Sex Education - Abstinence courses flawed (tradition, birth control, America, mission)

[Pah]

Waxman report: Abstinence courses flawed
Thursday, December 2, 2004 Posted: 10:54 AM EST (1554 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federally funded abstinence education programs that are used in 25 states contain false and misleading information about contraception, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, said Rep. Henry Waxman.

A report Wednesday from the California Democrat said 11 of the 13 most widely used programs underestimate the effectiveness of condoms in preventing pregnancy and the spread of disease, exaggerate the prevalence of emotional and physical distress following abortion, blur science and religion or get fundamental scientific facts wrong.

Alma Golden, deputy assistant Health and Human Services Secretary for population affairs, said the Waxman report took statements out of context to present the programs in the worst possible light.

"These issues have been raised before and discredited," Golden said. "One thing is very clear for our children, abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."

Complete article here

[Jaymes]

Woot, confirmation for what we all really knew.

[Pah]

Originally Posted by Jensa

Woot, confirmation for what we all really knew.

Rhetorically, are you talking about the material in the report or the blindess of that particular politician?

Bob

[Pah]

Perhaps you would be interested in this "counter" to the Waxman report.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200412030007

Abstinence-only advocates spread falsehoods on cable

Proponents of abstinence-only sexual education curricula for public schools took to the airwaves to respond to charges contained in a report issued by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) that found that "over 80%" of the curricula of federally funded abstinence-only education programs "contain false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health." But in attempting to counter these charges, these advocates proffered more misinformation.

In particular, the Waxman report found that a curriculum prepared by pro-abstinence group Project Reality says that "the popular claim that 'condoms help prevent the spread of STDs [sexually transmitted diseases]' is not supported by the data." In defending the curricula on MSNBC's Scarborough Country, Project Reality director Libby Gray falsely claimed that "condoms do not provide protection against the most commonly sexually transmitted disease, which is HPV, or human papilloma virus."

In fact, the American Social Health Association's (ASHA) National HPV & Cervical Cancer Resource Center, in a report on "HPV Myths and Misconceptions," noted: "Studies have shown condom use can lower the risk of acquiring HPV infection." Because HPV is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, condoms cannot prevent the disease entirely, but they do provide some degree of protection.

That didn't stop Gray and other conservative abstinence-only advocates from repeating the false claim throughout the day:

[Jaymes]

Originally Posted by pah

Rhetorically, are you talking about the material in the report or the blindess of that particular politician?

Bob

I was talking about the course in general being a load of crap. Man, I wish I knew what I know about STDs and sex now when I was in that stupid health class...

[Sunstone]

I myself am overjoyed that my tax dollars fund lies about sex. It's clear abstinence-only sexuality education is ideologically driven propaganda, rather than scientifically balanced information. And that's the way it should be! Why should any American school-children be told the truth about sex? It wouild only turn them into insufferable "know it alls". And who wants to live with insufferable know it alls?

[Ceridwen018]

Lol, Sunstone you crack me up.

Having gone through said abstinence classes, I can attest that that sounds about right. You forgot something though--an overestimation of the success of natural birth control--YIKES! The average 14 member Catholic families continue...

I can say, however, that those classes are very effective. They scared the crap outta me. Even now that I know the 'truth', my brain has still been irreconcilably washed and waxed. It's much like the movie "Mean Girls", where the gym teacher is like, "If you have sex before you're married, you WILL get pregnant, and you WILL DIE!!"

Spinkles, don't give me no lines and keep your hands to yourself.

[Sunstone]

As decent people, we should always keep in mind that telling children the truth about sex is far more dangerous to the traditional American way of life than is keeping kids in the dark and feeding them manure about sex. That's because sexual ignorance is one of our most cherished traditions. There has never been an American generation that was truthfully educated about sex. For instance, In the old days, they told kids that masturbation led to blindness, and that women have no capacity to enjoy sex. I say that we should preserve our traditional ignorance about sex by funding only Abstinence only sex ed! It's the least we can do to maintain the traditional American hysteria about all things sexual. Hopefully, it will be enough.

[Quoth The Raven]

You mean masturbation DOESN'T make you blind?! Does that mean it doesn't make the palms of your hands hairy either? I am so very disillusioned...

[jewscout]

VA only has abstinence based sex-ed. It's really quite sad that people can't even come to grips w/ the fact that little suzy and tommy are growing up and want to "experiment". If they were just more open w/ their children i don't think you'd see the problems w/ abortions or young mothers.