life and i can tell that is a very sure way of promoting safe sex.

[Darth_Rob]

We had AIDS patients come and talk about their life and i can tell that is a very sure way of promoting safe sex.

 

Now that is one way to scare the hell out of those kids

 

@Tofu: I totally agree with you. As I said, I believe that those sex-ed videos are stupid and lame. I can vouch that the videos we watched were totally stupefying. New videos have to be made.

 

Now as I also said, I dont believe any sex-ed will stop teens from doing what they want to do. Thats just how teens are, and if they want to have sex, then they will. Thats why the key to any sex-ed is to concentrate on promoting safe sex. What Im saying is that the kids should still have the whole spiel about "waiting until they are ready" and what not, but also have someone say, "and when you are ready, this is what you have to do". Its sort of meeting the teens half way, but it will be advantageous in the long run, as kids will at least be more likely to be safe when they decide to start having sex.

 

But I also think Mads experience with a real-live AIDS patient in the room will do a lot of good too! Another good idea is to bring someone in with like herpes or something and then show the kids what it looks like in real life. Seeing the disease in real life would scare the hell out of anyone!

 

All in all, interesting work Tofu. I highly suggest you do send this report off to Congress afterwards. Its an important issue that is not really being addressed as far as I can see.

[Guest Scathane]

Way to go Tofu! Huray for science! I think we need a new program... Let's face it: sex is something natural if only in the sense of procreation. And even then - regardless of procreation - humans have sex. Period. It's something that pretty common in nature as well, to put it mildly. We should accept and even embrace that because, for one, it keeps our species alive. Moreover, sex between two consenting adults is generally considered a rather pleasant encounter.

 

Inform teenagers about what it is and isn't: that's the most sensible way to go...

[Eagle]

When I went to school people became slightly aware of the high risks of the AIDS virus so our sex edjucation also focused on safe sex. I don´t believe that sex became now more popular for the teens than it was 10 or 20 years ago. But it seems that they start much more earlier than other generations before. More and more teens seem to have no clue about safe sex. Girls become pregnant of very very young age and boys become fathers also at an incredible age. What is also very concerning is that the number of young people who are infected with AIDS is increasing. Not just in Africa, also here in Europe. That makes me think "what the hell do they teach them nowadays in school?" We also had very old movies of the 60s/70s for the sex edjucation in school so it doesn´t matter if you´re watching an old clip or a new one. Sex is still the same as it was informer!

 

Leave the sex edjucation to the parents? Oh my! Than those children are completely lost.

[DarthTex]

... New videos have to be made...

Nobody likes to watch the old "classics" anymore ... (i.e. The Story of O, Behind the Green Door, etc ...)

[Jahled]

Yay! Controversy time! After all, SOCL's and Tex's throats have both almost healed- we need to get the two slashing at each other once more! As the title says, what's you view on sex education? Abstinence? Safe sex? None? Something new? Be sure to include which type of education you had growing up. For some geezers the answer will be "it wasn't even culturally acceptable!" and for other geezer's it'll be "What the hell, Tofu, I'm not a geezer- I only took sex-ed classes a few years before you did!"

 

I had to write one mother of a paper on this topic, so be prepared for me to start bashing views with my 35 sources of bibliographical information of doom and ten pages of essayness!

 

You certainly pull them from the hat, dude!

 

Educate young minds to the chemical reactions and feelings that will inevitably occur in their brains and bodies, rather than pollute it with mythological and superstitious jargon, so they are best served when they have sex; and thus do so more safely.

 

The religious 'abstinence crowd' I would like to kill with flame throwers and cluster bombs, given their moral religious bullshit is a bit out of date with humanity, and making only matters worse.

[DarthTofu]

Er- how do you create a PDF document? I have no clue...

 

I actually do intend to revise the paper a bit and send it in to Congress, but I don't think Congress will act immidiately upon seeing the report. It's going to take some actual evidense that new programs can work. Instead, I'm going to submit this paper to the Florida State Legislature in June, when I'm in Tallahassee, participating in Boys State and hopefully meeting some members of the House and Senate of Florida. That these programs aren't having any effect is pretty disturbing- they're just a waste of over 100 million dollars right now. Revise 'em, or give more of that money to free health clinics and the promotion of getting checked- that's one of the biggest issues that's leading to more cases of infection: people aren't bothering to get checked on anything approaching a regular basis when they're sexually active.

 

Hopefully some experts can be called in to help draft the new programs, with accurate information and and relevant teaching styles. We have tons of budget cuts going on right now in the schools- we're losing AP classes if they have less than 25 students in them at my high school right now. (AP Physics, thank God, being the sole exception so far) Members of the faculty are being shifted all over, and some folks are losing their jobs- it's hell. A new program, that everybody can agree on, that's fully honest, might be able to help cut down on those issues. Hopefully.

[Krytos]

Will respond to the thread topic later - but here's pdf related stuff: http://www.cutepdf.com/

[DarthTex]

The religious 'abstinence crowd' I would like to kill with flame throwers and cluster bombs, given their moral religious bullshit is a bit out of date with humanity, and making only matters worse.

I guess those values depend on when one was born; otherwise for me I guess you'll be yelling FLAME ON!

[Eagle]

Er- how do you create a PDF document? I have no clue...

Either by using Adope Acrobat Professional, which you can use for free for 30 days, but have to register. Or you could use this free equivalent tool, which I hadn´t used up till now.

[Guest Scathane]

I actually do intend to revise the paper a bit and send it in to Congress, but I don't think Congress will act immidiately upon seeing the report. It's going to take some actual evidense that new programs can work.

You bet they won't act immediately unless they see some evidence... Would you like me to proofread?

 

Consider yourself beaked, my friend...

 

 

P.S. - The proofreading offer is sincere.

[DarthTofu]

I actually do intend to revise the paper a bit and send it in to Congress, but I don't think Congress will act immidiately upon seeing the report. It's going to take some actual evidense that new programs can work.

You bet they won't act immediately unless they see some evidence... Would you like me to proofread?

 

Consider yourself beaked, my friend...

 

 

P.S. - The proofreading offer is sincere.

 

You jerk! I've gotten lax in the weeks that you've been away, Scath- I must take to waiting for spellcheck to work it's magic once more! I'm a terrible speller, as some might have noticed but thankfully M.S. Word has the magical red lines that alert me of any errors I may have made. PM me an E-mail address and I'll link it to you, though- it can never hurt to have another pair of eyes look everything over.

 

Around Sunday I'll try to get around to uploading the paper to PDF form- right now I've got free time, but only a little bit of sleep, so I'm going to go remedy that for a little while...

[Guest Scathane]

Any news on the final version yet?