DCF, I am posting this because it provides some balance to your idea of following teenagers around making sure they don't have sex. This idea just plain doesn't work, or there would be a much lower rate of teen pregnancies.
I think you have very idealistic ideas about sexuality. Most teenagers are sexually active in some way. The average age for first intercourse is 15.5 in the United States and Western Europe. Several studies have shown that teaching teenagers about sexually transmitted diseases and the dangers of pregnancy, and making contraceptives readily available, while at the same time urging abstinence, do not encourage more teenagers to become sexually active, but do cause those who are to protect themselves. So contraceptives save lives!!!
Another interesting fact mentioned in this report is that ONE-THIRD OF PILGRIM BRIDES WERE PREGNANT!!!!!!! Throughout history, teenagers have had sex once they found someone they fell in love with. This behavior is as old as humankind. Your idea that premarital sex is something new, which you stated in a post last week, and that it is a sign of declining morals that can be fixed if everyone becomes a conservative Christian, are things that simply are not true.
All About Sex
What's Wrong With Abstinence-Only Sexuality Education
Programs?
Excerpt from SIECUS Report - Volume 25, Number 4
Debra W. Haffner, M.P.H., SIECUS President
SIECUS supports abstinence. I repeat. SIECUS supports abstinence. But SIECUS does not support
teaching young people only about abstinence.
SIECUS's Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten--12th Grade state that
one of the four primary goals of comprehensive education is "to help young people exercise
responsibility regarding sexual relationships, including addressing abstinence and [how] to resist
pressures to become prematurely involved in sexual relationships."1
Abstinence is one of the 36 topics covered in the Guidelines, and messages about abstinence are
included in age-appropriate sections. (See "What the SIECUS Guidelines Say About Sexual
Abstinence" on page 10.)
SIECUS does not believe in abstinence-only approaches to sexuality education that have as "their
exclusive purpose teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining
from sexual activity."2 (This is what the newly-funded $50 million federal program will require grant
recipients to teach American youth. See "Excerpts: Draft Block Grant Guidance, Abstinence
Education Provision of the 1996 Welfare Law," on page 8.)
SIECUS does, however, support programs that are abstinence-based--such as Postponing Sexual
Involvement and Will Power, Won't Power--that provide young people with clear messages about
abstaining in the context of a broader, more comprehensive program. (See "Abstinence Education
Programs Without Fear and Shame" on page 22 for abstinence-based programs that are sound
pedagogy for their target population.)
Abstinence-only sexuality education is not effective. Proponents of such sexuality education make
broad claims that sound exciting. They argue that if you tell young people to abstain from sexual
intercourse, they will. These "just say no" programs promise to keep young people from developing
"too serious" relationships, from being emotionally hurt, from experimenting with intimacy and sexual
behaviors, and, of course, from getting pregnant and from contracting an STD or HIV.
There is no reason to believe that these claims are true. There are no published studies in the
professional literature indicating that abstinence-only programs will result in young people delaying
intercourse. In fact, a recent $5 million abstinence-only initiative in California not only did not
increase the number of young people who abstained, but, in one school, actually resulted in more
students having sexual intercourse after having participated in the course.3 Proponents of
abstinence-only fear-based programs often recite their own in-house evaluations as proof that these
programs are effective. Yet, they have not published their evaluations in peer reviewed literature and
are not willing to make them available for review by outside researchers.
Comprehensive sexuality education is, on the other hand, an effective strategy for giving young
people the skills to delay their involvement in sexual behaviors. Several reviews of published
evaluations of sexuality education, HIV prevention, and teenage pregnancy prevention programs
have consistently found that:
sexuality education does not encourage teens to start having sexual intercourse or to increase
their frequency of sexual intercourse.4
programs must take place before young people begin experimenting with sexual behaviors if
they are to result in a delay of sexual intercourse.5
teenagers who start having intercourse following a sexuality education program are more likely
to use contraceptives than those who have not participated in a program.6
HIV programs that use cognitive and behavioral skills training with adolescents demonstrate
"consistently positive" results.7
Indeed, a recent World Health Organization review of 35 studies found that the programs most
effective in changing young people's behavior are those that address abstinence, contraception, and
STD prevention.8 In addition, the National Institutes of Health's Consensus Panel on AIDS said in
February 1997 that the abstinence-only approach to sexuality education "places policy in direct
conflict with science and ignores overwhelming evidence that other programs [are] effective."9
Fear-based, abstinence-only programs also fail to address many of the antecedents of early first
intercourse. Extensive research conducted during the past two decades has clearly delineated a
portrait of a young person who begins intercourse prior to age 14.
