Study: Real Sex Ed Helps Kids Postpone Sex

Yeah, I know, what else is new.  But now there's data.

Think Progress:

Comprehensive sex ed classes that emphasize healthy relationships and family involvement can encourage more middle school students to put off having sex, according to the results from a new study published in the Journal of School Health. The results have big implications for school districts that are trying to decide what type of health classes to offer to kids in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.

The three-year study was conducted by researchers at the Wellesley Centers for Women, who wanted to figure out whether Get Real — a comprehensive sex ed program developed by Planned Parenthood — has an impact on middle schoolers’ sexual behavior. In order to do that, the researchers tracked a group of racially and economically diverse kids at 24 different schools in the Boston area, half of which implemented Get Real and half of which continued with their existing sex ed programs. Kids were periodically surveyed about their sexual activity.

The results were “quite strong,” according to the lead researchers on the project. The study found that 16 percent fewer boys and 15 percent fewer girls became sexually active by the end of eighth grade after participating in Get Real, compared to the kids who didn’t participate in that curriculum.

It’s particularly significant that Get Real helped both girls and boys delay sex. The previous research into other sex ed programs has been mixed, and hasn’t been able to demonstrate such clear results for both genders.

 Or as Wonkette puts it:

Wow, it’s almost as if having open and honest conversations with kids about sex and its consequences leads kids to be more knowledgeable and responsible and to make exactly the kinds of choices that the very people who oppose real sex ed say they should make. Weird!

And you thought Planned Parenthood just built multi-billion dollar abortionplexes, huh? (No, you didn’t really think that because you are not A Idiot. Or Rep. John Fleming. But we repeat ourselves.)

We assume this study will lead all the conservatives who want to shut down Planned Parenthood and defund real sex ed to rethink their strategy and perhaps support this program. We also expect to see pigs fly by our window any second now …

Sexual Reality Squeaks Through Kentucky House

The repressed freakazoids in the senate will kill it, of course, but their spittled-flecked hysteria over the very idea of preventing disease in sexually-active teens ought to be a hoot to watch.

From the Courier:

A bill that would require young boys and girls to be immunized for the human papillomavirus, known as HPV, was approved by a narrow margin in the House on Tuesday with a vote of 54-40.

Under the bill, girls ages 9 to 16 and boys ages 10 to 16, would be immunized for the virus, which can lead to cancer. Parents who do not wish to have their children immunized would have the ability to opt out. An amendment approved on the House floor Tuesday would require schools to send out forms to parents explaining the opt-out provision.


Bill sponsor Rep. David Watkins, D-Henderson, said this is an opportunity to possibly prevent cancers and should be done for the health of future generations.

Rep. Ben Waide, R-Madisonville, spoke against the bill on the floor, saying he believes that parents already have the option to vaccinate their children and the state should not mandate it.

It's really fucking hilarious how freakazoid parents convince themselves that ignorance prevents sex.

Hilarious, that is, until the kids die.

Anti-Woman = Anti-Sex

I remember laughing at the Monica Lewinsky hysterics back in 1998 and wondering if any of them realized just how obvious they were. Apparently none of them had a friend close enough to say "Honey, all that red-faced screeching at the mere mention of a blow job does make you seem to be taking this a bit personally."

But amidst all our snorting over the what's-a-little-cocksucking-between-friends jokes we never imagined that these people really are anti-sex and dead fucking serious about it.

Much less what it would mean for the sexual revolution we thought we'd won in the '60s.

Digby:

Sarah Posner's profile of the most important right wing anti-feminist you've never heard of is must read. I think Phyllis Schlaffly may have found her successor:

SNIP

Some people have been making the case that the abortion wars were never about "life" from the beginning. It was a very specific marketing decision to pit adorable innocent babies against selfish, immoral bitches who spawned them. But it was always about the sex. And now they are emboldened to make their real argument.

Alvaré and her cohorts might seem absurd — after all, having sex isn’t like jumping out of an airplane — but in conservative circles, both academic and political, her views are given currency. She contends that what she calls “sexuality-ism” — essentially, sexual freedom — is “the most pronounced opponent of religious freedom right now.” But, she adds, with both honesty and portent: “Who is the biggest opponent of sexuality-ism? It’s us.”

Read the whole thing. It's actually quite bracing. The years of fighting against being portrayed as heartless baby killers has demoralized many feminists and made them forget what these people really care about. It's a testament to the power of the propaganda --- and women's primal understanding of and sensitivity toward their role in human reproduction --- that this has worked so well in spite of the obvious hypocrisy. After all, these are the same people who believe that there should be no food, shelter, health or education guarantee for actual children, which should give the game away.

