WP: Fed-funded abstinence programs mislead (pregnant by genital touching?)

[DeepModem Mom]

An interesting article all the way through -- and thanks, once again, to Henry Waxman, and also to the WP for front-paging the story --


Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says

By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A01

Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.

Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education....

***

The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26623-2004Dec1.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. But if the material comes from a church

I'm sure Bush will say they can claim whatever they want. I'm waiting for a program that tells girls that they will be stoned to death if they aren't virgins when they marry......

[cornermouse]

2. Abstinence is good, BUT

tends to be founded on something less than reality. We have got to find a way to reverse this, because these programs can literally kill our children.

[mom cat]

3. You don't get pregnant from genital touching:

You get it from a toilet seat!:hurts:

[DeepModem Mom]

6. LOL!

I'd forgotten that "old wive's tale" I used to hear --

[McKenzie]

4. please don't think I'm being rude

but I just cannot, for the life of me, get my head around the fact that there are Federally-funded programmes that teach this utter nonsense. Yes, abstinence is good and a perfectly understandable choice. But misleading bullshit about something as deepy embedded as sexuality fucks with impressionable young heads at the very least.

Proper sex education has reduced teenage pregnancies dramatically in many European countries. NOT abstinence - education. Scotland deviates (sure there's a pun in there) from the pregnancy rate norm for reasons that I'm not well enough informed about to allow an informed comment. That notwithstanding, our teenagers are pretty savvy when it comes to sexual matters.

[acmavm]

5. These dolts have to be the most sexually screwed up people on planet

earth.

Next they'll be talking about the stork delivering babies.

[iconoclastic cat]

7. No, it's Jeebus!

[kayell]

8. That stork bit is utter nonsense

Baby's are found under a cabbage leaf. Everyone knows that.

[WoodrowFan]

9. I thought it was a lettuce leaf??

damn, the things you pick up on the street that are wrong....

[quaker bill]

10. The real problem is that kids see through BS

Once they catch you lying, they ignore the rest.

Back in the day they did the whole "drug awareness" thing with my 8th grade class. The officers passed two joints in sealed ziplocks around the room so "everyone would know what they look like". There were a couple of uniforms present to assure "that we get them back".

In the interim they went on with how pot would "drive you insane" and "cause you to commit suicide" and various other BS.

When they collected them up at the end of the presentation, three joints were returned. The kids all but fell out of their desks in hysterics. End of show.

It is the same with this. Honest information can build trust. Stupid and obvious lies are more likely fodder for a comedy routine.

Teenage pregnancy rates have proven that this sort of program is a huge waste of money and effort. It is actually counter-productive toward their announced goal.

[izzie]

11. Fun to be 70 and see we are back where I started

Oh well if we hide it all it may go away.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. In 1975, I had a kickass sex ed teacher who gave us stringent tests and

threatened to fail any of us who failed the class (read, no graduation).

We had to know stuff like the five most effective forms of birth control and their failure rates (yes!). We had to do more naming of anatomical parts of the reproductive sytem than biology. And he kicked off the first class by announcing that he knew that at least half of us were already engaging in sexual activity. His job was to help us prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

We even had to bring "current event" stories with regard to sex ed to class every week.

What the eff has happened to this country?!