"Abstinence" kids still going all the way

by Brian White (Subscribe to Brian White's posts)
Apr 16th 2007 10:06AM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

A new study released recently concluded that students who took part in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not.

In other words, abstinence programs are not working as intended, althought the Bush administration didn't want parent to become concerned on these results.

Students who participated in abstinence programs also first had sex at about the same age as other students - 14.9 years. This brings up the question -- what works to keep kids from sex at all? One thing is for sure here -- the federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence education, which critics say is not workng. This new study gives them more ammunition.

Source

Comments (7)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rampage99 4-16-2007 @ 10:27AM

Kids need to learn how to keep it in their pants. With all the diseases and teen pregnancies you think something would click. I remember at my high school graduation 3 years ago seeing a few girls walking up to get their diploma pregnant. Talk about messing up your future.

Sex is pushed way too much in our society. Abstinence classes are retarded in school and need to be completely reworked because compared to the amount of sex in the media, these classes are a joke.

I'm personally a happy 21 year old virgin that's waiting for marriage. I'm not saying that I'm the ideal person, I'm just saying it's not impossible to resist temptation.

JT 4-16-2007 @ 2:39PM

The best thing you can do is to educate teens on how to have safe sex so they avoid diseases and pregnancy as best as they can with all the modern means available to them, and just hope they listen. Because unless you crazy glue their pants on them, most teens are going to have sex.

Stephanie 4-16-2007 @ 5:21PM

That teens are going to want to have sex is something you have to expect and plan for. You can teach them as best you can to wait, but assuming they will is a playing a dangerous game.

My father's attitude on the matter was that you should at least wait until you were out of high school, partially so you'd know yourself better, but also just to avoid that rumor mill. It always made sense to me.

KP 4-19-2007 @ 12:18AM

What actually works - and there are actual studies that prove it - is just what JT said - education on prevention. A number of pilot projects in high schools that taught kids about safe sex, provided condoms and other methods of birth control, and gave them the tools to be able to "just say no" resulted in the teens waiting an average of 19 months longer to begin having sexual relations.

That's 19 months of less times getting exposed to STD's, AIDS, chance of getting pregnant, etc. And that was the AVERAGE! which means at least half of those were waiting even longer than that!

I wish all these abstinence people would put a sock in it and realize they are not doing anything to help the situation. Kids hate to be preached to. But they will use information to make better decisions. Unfortunately, the abstinence only people don't want them to have the information. And then they complain about the teen pregnancy rate, blame the girls and only the girls, and turn their backs on the kids who get sick. Nice.

Anna Colaric 4-21-2007 @ 1:31AM

First...that tiny studiy they did was flawed. There are larger studies that show the opposite. We have seen
that abstinence training works. Parent involvement works too. All we can do is give kids the best messages to keep them safe. Sex at a young age, leads to very poor self image as well as a host of diseases and problems....emotional and physical. It's time we stopped burying our heads in the sand. My friend just got married, they were both virgins at 30.....they were happy, have masters degrees and are both attractive people. Their marriage is beautiful. It can be done, it should be done and most of our social problems could be fixed if more people abstained from sex before marriage. It is far from impossible to live an abstence lifestyle. Let's help our kids and ouselves not become victuims of causual sex.

Emily 4-21-2007 @ 7:55AM

The typo in the very first sentence made me chuckle, considering the subject matter of the article: A new "stud" released recently? Too funny!

Lesli 4-23-2007 @ 9:09AM

The lifestyle of the average teen is based on sexuality. Am I not the only one that sees it? The stores in the mall that cater to 14-15 yr old girls, encourage them to dress like little hookers. Girls wear clothes that appear as if they have shrunk... too tight, too low, too short, with words like "PINK" on their behinds. C'mon, everyone knows what they are advertising!

The music and videos they listen to is sexually charged. As an adult, the music is fun, but I wouldn't want a daughter singing, "Dont'cha wish your girlfriend was dirty like me?"

What about their websites? Every girls' website has the prerequisite photo of the two girlfriends kissing and the photo of a girl with mouth wide open showing tongue (a sure indication of a "fun" girl)

And has anyone went to a dance recital lately? The performances rivals anything you would see in a strip club. Parents are taking their daughters to dance class for years in apparent preparation for a career in stripping!

With all these pressures of society forcing sexuality on young girls, telling them not to have sex isn't going to do it. Besides, girls think that sex is v/p intercourse only, everything else is a party game.

It is oxymoronic to expect a young girl to dress/act like a sexual object and yet be virginal.

Maybe because I don't have daughters, it is easier for me to see the craziness of this paradox.

http://grief-journal.blogspot.com