Messages By: will6012

In April, the Senate will vote on reauthorization of welfare reform. The Senate welfare reform legislation will include the reauthorization of the federal governments main abstinence education program. Despite the overwhelming popularity of abstinence education, some groups seek to divert funds away from abstinence and into safe sex programs. These efforts to redirect funds are usually deceptively labeled as support for abstinence plus or comprehensive sex ed programs. The following facts are important to understanding any debate about the future of abstinence education.

Fact: Sexual activity at an early age has multiple harmful consequences.

The earlier a teenage girl begins sexual activity the more likely she is to suffer from increased rates of infection with sexually transmitted diseases, increased rates of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and birth, increased rates of single parenthood, decreased marital stability, increased maternal and child poverty, increased abortion, increased depression, and decreased adult happiness.[1

Fact: Most sexually active teens say they wish they had waited until they were older before having sex.

Nearly two thirds of sexually active teens state that they regret their initial sexual activity and wish they had waited until they were older before becoming sexually active.[2

Fact: Sexually active teens are more likely to be depressed and to attempt suicide.

Sexually active teens are less likely to be happy, more likely to be depressed, and more likely to attempt suicide. Teenage girls who are sexually active are three times more likely to be depressed and three times more likely to attempt suicide than girls who are not active. Teenage boys who are sexually active are more than twice as likely to be depressed and are almost ten times more likely to attempt suicide than boys who are not active.[3

Fact: Abstinence education programs are effective in reducing teen sexual activity.

There are currently ten evaluations showing that abstinence education is effective in reducing teen sexual activity. Half of these evaluations have been published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, Not Me, Not Now is a community-wide abstinence program in Monroe County, New York. The program broadcasts pro-abstinence messages to teens through the mass media. The program has been successful in changing teen attitudes. The sexual activity rate of 15-year-olds across the county (as reported on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) dropped 46.6 percent to 31.6 percent. The pregnancy rate for girls aged 15 through 17 in the county fell by a statistically significant amount from 63.4 pregnancies per 1000 girls to 49.5 pregnancies per 1000.. The teen pregnancy rate fell more rapidly in Monroe County than in comparison counties and in upstate New York in general, and the difference in the rate of decrease was statistically significant. [4

Fact: Abstinence programs dramatically reduce out-of-wedlock childbearing.

For more than a decade, abstinence organizations such as True Love Waits have encouraged young people to abstain from sexual activity. As part of these programs, young people are encouraged to make a verbal or written pledge to abstain from sex until marriage. Young women who take a virginity pledge are about 40 percent less likely to have a child out-of-wedlock when compared to  similar young women who do not make pledges, according to recently released data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. These dramatic findings are valid even when background factors such as socio-economic status, race, religiosity, and other relevant variables are held constant.[5

Fact: Government spends $12 to promote contraceptives for every $1 spent on abstinence. In 2002, the federal and state governments spent an estimated $1.73 billion on a wide variety of contraception-promotion and pregnancy-prevention programs. More than a third of that money ($653 million) was spent specifically to fund contraceptive programs for teens. In contrast, programs teaching teens to abstain from sexual activity received only an estimated $144.1 million in the same year. Overall, government spent $12.00 to promote contraception for every one dollar spent to encourage abstinence. If funding for teens alone is examined, government still spent $4.50 on promoting teen contraceptive use for every one dollar spent on teen abstinence.[6

Fact: Government spending priorities do not match parental priorities.

Some 85 percent of parents believe that teaching about abstinence should be emphasized as much as, or more than, teaching about contraception. Only 8 percent believe that promoting contraception is more important than abstinence.[7

Fact: Comprehensive sex education or abstinence plus programs are merely safe sex programs wrapped in a deceptive label.  

In recent years, a new approach, termed abstinence plus or comprehensive sexuality education, has played a prominent role in the public debate over sex education. According to proponents, abstinence plus or comprehensive sex ed programs place a strong emphasis on abstinence but also contain information about contraception. This approach is presented as the middle ground between safe sex and abstinence.

In reality, comprehensive sex ed programs are nothing more than standard safe sex programs wrapped in a new label. These curricula have little meaningful abstinence content. True abstinence curricula devote, on average, 71 percent of their page content to abstinence. In contrast, comprehensive sex ed curricula, on average, allocate only 4.7 percent of their content to abstinence; the overwhelming focus is on encouraging teens to use contraception.

