Sex Education: Fair & Balanced

[Dr. Shane]

Sex ed gets another endorsement

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The reliable way to teach kids about the birds and the bees? Comprehensive sex education. That's the conclusion of an independent panel that reviewed the glut of research out there on sex education and abstinence-only programs in a study released Friday. It found solid proof of its effectiveness in "reducing a number of self-reported [sexual] risk behaviors."

...Debates over the effectiveness of various sex ed approaches have always been contentious, but that is especially true right now because there is a tremendous amount on the line: Congress is currently mulling President Obama's proposal to allocate government funds only to sex ed programs that are scientifically shown to work. Based on this report, at least, abstinence-only would be out.

Abstinence and sex education

Abstinence-only:

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An abstinence-based approach to sex education focuses on teaching young people that abstaining from sex until marriage is the best means of ensuring that they avoid infection with HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. As well as seeing abstinence from sex as the best option for maintaining sexual health, many supporters of abstinence-based approaches to sex education also believe that it is morally wrong for people to have sex before they are married. Abstinence approaches are represented in programmes such as Aspire3 and True Loves Waits4 (both developed in the US), which aim to teach young people that they should commit to abstain from sex until marriage.

Abstinence-Plus:

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In abstinence-plus sex education, although the main emphasis is on abstaining from sex as the preferred choice of protection, young people are also provided with information about contraception and disease prevention so that they can protect themselves when they do become sexually active.8 Abstinence-plus approaches include programmes such as Reducing the Risk9 and APAUSE (Added Power And Understanding in Sex Education)10 which have been developed in the US and UK, respectively. Both these programmes comprise school-based curricula which explicitly emphasise that students should avoid unprotected intercourse, either by not having sex or (for students who choose to have sex) by using contraceptives.

Facts about Abstinence Education

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Fact: Abstinence education programs are effective in reducing teen sexual activity.

There are currently ten evaluations showing that abstinence education is effective in reducing teen sexual activity. Half of these evaluations have been published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, “Not Me, Not Now” is a community-wide abstinence program in Monroe County, New York. The program broadcasts pro-abstinence messages to teens through the mass media. The program has been successful in changing teen attitudes. The sexual activity rate of 15-year-olds across the county (as reported on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) dropped 46.6 percent to 31.6 percent. The pregnancy rate for girls aged 15 through 17 in the county fell by a statistically significant amount from 63.4 pregnancies per 1000 girls to 49.5 pregnancies per 1000.. The teen pregnancy rate fell more rapidly in Monroe County than in comparison counties and in upstate New York in general, and the difference in the rate of decrease was statistically significant...

Fact: “Comprehensive sex education” or “abstinence plus” programs are merely safe sex programs wrapped in a deceptive label.

In recent years, a new approach, termed “abstinence plus” or “comprehensive sexuality education,” has played a prominent role in the public debate over sex education. According to proponents, abstinence plus or comprehensive sex ed programs place a strong emphasis on abstinence but also contain information about contraception. This approach is presented as the middle ground between “safe sex” and abstinence.

In reality, comprehensive sex ed programs are nothing more than standard “safe sex” programs wrapped in a new label. These curricula have little meaningful abstinence content. True abstinence curricula devote, on average, 71 percent of their page content to abstinence. In contrast, comprehensive sex ed curricula, on average, allocate only 4.7 percent of their content to abstinence; the overwhelming focus is on encouraging teens to use contraception.

The brief abstinence message in comprehensive sex ed curricula is weak and equivocal: comprehensive sex ed does not present abstinence as a goal or standard that teens should pursue, but merely as a minor option teens may consider. Comprehensive sex curricula never urge teens to abstain until they finish high school. Even sentences suggesting that young people should wait “until they are older” before engaging in sex are extremely rare. The principal message that pervades comprehensive sex ed curricula, through repeated example, is that it is okay for teens to have sex as long as they use contraception.

[Dr. Shane]

I don't know how our schools hand this but I favor the abstinence-plus model.