Let's Talk About Sex

Since 2001, the Bush administration has funneled $1.5 billion into "abstinence-only" sexuality education initiatives. These federally funded curricula, now taught in a third of US public schools, teach students to avoid sex before marriage and don’t always include information about birth control and disease prevention. In 2004, a congressional report found that 85 percent of these programs spread "false or misleading" information such as the claim that HIV can be transferred through saliva. In 2007, a Mathematica Policy Research study found these programs don’t delay sexual initiation, don't increase condom use, and don't improve disease prevention among teens.

Even so, these programs persist ­— as does the STI pandemic they're fueling. While people who came of age in the  abstinence-only era (those now 15 to 24 years old) represent only 25 percent of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of STI diagnoses each year. The most prevalent of these are the human papillomavirus (HPV, 4.6 million infections), trichomoniasis (1.9 million), and chlamydia (1.5 million).

"It's unethical to only teach abstinence— and ignore the threat of STIs—when you're dealing with young people who start having sex at an average age of 17," says Debra Hauser, executive vice president of Advocates for Youth, one of the growing number of health groups lobbying for the return of comprehensive sex ed programs, which offer complete information on STI prevention, including abstinence.

The good news? Health advocates are campaigning for a new administration that could eradicate abstinence-only programs. They're pressuring Congress to pass progressive legislation such as the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act and the Prevention First Act, and they're mobilizing citizens to reform their local schools. Just as important, they're empowering young people such as these three activists, who are fighting abstinence-only sex ed on the front lines — and who offer hope of positive change ahead.  

Arianna McClean, 19
Graduate
Montgomery Blair High School
Silver Spring, Maryland

As a summer intern at Advocates for Youth, I'm helping with a study on teens' views of sexual health. My own view is that abstinence-only programs are appalling in a day and age when kids aren’t practicing abstinence.

Take the comprehensive sex ed class I took at my public school. It had many pluses, like the fact that people living with HIV/AIDS came and talked to us. One speaker was a woman in her 30s whose ex-boyfriend called to tell her he was HIV-positive and encouraged her to get testing that showed she was positive, too. Even though this woman wasn’t promiscuous, she hadn’t been really careful about protecting herself, a fact that left students stunned, speechless — and realizing that safe sex is necessary.

HIV/AIDS can be deadly, and the area where I grew up has some of the highest infection rates in the country. I'm glad my sex ed class addressed HIV, but I’m disappointed that it all but ignored HPV, which can lead to genital warts and cervical cancer and is the most common STI in my age group. Talking about HPV would have been really helpful, especially since few teens realize how it works or how it's spread (through skin-to-skin contact as well as sexual intercourse). My girlfriends and I should have learned about the new vaccine that can protect young women against this disease. How can you expect us to make the right decisions if you don’t give us the education we need?

Zen Keenan, 18
Senior
Lincoln High School
Lincoln, Nebraska

When I was in the 10th grade, our health teacher invited two speakers to talk to us about STIs and reproductive health. The first was a woman who works at a "pro-life" counseling center for pregnant girls. She was so vague that it frustrated students when we tried to ask questions. The second was a counselor from Planned Parenthood. She taught us how to protect ourselves, gave us straight answers, and passed around male and female condoms. I'm glad we heard both sides, but I'm worried for kids who only get the abstinence-only side and don't learn how to take care of themselves. That worry prompted me to become a youth leader for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

People who promote abstinence-only sex ed don’t seem to realize how confusing it is to reach sexual maturity in this country at this time. Girls are taught to be quiet and demure. Yet on the other hand, they're taught to be raging sexual powerhouses. Sex is on billboards and in magazines and influences every aspect of the media. Young people are expected to just absorb all this. What we really need is to talk about it openly.

In sex education classes, we need to let students ask questions and answer them without judgment. We need to accept — and address — their curiosity. Teenagers who are vulnerable to STIs should have access to information about these diseases, and they should be taught how to use that information responsibly. They should be assured that their feelings and fears about STIs are normal and natural. They shouldn't feel ashamed of themselves or about acquiring the knowledge they need.

Molly M. Ginty is a freelance journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Ms., Marie Claire, Redbook, and Women’s eNews, among others.

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