In the “Not Now” abstinence-only-until-marriage program, delivered to students in part of Mississippi, students participate in a mock wedding ceremony. As part of the ceremony, the bride presents the groom with a dirty sneaker as a wedding present. The dirty sneaker signifies “a lifestyle of impurity” and relays the message that no sock (representing a condom) could ever fully protect the foot from dirt and diseases. The groom, on the other hand, gives the bride a clean sneaker representing his “purity up until marriage.” At the end of the wedding activity, the students “pledged to remain pure” and bring clean tennis shoes to marriage.
While this is awful messaging in and of itself, research also shows that 88 percent of students who pledge to remain abstinent until marriage fail to keep this pledge and have the same STD rates as those who didn’t take a pledge. They are also less likely to use contraception when they do become sexually active.
All I can say is, what the hell?
REFERENCE:
This is an except pulled from http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/.
Govt Commercial Promoting Abstinence-Only Education
Under the Bush administration, $176 million was allocated to abstinence-only education programs. Part of this money funded virginity pledges, documents signed by teenagers stating they would not have sex before marriage.
The latest study, conducted by Janet Elise Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, shows that not only do these pledges have no effect on teen abstinence rates, but that students who sign these pledges are more likely to engage in sex without using a condom or birth control. The complete study is published in the January 2009 issue of Pediatrics.
So what things do work when it comes to keeping your teen from sex? Specifically, it is involvement. Teens raised with more traditional values are less likely to have sex at an early age. On the downside, they are more likely to feel guilty about sex in general.
Teens with fewer friends who drink or use drugs are also less likely to engage in sex. Participation in regular positive youth groups seems to be of benefit as well. It is all about peer pressure, of the positive kind.
You can’t just tell folks not to do something ‘exciting’ and expect them to listen when they are bored and have nothing better to do. That’s why abstinence-only doesn’t work, it doesn’t provide alternative activities. Getting your kids into sports, the arts, church groups, or any other regular positive activity will do more to keep your children out of trouble than preaching at them. Talk to them, get to know their friends and their friends parents. Not only does this show your children your commitment to your values, it also shows them your commitment to them.
REFERENCES:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8101
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134254.php
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/heart-to-heart/2008/12/30/7-factors-that-foster-teen-virginity-pledge-or-no-pledge.html