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Unwanted side effects
Mar. 28th, 2006 03:31 pmA side effect of abstinence pledges - one which in my naivety I'd never have thought of! - is teenagers engaging in oral and anal sex in order to technically remain virgins. www.fucksouthdakota describes this with malicious glee, but backs up what they're saying with links.
USA Today reported on studies of teens who had pledged abstinence until marriage found that they were much more likely than other teens to engage in oral and anal sex, and just as likely as other teens to contract STDs, because they weren't using condoms or getting health checks. Perhaps most damningly, they were only slightly less likely than other teens to have sex before marriage (88% as opposed to 99%. Blimey). (You can read one of the studies for free over at the Journal of Adolescent Health.)
This made me wonder about exactly what the Bible says about oral and anal sex between men and women - why those acts are classified along with gay sex as illegal "sodomy" in some states. Do such acts still count as fornication? What if the participants are married? [ETA: If you don't know the answers to these questions, then please don't answer these questions. Thanks! %-)]
But for me, whether those kids are sinning hypocrites isn't the issue - it's the risk to their health and lives. Not only are they exposing themselves to STDs, but anal sex is a notoriously inefficient contraceptive when done without a condom. These kids are being taught that condoms don't work anyway, so why would they use one?
Abstinence-only is a flop. That's a fact. It's a flop as a pledge and it's a flop as education. It does nothing to protect kids' health and it does pretty much nothing to actually prevent them from shagging like bunnies. There's always a frightening subtext to this abstinence business: we told you not to, now you should be punished, with sickness, an unwanted child, or death.
Where abstinence proponents have a point, and where they have common ground with public health proponents, is the huge outside pressure on kids to have sex - from peers, from the media. That messed up my head for years. Of all the places to find some moral support, I took mine from Adam Ant: "Let the braggers brag / virginity's no crime / your body should be yours / and sharing it sublime".
I wonder if a more powerful message than "Don't!!!" would be "You don't have to."
USA Today reported on studies of teens who had pledged abstinence until marriage found that they were much more likely than other teens to engage in oral and anal sex, and just as likely as other teens to contract STDs, because they weren't using condoms or getting health checks. Perhaps most damningly, they were only slightly less likely than other teens to have sex before marriage (88% as opposed to 99%. Blimey). (You can read one of the studies for free over at the Journal of Adolescent Health.)
This made me wonder about exactly what the Bible says about oral and anal sex between men and women - why those acts are classified along with gay sex as illegal "sodomy" in some states. Do such acts still count as fornication? What if the participants are married? [ETA: If you don't know the answers to these questions, then please don't answer these questions. Thanks! %-)]
But for me, whether those kids are sinning hypocrites isn't the issue - it's the risk to their health and lives. Not only are they exposing themselves to STDs, but anal sex is a notoriously inefficient contraceptive when done without a condom. These kids are being taught that condoms don't work anyway, so why would they use one?
Abstinence-only is a flop. That's a fact. It's a flop as a pledge and it's a flop as education. It does nothing to protect kids' health and it does pretty much nothing to actually prevent them from shagging like bunnies. There's always a frightening subtext to this abstinence business: we told you not to, now you should be punished, with sickness, an unwanted child, or death.
Where abstinence proponents have a point, and where they have common ground with public health proponents, is the huge outside pressure on kids to have sex - from peers, from the media. That messed up my head for years. Of all the places to find some moral support, I took mine from Adam Ant: "Let the braggers brag / virginity's no crime / your body should be yours / and sharing it sublime".
I wonder if a more powerful message than "Don't!!!" would be "You don't have to."
