Wed, 16 Mar 2005

Abstinence only sex education - a miserable failure

The United States is number one - we have the highest teen pregnancy rates, birth rates and abortion rates as well as the highest rates of sexually transmitted disease of any first world country on the planet.

Every year more of our hard earned tax dollars are being diverted from real sex education programs and services to "abstinence only" programs in complete denial of the results.
Researchers have noted that the countries with the lowest teen pregnancy rates, birth rates and abortion rates all have a societal openness and comfort in dealing with sexuality, including teen sexuality. They have pragmatic governmental policies creating easy access to sexual health information and services for all people including teens. Not only have we failed to prevent teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, but we have the most promiscuous teenagers as well!. Look at some of the results:

Pregnancy rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19
United States: 79.8
France: 20.2
Germany: 16.1
Netherlands: 8.7

Birth rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19
United States: 48.7
France: 12.5
Germany: 10
Netherlands: 4.5

Abortion rate per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19
United States: 27.5
France: 10.2
Germany: 4.2
Netherlands: 3.6

Gonorrhea infection rate per 100,000 teens aged 15 to 19
United States: 571.8
France: 7.7
Germany: 15
Netherlands: 7.7

Percentage of sexually active teenage girls who had two or more partners in the last year
United States: 48.6%
France: 12.8%
Germany: no data available
Netherlands: no data available

Percentage of sexually active teenage boys who had two or more partners in the last year
United States: 48.8%
France: 28.8%
Germany: no data available
Netherlands: no data available

I am not against preaching abstinence to our teenagers but it should be accompanied by open discussion and information as well as easy access to contraception. It is a fact that 61% of teenagers are no longer virgins when they leave high school, many of these kids are having unprotected sex because of a lack of education about birth control or difficult access to birth control products.

It really pains me to see the condoms either behind glass or placed right next to the pharmacist - not many embarrassed teenagers would get them under such conditions.

Please support the call for real sex education - the excellent Advocates For Youth has a lot more information on this subject as well as information for those who would like to help.

Consider this:
Since 1996, Congress has committed over $1.1 billion dollars (through both federal and state matching funds) to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and zero dollars to comprehensive sex education. There is no federal appropriation specifically for comprehensive sex education. Programs receiving federal funds under the 1996 Welfare Reform Act (Title V) and the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance, Community-Based Abstinence Education (SPRANS/CBAE) are prohibited from discussing contraceptives, unless they are portrayed as ineffective.

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Wed, 09 Mar 2005

Don't talk about sex toys - Sen. Ted Stevens(R)

This Senator from Alaska believes it is in the public interest to regulate free speech, even in the privacy of our own homes. Sen. Stevens is particularly interested in regulating cable television:

"Cable is a much greater violator in the indecency area," Stevens, from Alaska, told the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents hundreds of local television and radio affiliates. "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air" broadcasters.

Stevens cited the discussion of masturbation and sex toys as one example of content that bothered him. He told reporters he would extend the restrictions to premium channels like HBO as well.

"There has to be some standard of decency," he said, but noted that "no one wants censorship."

Ms Vibes feels we already have some of the most stringent broadcast regulations anywhere in the so called "free world", the uptight and narrow minded Sen. Stevens would do well to heed the words of some of our greatest presidents:

Thomas Jefferson, 1786
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
Free speech, exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where people are themselves free.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1938
If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands, they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance, we must provide a safe place for their perpetuation.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
Don't join the burners. Don't be afraid to go to your library and read every book, as long as any document does not offend your own ideas of decency; that should be your only censorship.

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