Teach Contraception, Stress Abstinence

I haven't decided if I'll post it here or not, but I chose to write a paper instead of taking a final exam. Yes, that professor is pretty cool. I chose to write an argumentative/opinion paper on teaching safe sexual habits (like contraceptives and such) while stressing abstinence. After looking at statistics and articles written on the subject I've come to a conclusion:

The 15% of American parents who believe their children should only be learning abstinence in school are NUTS. Abso-freaking-lutely crazy.

I understand that parental need to keep your child as innocent as possible for as long as you can. I am the second oldest out of 18 grandchildren, and I feel quite maternal to every one of them. But I'm not an idiot. They are going to have sex, probably while they are still in school. And since most of them are in large-city schools, there are more than likely STDs somewhere in that school with the possibility of being passed around.

So instead of burying my head in the sand and ignoring reality for the pleasure of living in a fantasy world, I want to educate them. Well, not actually teach them myself, because I know the awkwardness of that situation and don't want to put them or myself through it. But I want them TO be educated. I want them and my own children to be smart enough to say "Well, I know what to do to be safe" if they are going to ignore the request of abstinence.

Abstinence is not something that happens often in the 21st century, and certainly not in my generation (I'm quite ashamed to admit). I do not believe preaching abstinence is going to keep teenagers from giving into their hormones and messing around with their significant other (even if teens don't consider anything but penetration "real" sex). I believe that abstinence is something that the teen needs to decide for him/herself, and their parents aren't always going to be able to push them towards abstinence. Celebrities, movies, TV shows, porn, peers, social lives... they all make a difference in teen lives. If you look around, all of these things are linked in one way or another to sex or sexual activities (obviously porn, duh). They all matter, and whether the teens admit to it or not, they are affected by their surroundings.

I hope that those 15% of American parents eventually pull their heads out of their asses and realize the reality of this country (and world) is much different than they may like, but they need to adapt. Instead of preaching abstinence and the whole "sex is bad" point of view, why not make your child or teen smart enough to be safe? Abstinence would be ideal, but if they're going to ignore abstinence, at least give them the means to be safe while doing so.

In my mind, even if 99% of teens in high school were having sex using 2 methods of protection (condoms and birth control, for example), there would be a helluva lot less teen pregnancies and futures changed.