Education programs cannot influence some of the factors such as early physical development, lower
age of menarche or a higher testosterone level, older siblings, and single-parent household
environments, or having mothers with lower educational attainment.
Sexuality education programs can, however, potentially address others such as young people's
perception of their friends and siblings sexual behaviors, the timing of first dating, steady
relationships, and beliefs about gender role stereotypes.
Other venues such as counseling and mentoring programs can address these other antecedents of
early first intercourse: lower school performance, lower reading and writing skills, lack of parental
support, lower church attendance, depression, and other problem behaviors, such as substance use
(including alcohol and nicotine), and school delinquency.10
FEDERAL REQUIREMENT #1: TEACH ABSTINENCE OUTSIDE MARRIAGE AS
THE EXPECTED STANDARD
The new welfare reform program requires that sexuality education classes in the United States teach
that "abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage is the expected standard for all school-age
children." Although adults might very well like this as a standard, it is far from accurate in describing
the reality of today's teenagers.
Almost all American adolescents engage in some type of sexual behavior. Although most policy
debates about sexuality education have focused on sexual intercourse and its negative consequences,
young people actually explore their sexuality from a much wider framework that includes dating,
relationships, and intimacy.
The welfare reform legislation never even defines "sexual activity." Since the definition includes the
word "activity" rather than "intercourse," one must assume that the definition is broader and
includes a prohibition against other activities besides sexual intercourse. This is, however, never
defined. For clarification, the conservative Medical Institute for Sexual Health defines abstinence as
"avoiding sexual intercourse as well as any genital contact or genital stimulation"11 Other fear-based
curricula define it as any behaviors beyond hand holding and light kissing.12
The reality is that sexual behavior is almost universal among American adolescents. A majority of
American teenagers date, over 85 percent have had a boyfriend or girlfriend and have kissed
someone romantically, and nearly 80 percent have engaged in deep kissing.13
The majority of young people move from kissing to more intimate sexual behaviors during their
teenage years. More than 50 percent engage in "petting behaviors." By the age of 14, more than 50
percent of all boys have touched a girl's breasts, and 25 percent have touched a girl's vulva. By the
age of 18, more than 75 percent have engaged in heavy petting.14 From 25 to 50 percent of teens
report that they have experienced fellatio and/or cunnilingus.15 A recent study found that of those
teens who are virgins, nearly one third reported that they had engaged in heterosexual masturbation
of or by a partner. One tenth of virgins had participated in oral sex, and one percent had participated
in anal intercourse.16
More than half of American teenagers in schools have had sexual intercourse. The latest data from
the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
found that 54 percent of high school students had sexual intercourse, a rate virtually unchanged since
the study began in 1990.17 By the time they reach the age of 20, 80 percent of boys and 76 percent of
girls have had sexual intercourse.18
At each stage of adolescence, higher proportions of boys and girls have had sexual intercourse today
than 20 years ago. The largest increase occurred between 1971 and 1979. The increase was modest in
the 1980s. It appeared to level off in the 1990s.19 It is important to note, however, that these trends
started much earlier than the 1970s. In fact, the model age for first intercourse was 17 for men and 18
for women in the 1950s and 1960s. It was 16 for men and nearly 17 for women in the 1970s and 1980s.
This is a one-year change over a 40-year span.20
FEDERAL REQUIREMENT #2: TEACH ABSTINENCE AS THE ONLY CERTAIN
WAY TO AVOID PROBLEMS
The new federal program also requires that grantees teach that "abstinence from sexual activity is
the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other
associated health problems."
On the surface, it is hard to argue with this statement. The SIECUS Guidelines themselves state that
"abstinence from sexual intercourse is the most effective method of preventing pregnancies and
STDS/HIV." Yet, after learning that abstinence is the "only certain way" to avoid pregnancy and
STDS/HIV, young people may get the impression that contraception and condoms are not effective.
In fact, many of the fear-based approaches to sexuality education discuss methods of contraception
only in terms of their failure rates.21 Indeed, professionals who work directly with adolescents in
schools and clinics can attest that adolescent vows of abstinence fail far more than condoms do.