It's long past time we put away the sanctimony about "life" and got down to the real argument. Are women fully human or aren't they? Do they have the right to physical pleasure, personal freedom, bodily autonomy or don't they? Historically the answer has usually been no, or at best, a very qualified yes. We have begun to think differently these last few decades and some people don't like it, which is what this is really all about. I'm happy to see it out in the open. Now we can have a fair fight.

The New Bullying

This is what happens when you respond to attacks on people who have responsible sex for pleasure by whining that it's not about sex, it's about "women's health."

No, it's not. It's about the right to have sex for pleasure anywhere, anytime, in any position, in any combination of partners that you want, without interference from anyone for any reason.

If you don't fight loud and proud for the right to have sex for pleasure anywhere, anytime, in any position, in any combination of partners that you want, without interference from anyone for any reason, you get shit like this:

David Atkins, "thereisnospoon," at Hullabaloo:

The Consequences of Hate

DailyKos diarist beantown mom writes:

You see, my 16 year old daughter came home from school on Friday in tears and has been in a state of utter despair since. She was told, in no uncertain terms, that she is a slut, a prostitute, a horny piece of trash that is out to sleep with every guy in school! The horrid little monsters who started harassing my daughter had the audacity to tell her their mothers were the ones who labeled her with these despicable opinions- they were just "telling it like it is, you know, like that guy on the radio! The one who isn't afraid to tell the truth!"

Here is the note that one of the hatemonger classmates who attends her school gave her:

Little miss innocent, huh? Whatever slut- you take birth control pills so you can f*&# every guy in school! What a joke- u are nothin but a whore! Pretty bad when some guy on the radio who isn't afraid to tell the truth has to break it down for everybody- if u on the Pill u are nothing but a skank ass ho! My mom said girls on the pill are tramps who just wanna get laid and don't care about nothin- is that how u are?

This is the consequence of the hate being peddled by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk. It's not just "entertainment" or "humor" as he and his defenders like to claim. The bullying these folks do on the airwaves trickles down to bullying in the workplace and in the schoolyard. It has very real, very negative consequences to people's lives--including to these "mean girls" bullies themselves, who are at significantly higher risk of teen pregnancy and doomed shotgun weddings due to a learned prejudice against basic birth control.

Now, I might also point out that this woman's daughter is taking the pill to address horrible cramps. But while that clarification might matter to the pearl-clutching prudes, the fact is that it doesn't matter at all. If she's taking them because she needs birth control, then good for her. That's her decision to make, and hers alone.

This is also, incidentally, why I'm a big proponent of liberal homeschooling for those with the capability to do so. If it were up to me, every kid who engaged in this sort of horrid behavior would be subject to significant suspension and/or expulsion. There should be a zero-tolerance policy for this sort of behavior, and it should be rigorously enforced. If this ever happened to any daughter of mine at a public school, I would first have the heads of the principals and the administrators, then the kids' parents would get a personal visit, then my kid would get yanked out of the school. I would encourage as many parents of her friends to do likewise as possible, and then I'd get an op-ed and letter-to-the-editor campaign in every local newspaper. Either the parents of these bullies would be humiliated in the community, or I would find a different community in which to live.

But then, I'm an activist like that.

The tiniest concession to the boring-missionary-position-with-your-uninterested-spouse-only forces is unconditional surrender. The only response to their stupidity is to unconditionally demand sex for pleasure, with mandatory universal contraception and free, frequent abortion on demand.

We should celebrate and honor and hold up as social exemplars people who have sex for pleasure outside of marriage. We should point and laugh at everybody who thinks only married sex for procreation only is acceptable.

If For No Other Reason

An icon of the abstinence-only movement makes the definitive case for teaching actual sexual techniques to teens - before they ruin it for themselves.

Jesus' General has it:

But, now Kevin Jonas needs to serve as a role model for marriage. His recent statement about his wedding night doesn't accomplish this. If you missed it, here's what he had to say: "After we did it, I was kind of like, that's it?"

SNIP

Why go to all the trouble of getting married, if, in the end, it's like waiting in line three hours for a Big Mac.

I suspect his problem is ignorance. We don't teach kids the mechanics because it only encourages them to have sex. I bet no one sat him down and told him he needs to put his little unit into her woo woo hole. Without that knowledge, sex is just the weeping and vomiting--who enjoys that.

Read the whole thing.

There's a reason why indigenous cultures encouraged mature adults to initiate young adults into sex. It's obvious, but only in cultures that don't fear and hate sex in all its manifestations.