1 In 4 Teens With STD

[Verv]

They blame education... I blame a culture of decadence:

CHICAGO - At least one in four teenage American girls has a sexually transmitted disease, suggests a first-of-its-kind federal study that startled some adolescent-health experts.

Some doctors said the numbers might be a reflection of both abstinence-only sex education and teens' own sense of invulnerabilty. Because some sexually transmitted infections can cause infertility and cancer, U.S. health officials called for better screening, vaccination and prevention.

Only about half of the girls in the study acknowledged having sex. Some teens define sex as only intercourse, yet other types of intimate behavior including oral sex can spread some diseases.

Among those who admitted having sex, the rate was even more disturbing — 40 percent had an STD.
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Yahoo
I think it is odd they blame abstinence education. I think education has little to do with it. I assume 99% of kids know things like "condoms can prevent STDs and pregnancy" and abstinence education does not prevent any of this. This report found that even high knowledge did not translate of integrating the knowledge into behavior.

People know they simply do not practice when it is too inconvenient. Very little has to do with education that encourages abstinence as I have never heard of anyone being left in the dark on the notion of condom use.
Really, it all goes back to a lack of practice and not knowledge.

If we were to blame anything I think it could be the continual bombardment of messages people get from popular culture which seems to encourage blatantly the notion of having sex; it has gotten to the point when even in common slang being a 'pimp' is equated to being good. Of course, the fact that the best selling music and films that target youth as the audience revolve around sex and the glorification thereof cannot contribute to increased diseases and sexual activity...

It is hard for any form of education to be effective in presenting disease when people simply do not always practice safe sex not due to lack of knowledge but due to lack of motivation.

I do not propose really doing anything about this.
It is up to the people who are having sex to contemplate what will happen. I am not there to tell them not to sleep around or to wear a condom, though certainly there are enough of other characters in their life telling them as much.

People will do whatever they want to do and that is often what society conditions them to want. Right now, society likes to say that what a young man should want is to have sex as soon as possible, and a woman ought to be like Fergie and get guys spending money on her. They ought to shake their asses and rock their men's worlds. At least, that is the impression I always got from the music and film that I watched.

Let people take the message and shoot themselves in the genitals if they like. It is their choice and their option to swim or sink.

In short: It's not lack of education. It's culture. It's sad people choose the stupidity of unprotected sex, and quite sad that others do not even value sex enough to wait.

 

[Steezie]

Yes because we ALL know that CULTURE gives us STDs and you dont get them from being sexually stupid.

By the way theres already a thread on this

 

[jwu]

I assume 99% of kids know things like "condoms can prevent STDs and pregnancy" and abstinence education does not prevent any of this.

Unfortunately the rate is way less. Urban myths like "you can't get pregnant the first time" or "STDs only spread from vaginal intercourse" are still widespread.

 

[PetersKeys]

So much for these so called sex education programs. It shows the "wrap it and hope all goes well" in public schools is not doing any good. Children need to be taught good christian moral in school. Thats what you get when you take God out of the schools

 

[Steezie]

So much for these so called sex education programs. It shows the "wrap it and hope all goes well" in public schools is not doing any good. Children need to be taught good christian moral in school. Thats what you get when you take God out of the schools

When there is any sex-ed in schools (The sex ed we got was "Dont do it") its usually liberally spiced with scare tactics and fake statistics to ensure kids DONT have sex. Then the abstinence only garbage comes along and tells kids "Well condoms dont WORK" and tells them not to have sex. They cant abide by the dont have sex part, they've been told condoms dont work, so they dont use them.

 

[PetersKeys]

Thats the dumbest comment ever, seriously.

When there is any sex-ed in schools (The sex ed we got was "Dont do it") its usually liberally spiced with scare tactics and fake statistics to ensure kids DONT have sex. Then the abstinence only garbage comes along and tells kids "Well condoms dont WORK" and tells them not to have sex. They cant abide by the dont have sex part, they've been told condoms dont work, so they dont use them.

How is that dumb? the sex ed you support is already going on in schools, and look at the result, lol..

Schools need to have christian moral. Otherwise they become secular banks of sin. No wonder the children get in trouble.

 

[Steezie]

How is that dumb? the sex ed you support is already going on in schools, and look at the result, lol..

Schools need to have christian moral. Otherwise they become secular banks of sin. No wonder the children get in trouble.

Actually it ISNT, the sex ed thats there (If its there at all) is VERY VERY poor or its abstinence only education which Congress has stated to be in-effectual and counter-productive and which we KNOW doesn't work.

The wildest party I ever went to was a bunch of Christian private school kids. I saw things there I didn't know you could do with the human body OR sporting equipment Adding Christianity to a school is no guarantee of anything moral. If history and current events show us anything, any time there is a strong and prevailing atmosphere of "morality" there is an equally strong backlash of rebellion against that morality somewhere else.

 

[Verv]

Yes because we ALL know that CULTURE gives us STDs and you dont get them from being sexually stupid.

By the way theres already a thread on this

Oh crap there is already a thread on this? I am a failure, then!

Here is a simple question, Steezie:

Is the average Saudi Arabian family and the average Chinese family very similar?

Why are they dissimilar?

Are these attributed solely to individual choices, where it just so happens that the majority of Saudis prefer it one way and the majority of Chinese the other, or are there factors like culture?

Now tell me how stupid it is.

Unfortunately the rate is way less. Urban myths like "you can't get pregnant the first time" or "STDs only spread from vaginal intercourse" are still widespread.
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I am skeptical. I think people think they are widespread but in reality I think most people know that things like anal sex are dirty, etc.