The brief abstinence message in comprehensive sex ed curricula is weak and equivocal: comprehensive sex ed does not present abstinence as a goal or standard that teens should pursue, but merely as a minor option teens may consider. Comprehensive sex curricula never urge teens to abstain until they finish high school. Even sentences suggesting that young people should wait until they are older before engaging in sex are extremely rare. The principal message that pervades comprehensive sex ed curricula, through repeated example, is that it is okay for teens to have sex as long as they use contraception.[8

Fact: Parents overwhelmingly support the values and messages of true abstinence education.

Polls show that parents overwhelmingly support the main themes and messages of abstinence education:

• 79 percent of parents want teens to be taught that they should not engage in sexual activity until they are married or at least in an adult relationship leading to marriage.
• 91 percent of parents want teens to be taught that the best choice is for sexual intercourse to be linked to love, intimacy, and commitment. These qualities are most likely to occur in a faithful marriage.
• 68 percent of parents want sex education programs to teach that individuals who are not sexually active until they are married have the best chances of marital stability and happiness.
• 91 percent of parents want schools to teach that adolescents should be expected to abstain from sexual activity during high school years.

These themes are central to abstinence education curricula. By contrast, these messages either do not appear in or are directly contradicted by comprehensive sex ed/abstinence plus curricula.[9

Fact: Parents overwhelmingly oppose the values and messages of comprehensive sex ed curricula.

Comprehensive sex ed programs teach permissive values that are opposed by nearly all parents:

• Comprehensive sex ed curricula focus almost exclusively on contraception and include little or no material on abstinence. However, only 2 percent of parents believe abstinence is not important; only 7 percent believe teaching about contraception should have more emphasis than teaching about abstinence.
• Over 90 percent of parents want sex education programs to teach teens to abstain at least until they have finished high school. Comprehensive sex ed programs do not contain this message, and much of their material implicitly undermines it.
• In page after page of text, and through example upon example, comprehensive sex  ed curricula are pervaded by the message that it is okay for teens to have sex as long as they use contraception. As long as protection is used, it is difficult to find any example in these programs where voluntary teen is criticized or discouraged. Only 7 percent of parents agree with this permissive message.[10

Fact: Comprehensive sex ed programs contain sexually explicit material that is offensive to nearly all parents.

Most comprehensive sex-ed curricula contain sexually explicit and offensive materials. For example, curricula have students practice unrolling condoms on bananas, cucumbers, or model phalluses. Curricula also contain discussions of anal sex and homosexual role-playing and encourage teens to practice mutual masturbation and watch erotic movies. Much material in abstinence plus curricula would be alarming to parents.[11 For example, the curriculum Be Proud! Be Responsible! instructs teachers to:

Invite [students to brainstorm ways to increase spontaneity and the likelihood that theyll use condoms. Examples: Store condoms under mattress; Eroticize condom use with partnerUse condoms as a method of foreplay. Think up a sexual fantasy using condoms.Act sexy/sensual when putting condoms on. Hide them on your body and ask your partner to find it. Wrap them as a present and give to your partner before a romantic dinner. Tease each other manually while putting on the condom.[12

Similarly, the curriculum Focus on Kids prompts teachers to:

State that there are other ways to be close to a person and show you care without having sexual intercourse. Ask youth to brainstorm ways to be close. The list may include holding hands, body massage, bathing together, masturbation, sensuous feeding, fantasizing, watching erotic movies, reading erotic books and magazines.[13

Fact: Claims that parents support comprehensive sex ed or abstinence plus programs are false.

Organizations such as Advocates for Youth falsely claim that parents support comprehensive sex. These claims are based on the erroneous assertion that comprehensive sex ed programs contain the heavy emphasis on abstinence preferred by nearly all parents. In reality, these programs have very little abstinence content. In addition, the aggressive promotion of teen contraceptive use, permissive sexual values, and explicit sexual material contained in comprehensive sex ed programs are unacceptable to nearly all parents.

Fact: Allowing state public health agencies to use federal abstinence funds for comprehensive sex ed or safe sex programs would effectively eliminate federal support for abstinence education.

Some policymakers have proposed that state public health agencies be given the authority to divert federal abstinence education funds to pay for safe sex/comprehensive sex ed programs. Since most state public health agencies have long been wedded to the safe sex approach to teen sex issues, this change would effectively eliminate most federal funding for abstinence education.

