Keep your judgemental paws off my sex education
I'm really bad about recording things on TV, and then forgetting to watch it, so I generally end up with 3 or 4 things to catch up on at any given time. Over the weekend, I watched this fascinating documentary on PBS I had recorded weeks ago called "The Education of Shelby Knox." It follows this girl through high school and her advocacy of changing the 'abstinence only' stance of the Lubbock school district.
(This doesn't necessarily pertain to sex, but as far as I'm concerned, there are too many parents out there who are sheltering their kids for far too long. Let them take responsibility for their own actions; let them try new things. Life as a grown up is messy, teens need to know that. Trust in the things you taught them and the examples that you set and let them learn about and experience the un-sheltered, un-sanitized, un-perfect real world. To do anything else is a disservice to them.)
And now we're back to our regularly scheduled entry:
The basic argument for abstinence only is that it is morally unacceptable and against God to have sex before marriage. As I see it, the flaw in this argument is that not everyone is of the same thought. It's unrealistic to expect that in today's society. I'm not advocating for all out hedonism, but there is nothing wrong with sex. With or without love. Sex is pleasure; it is fun; it is serious; it is romantic; it is messy; it is experimenting; it is a gift; it is exciting; it is powerful. It is not, and never should be, shameful. Here's where I get really annoyed: some people say that they are tired of some freaky liberal shoving their agenda down their throats. Well, you know what? I'm a freaky moderate liberal and I'm tired as hell of the Christian Right preaching to me about how I am not living a moral life. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. So get off your moral high horse and realize that the world is made up of different types of people and what works for one, does not work for another.
I am not saying that abstinence shouldn't be taught, but for God's sake, let's at least give kids all the information available. Be truthful and say that abstinence is great, but, if you're going to have sex, at least take some responsibility and protect yourself. There were kids in this show that had never seen a condom, nor had a clue where to get them! (In today's world, I find that morally unacceptable.) So it's no wonder that when they do fall off of the abstinence horse, they wind up pregnant or contracting an STD.
There was a Youth Pastor who kept harping on the 14% fail rate of condoms. He actually said why would you teach a teen how to use a condom, it would be like teaching them to shoot a gun. (Is he serious? Besides, isn't gun education a key to helping stop accidental shootings?) Where is the logic in this? 'Since condoms are only effective 86% of the time, I'd rather you not use one and be unprotected 100% of the time.'? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
To me, the bottom line is this: some teens are going to have sex. And they're going to have sex regardless of how much someone tells them they shouldn't; it's called free will, people. Look it up.
(This doesn't necessarily pertain to sex, but as far as I'm concerned, there are too many parents out there who are sheltering their kids for far too long. Let them take responsibility for their own actions; let them try new things. Life as a grown up is messy, teens need to know that. Trust in the things you taught them and the examples that you set and let them learn about and experience the un-sheltered, un-sanitized, un-perfect real world. To do anything else is a disservice to them.)
And now we're back to our regularly scheduled entry:
The basic argument for abstinence only is that it is morally unacceptable and against God to have sex before marriage. As I see it, the flaw in this argument is that not everyone is of the same thought. It's unrealistic to expect that in today's society. I'm not advocating for all out hedonism, but there is nothing wrong with sex. With or without love. Sex is pleasure; it is fun; it is serious; it is romantic; it is messy; it is experimenting; it is a gift; it is exciting; it is powerful. It is not, and never should be, shameful. Here's where I get really annoyed: some people say that they are tired of some freaky liberal shoving their agenda down their throats. Well, you know what? I'm a freaky moderate liberal and I'm tired as hell of the Christian Right preaching to me about how I am not living a moral life. You don't know me. You don't know anything about me. So get off your moral high horse and realize that the world is made up of different types of people and what works for one, does not work for another.
I am not saying that abstinence shouldn't be taught, but for God's sake, let's at least give kids all the information available. Be truthful and say that abstinence is great, but, if you're going to have sex, at least take some responsibility and protect yourself. There were kids in this show that had never seen a condom, nor had a clue where to get them! (In today's world, I find that morally unacceptable.) So it's no wonder that when they do fall off of the abstinence horse, they wind up pregnant or contracting an STD.
There was a Youth Pastor who kept harping on the 14% fail rate of condoms. He actually said why would you teach a teen how to use a condom, it would be like teaching them to shoot a gun. (Is he serious? Besides, isn't gun education a key to helping stop accidental shootings?) Where is the logic in this? 'Since condoms are only effective 86% of the time, I'd rather you not use one and be unprotected 100% of the time.'? Makes absolutely no sense to me.
To me, the bottom line is this: some teens are going to have sex. And they're going to have sex regardless of how much someone tells them they shouldn't; it's called free will, people. Look it up.
posted by kcterrilynn at 7:41 AM
3 Comments:
Great post and I agree with you 100% I beleive you have to experiment to become who you are and what you want as an adult.
P.S. I bought that Feminist shirt yesterday from Cafepress! I can't wait to get it! Thanks for sharing! ;-)
Wow...awesome post!! Thank you for stating this so eloquently and with so much thought and LOGIC. I'm with you 100% on this and couldn't have said it better.
nice job...completely agree
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