I went to a school that had abstinence only sex ed class, how about you guys? What do you think about it. Do you think it helps people? Personally I think it's pointless to have sex ed without teaching us about safe sex.
A fair equivalent, to an extent, is drug education. "Don't do it. It's bad." Why is it bad? What are the effects of it? By educating people about the nuances of it all, hopefully students walk away better-informed and are able to make wiser decisions for themselves if they find themselves in situations. In short, I think explaining it is better, though it also admittedly requires more material, research, and effort to cover. I also think it would be more useful and make a more meaningful difference.
I agree with you that it's a bad idea and it's detrimental to it's own purpose. A 2012 study showed that states with abstinence only sex ed had the highest rate of teen pregnancies. States with ‘abstinence-only’ sex ed programs rank highest in teen pregnancies | The Raw Story
Research has shown that abstinence-only sex ed is about as useful as this: [YOUTUBE]zcZ-jg670bE[/YOUTUBE]
It's stupid and useless. Yeah, abstinence is the only 100% foolproof way of preventing pregnancy and/or STD infections. Only problem is, teenagers are horny and when hormones take over they will be having sex regardless of the risks they were warned about in school. And then there will be even more teen pregnancies and spreading of STDs because those teens never learned how to put a condom on (or even what a condom is).
sex ed needs a revamp desperately. i spent most of mine watching harassment videos about bra snapping. I learned more about sex from listening to loveline at night in high school. also (and most people think im crazy for this) i think it should be mandatory. most people i knew weren't allowed by their parents to even participate. i was the sex education most of my friends got, because my mom gave me the talk early and was super open to answering any of my questions, no matter how silly, and never made it weird. my mom was cool
People (even the religious ones) need to get it through their heads that no matter what they say or do, their teenagers will have sex. I was raised in the most religiously strict household, and I wasn't even allowed to date. I still lost my virginity at 16. No one taught me about safe sex, but thankfully I taught myself. But if I hadn't, things could have gone much worse. So rather than expect kids to practice abstinence, assume they won't and emphasize being safe about it. That's my opinion on the subject.
Oh goodness. I swear I'll try to keep my rant a peaceful one, okay? Abstinence-only sex ed is completely worthless. It'd be just as effective to not have a "sex ed" at all. I've had MANY, many people to talk to on this subject, and from what I've heard a lot of this type of sex-ed doesn't do much more then go "it's horrible if you do it before marriage". I've also heard of "sex ed" classes that *only* warn about all the STDs and negative consequences of sex, so just don't do it 'cause it can only lead to bad things happening. It's ridiculous. How can you even rightfully call that "sexual education" in the first place? Thankfully I went to school where they had fairly informative, unbiased sex ed classes. We were taught about male and female bodies, hormones, sexual urges, how sex actually works, the different types of protection available (yes, we actually had that whole "condom on a banana" thing), etc. THAT is closer to what "sex ed" NEEDS to be, if it's going to do any good at all. I also personally believe that "sexual education" should, in order to cover all areas, teach about consent, and peer-pressure, and relationship-pressure, etc. That saying no is always, always valid. I'd also love it if they included what options are available if a female *does* end up accidentally pregnant, but that's probably too much to ask.
Abstinence-only sex ed is just as useless as a condom with a hole poked into it. Why is it called "sex education" if you don't even learn how to have safe sex?
