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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (12788)	4/8/2005 10:44:29 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361804

"The study found that taking the pledge made teenagers more than five times more likely to have oral or anal sex but not intercourse. " Published in the Daily Trojan. Really. Virginity pledges aren't as effective as sex education By Celeste DeFreitas Published: Wednesday, April 6, 2005 Article Tools: Page 1 of 3 Bad news for supporters of abstinence-only sex education: teenagers who take virginity pledges are more likely to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors such as oral and anal intercourse without proper protection, according to a study released last month. There's irony in there somewhere. Bush's Christian constituency - the same constituency that expressed outrage over the Lewinsky sex scandal - was one of the most vocal factions that supported the virginity pledge programs. Aren't teenagers engaging in premarital sodomy worthy of at least as much indignation as one full-grown Arkansas politician? Where are the torches and pitchforks of religious right groups now? The eight-year study, which was released last month by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, tracked 20,000 youths from high school to young adulthood. The subjects, who were 12 to 18 years old at the start of the study in 1995, agreed to detailed interviews about their sexual histories. They were re-interviewed in 1997, and again in 2002, when more than half then provided urine samples for STD testing. The study found that taking the pledge made teenagers more than five times more likely to have oral or anal sex but not intercourse. Teens sworn to abstinence more frequently maintained their "technical virginity" by abstaining from vaginal sex and instead appeasing their hormonal urges through alternative sexual indulgences. The virginity pledges did not make a significant difference in preventing STDs; adolescents who pledged abstinence were almost as likely to contract STDs as kids who didn't. Although teenagers who took the pledge were more likely to wait before engaging in vaginal intercourse, pledge-takers were less likely to use protection when they had sex for the first time. STDs are blind: they infect people of any gender, race or age without bias. Although national education efforts are making a difference, they're not doing enough for youth - the number of young adults contracting HIV/AIDS each year is on the rise. Continued... Article Tools: Page 1 of 3 dailytrojan.com