The CDC recently conducted a study and found that 1 in 4 teenage girls are infected with some type of STD. That is equal to 3.2 million teenage girls nation wide. Also, in some places, 1 in 3 girls will become pregnant by the age of 20. That is an outrageous number when we have so many resources that we do not use properly. We need to abolish the Abstinence only sex education that is being taught in our school districts. Teenagers need to be taught about sex from a professional rather than learning the wrong information from their friends. I believe this would decrease the numbers of STDs, teen pregnancy, and even abortion. We also need help from the parents of teenagers. The teenagers need someone they can openly talk to. Many teenagers are afraid to talk about sex to their parents in fear that they will be punished. I believe if we had sex education in schools and help from the community that we can beat this problem together.
edit: We really need to fix this. We need sex education and we need somehow to get it into our schools. Without we will see more stats like this. I hope that in the next few years these numbers will drop!
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Thank the Bush administration for the abstinence-only curriculum. The federal government used to help fund real sex education. With the influence of the Christian right (many of the A-O teaching groups use a foundation of religion), the kids aren't being taught how to protect themselves if they DO decide to have sex before marriage. Family planning needs to be addressed in realistic terms, not Christian idealistic terms.
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
i totally agree with you. The main part of the blog is for my blog that i get posted in the paper where i live. And i didn't want to bush bash( which i love doing) in the paper cause here in TN , lots of conservative..haha But yes, i hope in the future this will change
http://digits2006.blogspot.com/
maybe sex education would help, but what teens really need is an environment in which they feel secure and complete. That's the reason why they go out looking for "safety" with people who only want to have sex. Next thing you know they have a belly and the one who got 'em pregnant is nowhere to be seen. So much for feeling safe!
~Bookworm62591♥
I understand what you're saying, and I'll have to agree that SOME teens that have sex only do it because they want to feel loved. Physical doesn't mean anything emotional, as far as a long-term feeling. A lot of people get that confused. Most have problems at home.
I think that is another portion of sex ed that needs to be added. Especially today, sex is not something to jump into lightly. There is a lot of physical issues to weigh out. When sex ed is strictly about abstinence, teens don't know how to be safer. There are a lot of social and emotional issues involved in sex for teens that need to be addressed in a reality, not a negative light.
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
this is very true...
all of been taught my whole life is safe sex is no sex.. when in reality no one accepts that anymore. That spent so much time teaching us about abstinence that they forgot to mentions birth control, contraceptives, etc. Honestly, abstinence should bel eft up to parents and religions to teach, and schools to a certain extent; but schools should be more concerned about education the kids on the risks, rather than to safe sex is no sex rule.
I think that abstinence until a teenager is ready is a good thing. I thing SOME of what they teach is good, as far as not having sex just because "everyone else is doing it." Sex is an individual's decision, and it isn't always an easy one. It's not something you should do out of obligation or "to be cool." There is a self-respect issue that needs to be enforced.
The way most of the A-O teachings work is that sex is shameful before marriage. That is disturbing. They should be teaching about the dangers, but not warping statistics like they do. Condoms do work most of the time, but nothing but abstinence is 100%. That does factor in to the decision.
-Sonja :)
"Democracy works only when you vote. When you don't take the time to vote for the candidate you find the least offensive, you run the risk of electing the candidate you find the most offensive."
I agree with you. I believe that schools should teach the about the good and bad parts of sex. If a school just talks about abstinence and how you should what until marriage, then that could lead to kids hanging theirselves just because of self-guilt. Schools make sex out so that you should feel bad about what you do. That shouldn't be the cae. If one wants to participate in sexual activities, that's on them, but they still need to realize there are curable and uncurable diseases out there. If one wants to have sex, they need to wrap it up, or at least make sure the person you have sex with is clean of all diseases.