Thats kinda dumb

When there is any sex-ed in schools (The sex ed we got was "Dont do it") its usually liberally spiced with scare tactics and fake statistics to ensure kids DONT have sex. Then the abstinence only garbage comes along and tells kids "Well condoms dont WORK" and tells them not to have sex. They cant abide by the dont have sex part, they've been told condoms dont work, so they dont use them.

I am not sure what the abstinence only thing is so much; I have never received that education.

Kids deserve true facts about safe sex and should be encouraged not to be fornicators. That is basically where I stand on it.

 

[GrayCat]

I am proud to say i am not one of the teens with an STD. I can not imagine it would be very fun to deal with.

As for sex ed, I am a supporter of it for kids who have hit puberty. (I don't really think it's necessary before that.) I think that telling facts about How sex is done safely, what isn't safe sex, how to use contraception, not giving into peer pressure if you don't feel comfortable having sex, and skills for relationships are things that Teens need to know to base their decisions upon. In my opinion, Just saying "Don't do it, it's bad" makes it exotic and interesting to the kids and actually encourages them to sneak off and find out what this thing the adults keep telling them not to do is like.

I believe giving facts, dispelling myths, and empthasizing everyone's ability for free choice tempered with healthy responsibility is not an agenda to encourage kids to have sex early on. It is preparing them for real life and letting them create their own identities shaped by their choices.

 

[Stinker]

I believe that the only way to reduce the number of teens having sex, is to get control of all media, and turn it around 180 degrees. By introducing a more conservative media to the general public, the push for people to have sex and sexual temptation will be reduced.

 

[Futuwwa]

Why not bring on the morality police while at it?

 

[JadeTigress]

I am skeptical. I think people think they are widespread but in reality I think most people know that things like anal sex are dirty, etc.

Being pretty fresh from highschool, I know that it's very widespread. Atleast where I live.

And anal play isn't dirty. Anal play is fuuuuun.

I am not sure what the abstinence only thing is so much; I have never received that education.

Kids deserve true facts about safe sex and should be encouraged not to be fornicators. That is basically where I stand on it.

I agree with you. Kids should get a comprehensive education; they should be encouraged to not have sex, but they need to know all the facts about how to protect themselves and their partners should they decide to have sex. But abstinence only education doesn't teach that. All it does is say "don't have sex. is very bad. the end", hence why it's called 'abstinence only' education.

 

[Verv]

Why not bring on the morality police while at it?

So as a Muslim, then, where do you stand on Shariah law? Or was this comment not sarcastic?

I agree with you. Kids should get a comprehensive education; they should be encouraged to not have sex, but they need to know all the facts about how to protect themselves and their partners should they decide to have sex. But abstinence only education doesn't teach that. All it does is say "don't have sex. is very bad. the end", hence why it's called 'abstinence only' education.

In all honesty, teaching the facts as they stand does not hurt the Christian view of sexuality but aids it greatly as there are dangers involved hence why we practice what we do sexually (though there are many more reasons than just danger and what not).

Knowledge of sex and what can result does not harm Christianity one bit.

 

[TeddyKGB]

I believe that the only way to reduce the number of teens having sex, is to get control of all media, and turn it around 180 degrees. By introducing a more conservative media to the general public, the push for people to have sex and sexual temptation will be reduced.

I thought we were all supposed to have learned a valuable lesson from Soviet Russia, fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany?

 

[Electric Skeptic]

If a study revealed that 1 in 4 teens had been in a car accident, would we be saying that we need to educate teens to not get in cars, or that we need to provide better education on safe driving?

 

[Futuwwa]

So as a Muslim, then, where do you stand on Shariah law? Or was this comment not sarcastic?

Islam is a religion for the individual, congregational and societal level, so yes, if I would live in an Islamic country, I would support sharia.

The point I made was that it is pointless to try to cow youth into abstinence if one isn't willing to apply the force needed to back it up.

 

[Athene]

There is probably no one reason why the STD rate is so high, but I would hazard a guess that a lot of STD transmission is down to low condom use amongst heterosexual men. I found this article which details some of the reasons men use to justify not wearing condoms.

There has been strong agreement across the literature on AIDS and heterosexual men about which aspects of heterosexual men’s understandings and practices limit their adoption of safe sex. Condom use is seen to run counter to six central aspects of the enactment of masculinity and heterosexual men’s sexuality. I summarise these here, before exploring the results of my own research among heterosexual men.

 

[Verv]

Islam is a religion for the individual, congregational and societal level, so yes, if I would live in an Islamic country, I would support sharia.

The point I made was that it is pointless to try to cow youth into abstinence if one isn't willing to apply the force needed to back it up.

That does make sense on a level but I do not feel it is proper that shariah law often exerts punishments onto non-Muslims...

What makes sense as well is the fact that if we are going to go halfway with it and not really have any decisive policies, why go at all?

You seem fair in your assessment.

However, I would never let America be a theological state. No one should be forced to do anything.

 

[Futuwwa]

However, I would never let America be a theological state. No one should be forced to do anything.

Not even pay taxes?

In case you haven't realized, all ideological systems seek to impose rules on people. But somehow people take particular offense when it is a religion rather than a secular ideology which is doing it.

 

[Steezie]

I believe that the only way to reduce the number of teens having sex, is to get control of all media, and turn it around 180 degrees. By introducing a more conservative media to the general public, the push for people to have sex and sexual temptation will be reduced.

Yeah because thats worked REALLY well in places like Saudi Arabia.

Again, if history and sociology teach us ANYTHING, its that no matter how repressive an environment is sexually there will be an equally pervasive underground backlash.