Messages that contraception and condoms are not effective could, unfortunately, reverse the
significant strides that American youth have made toward having safer sex during the past two
decades. Consider these statistics:
In 1979, fewer than 50 percent of adolescents used a contraceptive at first intercourse.
In 1988, more than 65 percent used them.
By 1990, more than 70 percent used them.22
Teenagers who receive contraceptive education in the same year that they become sexually active
are 70 to 80 percent more likely to use contraceptive methods (including condoms) and more than
twice as likely to use the pill.23
It is vitally important that programs encourage young people who engage in intercourse to use
contraception and condoms. According to the National Institutes of Health, "although sexual
abstinence is a desirable objective, programs must include instruction in safe sex behavior, including
condom use."24
FEDERAL REQUIREMENT 3: TEACH SEXUAL RELATIONS ONLY IN
MARRIAGE AS THE EXPECTED STANDARD
The new abstinence-only programs must also teach that "a mutually faithful monogamous
relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity."
This "information" is clearly not true in American culture. The fact is that the vast majority of
Americans begin having sexual relationships (including sexual intercourse) as teenagers. Fewer than
7 percent of men and 20 percent of women aged 18 to 59 were virgins when they were married.25 Only
10 percent of adult men and 22 percent of adult women report that their first sexual experience was
with their spouse, many of whom had their first intercourse when they were engaged prior to
marriage.26 Indeed, this norm was probably never true: a third of all Pilgrim brides were pregnant
when they were married.27
There are currently more than 74 million American adults who are classified as single because they
have delayed marriage, decided to remain single, are divorced, or have entered into a gay or lesbian
partnership. More than three quarters of these men and two thirds of these women have had sex with
a partner in the past 12 months.28 Most of them would take offense at this new "standard of human
behavior". Under this new program s definition, schools will teach young people that these adults
must remain celibate throughout their lives.
The concept of chastity until marriage may have made more sense a hundred years ago when
teenagers reached puberty in their middle teens. For them, marriage and other adult responsibilities
closely followed. Today's young people are different: They reach puberty earlier, they have
intercourse earlier, and they marry in their middle twenties. In fact, women and men marry several
years later today than they did in the 1950s. The current mean age for first marriage is 26.7 years-old
for men and 24.5 years-old for women.29
FEDERAL REQUIREMENT #4: TEACH SEXUAL RELATIONS OUTSIDE
MARRIAGE AS LIKELY TO HAVE HARMFUL EFFECTS
The new federal programs must also teach that "sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have
harmful psychological and physical effects."
There is no sound public health data to support this statement. It is certainly true that sexual relations
can lead to unplanned pregnancies, STDS, and HIV. It is also true that intimate relationships can be
harmful for some people. But the reality is that the majority of people have had sexual relationships
prior to marriage with no negative repercussions. For example, one study reports that when
premarital sexual intercourse is satisfying, it has a positive effect on relationships for both males and
females.30 The largest study of adult sexual behavior found that more than 90 percent of men and
more than 70 percent of women recall that they wanted their first intercourse to happen when it did;
only 6.9 percent of men and 21 percent of women had first intercourse on their wedding night.31
CONSENSUS STATEMENT ON ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY
The National Commission on Adolescent Sexual Health recognizes that adolescent sexuality is a
highly charged emotional issue for many adults. It urges, however, that policymakers recognize that
sexual development is an essential part of adolescence and that the majority of adolescents engage in
sexual behaviors as part of their overall development.
More than 50 national organizations have endorsed the Commission's consensus statement that says
"society should encourage adolescents to delay sexual behaviors until they are ready physically,
cognitively, and emotionally for mature sexual relationships and their consequences."
These organizations urge, however, that "society must also recognize that a majority of adolescents
will become involved in sexual relationships during their teenage years. Adolescents should receive
support and education for developing the skills to evaluate their readiness for mature sexual
relationships.32
The reality is that the majority of American adults believe that young people need to be told more
than just say no. Although 60 percent believe that premarital sexual relations for teenagers is always
wrong,33 more than three-quarters of adults also believe that teenagers need information and access
to contraceptive services and STD prevention information.34 Abstinence-only programs, which
include misinformation about sexual behaviors and promote fear and shame, are unlikely to prove
effective.
