Comments on: Oh no! Abstinence works?

By: Mo

Mo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:34:49 +0000

Question, how is a abstinence only program giong to help the children who are already having sex?

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By: dalea

dalea — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:31:43 +0000

Mollie asks:

And I also wonder how we’re discussing “most” abstinence programs. I don’t know how many abstinence programs there are but has there been a good comprehensive review of the curriculum?

No clue here. Part of the problem seems to be that the press presents this as a war of quotes. Someone against abstinance only speaks up, then someone for it responds. I don’t think I have ever seen an overview of the various sex education curricula, let alone the abstinence ones. I wonder how the curricula vary, and how the presentation of them vary by teacher.

This subject seriously needs nuts and bolts reporting.

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By: michael

michael — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:53:47 +0000

What I don’t understand is this. If the media can enter in to the interpretation of empirical/sociological studies as to whether this or that kind of sex education works, why can’t they entertain a more fundamental discussion of what ‘education’ and ‘working’ are?

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By: Kevin J Jones

Kevin J Jones — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:23:34 +0000

A missing segment in this debate is the population which thinks sex ed shouldn’t be taught in schools. Last survey I saw on the topic was about 50% “safe sex” 25% “abstinence” and 25% “Not in school, please.”

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By: Mollie

Mollie — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:16:48 +0000

Ben,

I’m not sure if there are “official” definitions but many people call what you describe “comprehensive” sex education. But as with abstinence-focused programs, there’s no one comprehensive program or sex positive program. They run the gamut, too. That’s one reason why effectiveness studies tend to be all over the map.

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By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:03:39 +0000

Mollie —

Since you’ve looked at some of these programs, how would people describe the following curriculum:

* Information about birth control methods, STDs, prevention techniques, and failure rates.
* A larger discussion about life & career goals, ethical perspectives surrounding sexual decision-making, planning ahead, consequences, relationships, self-esteem, etc…

Since you say a lot of abstinence only courses don’t really disparage pre-marital sex and condoms, you’re making me think perhaps this combo might be considered abstinence only? If so, I guess that’s news to me. This whole debate seemed to be one of those peculiar cultural clashes where each side stubbornly refuses to embrace one half of common sense.

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By: Mollie

Mollie — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:00:40 +0000

One thing that didn’t receive top billing in the news is that the study looked only at urban black youth from a northeastern city.

My own research indicated that one reason why studies about sex ed effectiveness varies so much is because different programs work better for different types of students.

In other words, college-bound girls responded more favorably to STD training while girls who weren’t trying to delay children for careers or families and were, in fact, trying to get pregnant responded better to abstinence education. I wonder if this abstinence program would fare so well if researchers looked at a more diverse population.

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By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:41:14 +0000

Are they Tanner’s opinions if they are in the press release created by the researchers? Has anyone read the study to see how they describe the other abstinence programs funded by the Bush administration? Since this program was created by the researchers, the assumption is that is different from what is being funded by the government or the ones reviewed by Mollie.

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By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:28:40 +0000

What I’m still missing is a discussion of sex education as education, that is, something preparing the student for life as an adult. Abstinence-oriented sex ed may well prepare students to be better behaved teen-agers but does it educate them for healthy sex lives as adults?

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By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:49:10 +0000

I am currently teaching and Abstinence program in the county I live in public middle and high schools. This is something we see a lot when people decide our program does not work. Our program is not an abstinence only program but a program that teaches teens to avoid risky behavior, set goals and attain those goals, and how sex is something that affects all aspects of our lives not just physical. I would not call that a moralistic program but one that teaches teens maturity. I believe our program works but how do you judge this? Who do these studies determine if a teens is sexually active? By asking them? At the end of our week of teaching we take an anonymous survey to see if the teens in our class have chosen abstinence, secondary abstinence or sexual activity. According to our stats the majority of students (over 50% in high school and higher than that in middle) choose abstinence. Teens make better decisions with this kind of education. We talk about condom usage but we give the facts about condom usage. We don’t change the facts, sensationalize them, we just give them. We let the teens make their own choice, we just help give them the tools to make the best one.

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By: Martha

Martha — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:07:23 +0000

Some Catholic I am, that can’t even spell “abstinence” right (and Ash Wednesday, a day of fast and abstinence, coming towards us in a fortnight’s time).

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By: Martha

Martha — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:05:56 +0000

*beats head against desk*

“An experimental abstinence-only program without a moralistic tone”

Oh, leave us not have anything to do with a moralistic tone, heaven forfend! A programme telling school-aged children not to smoke because Smoking Is Bad presumably has a “moralistic tone” (because if smoking is bad, does that not imply that smokers are bad to smoke?) but I’ve never seen anyone tut-tutting about that.

I suppose the only comment I have to make is that I agree with what some Catholic bloggers have said; as long as matters pertaining to sex and chastity are presented as negative(absintence, ‘you can’t have this’) then it will be seen as an imposition and a burden. Chastity is not a negative, it is a positive. It is not the lack of something, it is a thing in its own right.

As G.K. Chesterton put it in his essay “A Piece of Chalk”:

“One of the wise and awful truths which this brown-paper art reveals, is this, that white is a colour. It is not a mere absence of colour; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. When, so to speak, your pencil grows red-hot, it draws roses; when it grows white-hot, it draws stars. And one of the two or three defiant verities of the best religious morality, of real Christianity, for example, is exactly this same thing; the chief assertion of religious morality is that white is a colour. Virtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not seen.

Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc.”

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