Themes of Authentic Abstinence Curricula

While comprehensive sex-ed courses are focused on the physical risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy, authentic abstinence programs take a more holistic approach to human sexuality: They are far more concerned with the social and psychological aspects of sex. Authentic abstinence curricula place a major emphasis on love, intimacy, and commitment. Young people are taught that human sexuality is not primarily physical, but moral, emotional, and psychological

in nature. These programs stress that, under proper conditions, human sexuality inherently involves long-term emotional bonding. They teach youths that personal happiness, love, and intimacy are most likely to occur within the commitment of a faithful marriage and that, in contrast, casual sex with multiple partners is likely to undermine the natural process of bonding and intimacy.

Throughout their curricula, authentic abstinence programs teach that abstinence is the best lifestyle for every teen. Students are taught that choosing to remain abstinent throughout adolescence is an important decision—and one that reaps great rewards in the present and the future.

Authentic abstinence courses instruct teens about the differences between lust, infatuation, and real love. The curricula teach that teen sexual relationships generally include large elements of self-delusion; despite hopeful expectations, nearly all such relationships are unstable and short-term. Most sexually active teens state that they regret their initial sexual experience and wish that they had waited. In authentic abstinence curricula, teen abstinence is presented not merely as a solution to the

immediate problems of pregnancy, STDs, and emotional harm, but as a pathway leading to respect for one’s self and others, to healthier relationships, and, eventually, to love and happiness in marriage.

young people. The content of the two types of curricula are quite similar on these topics; however, comprehensive sex-ed curricula, on average, devote more than twice as much page content to the threat of STDs when compared with authentic abstinence curricula. Thus, it might be said that comprehensive sex-ed courses are more “fear-based” than are authentic abstinence courses. In reality, “fear-based” is not a term that accurately describes either type of curriculum.

Themes of Comprehensive Sex-Ed/Abstinence-Plus Curricula

In contrast to authentic abstinence programs, comprehensive sex-ed curricula largely depict human sexuality as a physical process. They focus on warning young people about the threats of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases that can result from unprotected sexual activity. Their predominant goal is to reduce the level of “unprotected” sexual activity by encouraging young people to use contraception.

A very large portion of comprehensive sex-ed curricula is devoted to describing various types of contraception and discussing the pros and cons of each type. Students are strongly urged to use contraception (particularly condoms) for protection and are given skills to help increase condom use.For example, students are coached on how to convince a resistant sex partner to use condoms.

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with the activity, protected teen sex is not criticized, but is presented as monplace, healthy, and largely unproblematic. The decision to use contraception during sex is almost always presented in a very favorable light, while teen sexual activity itself is rarely questioned or criticized.The underlying message that pervades comprehensive sex-ed curricula is that it is okay for teens to engage in sex as long as “protection” is used. Indeed, it is difficult to find any passage in the curricula where voluntary teen sex with protection is either criticized or depicted as “not okay.”

With rare exceptions, sex at an early age and sex with many different partners are not treated as problems. Comprehensive sex-ed curricula ignore the vital linkages between sexuality, love, intimacy, and commitment. There is no suggestion that sex is best within marriage.

Most Comprehensive Sex-Ed Curricula Contain Explicit and

Controversial Sexual Material

Comprehensive sex-ed curricula encourage contraceptive use, teach teens how to obtain contraception, and instruct them on how to convince sex partners to use contraception. Most comprehensive sex-ed curricula have teachers demonstrate condom use by unrolling condoms on fingers, bananas, or dildos. Four out of the nine curricula reviewed have students practice unrolling condoms on bananas, dildos, or their fingers.Many comprehensive sex-ed curricula contain additional explicit and offensive material such as discussions of anal sex, homosexual role-playing, and language encouraging mutual masturbation and encouraging teens to watch erotic movies. Much material in “abstinence plus” curricula would be

Invite [students] to brainstorm ways to increase spontaneity and the likelihood

that they’ll use condoms.... Examples:... Store condoms under mattress....

Eroticize condom use with partner…. Use condoms as a method of foreplay.…

Think up a sexual fantasy using condoms…. Act sexy/sensual when putting

the condom on…. Hide them on your body and ask your partner to find it….

Wrap them as a present and give them to your partner before a romantic dinner....

State that there are other ways to be close to a person without having sexual

intercourse. Ask youth to brainstorm ways to be close. The list may

include…body massage, bathing together, masturbation, sensuous feeding,

While the amount of such explicit and shocking material varies widely among the comprehensive sex-ed curricula reviewed, all of the curricula contained at least some material that would be disturbing to many parents.