Let's talk about REAL Sex Education

Today I, along with fellow constituents, met with our state legislative delegate to talk about the state of sex education in the Commonwealth. Did you realize that under the current administration the federal government has designated nearly one billion dollars to fund abstinence-only sex education.

More disturbing is that conservative members of congress inserted language into legislation designed to overhaul the nation's welfare system; this language—section 510 of the Social Security Act—guaranteed $50 million annually over five years beginning in FY 1998 for abstinence-only education grants to the states. The law contains an extremely narrow eight-point definition of abstinence-only education that sets forth specific messages to be taught, including that sex outside of marriage—for people of any age—is likely to have harmful physical and psychological effects.

According to the legislation abstinence-only education is defined by the following standards:

A) has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, physiological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;

B) teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school age children;

C) teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;

D) teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;

E) teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;

F) teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;

G) teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and

H) teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.

Source: U.S. Social Security Act, Sec. 510(b)(2).

Most of the funding has gone to community groups, including faith-based organizations, and bypassed state education standards.

In 2004 the so-called Waxman Report was issued. Among other things, the study found that abstinence-only curricula:

• contain false information about the effectiveness of contraceptives.
• contain false information about the risks of abortion.
• blur religion and science.
• treat stereotypes of boys and girls as scientific fact.
• contain scientific errors.

If you have not heard the details of the report I strongly urge you to take some time and read the findings.

Speaking to our delegate today our agenda was simply to advocate for medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education. One of our members made a very good point saying, "If students were taught that sea water was not composed of salt water there would be an uproar, but it is perfectly acceptable to tell students that condoms, even when used correctly, do not prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS." Now, if I'm correct, I believe that is a bald-faced lie. In fact, if little j was told that in high school health class I hope she would jump up and yell, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

Unfortunately our delegate was not as receptive as we hoped. He stated that if we were advocating for state control of sex education and it passed, we might get the opposite of what we hoped for -- meaning, abstinence-only education replete with virginity pledges would become the norm. Sadly, he also assumed to know our values. Obviously since we are a group of volunteers from Planned Parenthood we are a bunch of left-leaning, promiscuous, socialists. I didn't bother to tell him that I hope little j waits for her first sexual experience until she is psychologically and emotionally ready. Even if I did, I don't think it would have made a difference. He accused us of not being able to look at the other side of the issue while he sat there smugly judging us. At some point, it just isn't worth the argument.

However, I know that he has a son that is the same age as little j and this is an important connection. I have no problem exploiting it for all it's worth in my future communications with him.

For more information about the state of sexual education in America check out these sites:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
The Guttmacher Institute
Advocates for Youth
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States