If Congress and the states are serious about helping young people delay sexual behaviors and grow
into healthy, responsible adults, they will support a comprehensive approach to sexuality education
that has a proven track record in accomplishing these goals.
References
1.National Guidelines Task Force, Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education,
Kindergarten--12th Grade (New York: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the
United States, 1991).
2.Congressional Record/U.S. Senate, Sept. 15, 1995, pp. 513647-9.
3.D. Kirby, M. Korpi, R. P. Barth, and H. H. Cagampang, Evaluation of Education Now and
Babies Later (ENABL): Final Report (Berkeley, CA: University of California, School of Social
Welfare, Family Welfare Research Group, 1995).
4.J. J. Frost and J. D. Forrest, "Understanding the Impact of Effective Teenage Pregnancy
Prevention Programs," Family Planning Perspectives, 27:5 (1995): 188-96; D. Kirby et al,
"School-based Programs to Reduce Sexual Risk Behaviors: A Review of Effectiveness,"
Public Health Reports, 190:3 (1997): 339-60; A. Grunseit and S. Kippax, Effects of Sex
Education on Young People's Sexual Behavior (Geneva: World Health Organization, 1993).
5.D. Kirby et al, "School-based Programs," 339-60.
6.A. Grunseit and S. Kippas, Effects of Sex Education, 339-60.
7.J. J. Frost and J. D. Forrest, "Understanding Prevention Programs."
8.A. Grunseit and S. Kippax, "Effects of Sex Education."
9.National Institutes of Health, Consensus Development Conference Statement, Feb. 11-13,
1997.
10.Kristin A. Moore, Brent C. Miller, Dana Glei, and Donna R. Morrison, Adolescent Sex,
Contraception, and Childbearing: A Review of Recent Research, (Washington, DC, Child
Trends, Inc., June 1995).
11.National Guidelines for Sexuality and Character Education (Texas: Medical Institute for
Sexual Health, 1996), p. 7.
12.L. Kantor, "Scared Chaste? Fear-based Educational Curricula," SIECUS Report, 21:2 (1992):
1-15.
13.R. Coles and F. Stokes, Sex and the American Teenager (New York: Harper and Row, 1985);
and Roper Starch Worldwide, Teens Talk About Sex: Adolescent Sexuality in the 90s (New
York: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, 1994).
14.Ibid.
15.S. Newcomer and J. Udry, "Oral Sex in An Adolescent Population," Archives of Sexual
Behavior, 14 (1985): 41-6.
16.M. A. Schuster, R. M. Bell, D. E. Kanouse, "The Sexual Practices of Adolescent Virgins:
Genital Sexual Activities of High School Students Who Have Never Had Vaginal Intercourse,"
American Journal of Public Health (Novmeber 1996) 86:11, 1570-76.
17.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Sept. 27, 1996, 45: SS-4; YRBS, 1990.
18.Alan Guttmacher Institute, Sex and America's Teenagers (New York: The Alan Guttmacher
Institute, 1994).
19.Ibid.
20.E. Laumann et al, The Social Organization of Sexuality--Sexual Practices in the United States
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994).
21.L. Kantor, "Scared Chaste? Fear-based Educational Curricula," SIECUS Report, 21:2 (1992):
1-15.
22.D. Haffner, editor, Facing Facts: Sexual Health for America's Adolescents (New York:
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, 1994).
23.J. Mauldon and K. Luker, "The Effects of Contraceptive Education on Method Use at First
Intercourse," Family Planning Perspectives, January/February 1996., p. 19.
24.National Institutes of Health, Consensus Development Conference Statement, Feb. 11-13,
1997.
25.E. Laumann et al, The Social Organization of Sexuality.
26.Ibid.
27.J. D'Emilio and E. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America (New York:
Harper and Row, 1988).
28.E. Laumann et al, The Social Organization of Sexuality.
29.U.S. Census Bureau, Marital Status and Living Arrangements, March 1994.
30.Rodney M. Cate, Edgar Long, Jeffrey J. Angera, and Kirsten K. Draper, "Sexual Intercourse
and Relationship Development," Family Relations, April 1993, p. 162.
31.E. Laumann et al, The Social Organization of Sexuality.
32.D. Haffner, editor, Facing Facts.
33.E. Laumann et al, The Social Organization of Sexuality.
34.Gallup Poll, "Attitudes Toward Contraception, March 1985.
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