Guess what?
Liberal sex education courses leave out important information.
Young women, liberated from the fear of unwanted pregnancy because of contraception, may be engaging in more sexual activity leading to sexually transmitted diseases.
Condoms, while reducing many health risks, are of limited utility in protecting against several sexually transmitted diseases of serious concern to women.
Sex education—more than the birds and the bees
Most parents expect sex education to provide adolescents with the basic facts about reproduction and contraception. In truth, sex education courses today often serve as forums to instill liberal morals and a feminist world view in students.
A good example is the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SEICUS), a national organization that receives financial support from American taxpayers through the CDC. SEICUS advocates for much more than just comprehensive sex education, it also fights for abortion rights and “social justice.”
SIECUS’s School Health Project is designed to help state and local health and education departments provide “high quality, culturally appropriate education designed to prevent HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy among teens.” In addition to providing training seminars for educators, creating materials for distribution to teens, and reaching out to community groups, SEICUS develops guidelines for what should be taught in sex education from kindergarten to twelfth grade.
SIECUS’s “Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education” focuses on educating students about six key concepts: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. It breaks down the messages they believe are appropriate for students based on age.
Among the developmental messages deemed appropriate for those ages five through eight is “both boys and girls have body parts that feel good when touched”; “vaginal intercourse—when a penis is placed inside a vagina—is the most common way for a sperm and egg to join”; and “touching and rubbing one’s own genitals to feel good is called masturbation.” By level two—ages nine through twelve—students are learning about bisexuality and abortion.
Some parents reading this may believe that these messages are appropriate for children at these ages; however, many parents are horrified. As a result of the conflicting views about what kids should or shouldn’t learn about sex at school, the content of sex education courses has become a political battleground. Conservatives have attempted to shift the dialogue in many public schools from emphasizing contraception to emphasizing abstinence. Supporters of abstinence-only education argue that sex education encourages more experimentation. Those, like SEICUS, who oppose abstinence-only education claim that it leaves students ignorant about how to protect themselves and more likely to engage in risky behaviors.
The Politically Correct Attitude Toward Sex
“As long as I’m safe, what the hell?”
—Feminist writer, Anastasia Higginbotham in an essay in Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation
The abstinence movement has been the subject of much ridicule from liberal groups. In July 2005, the Washington state chapter of the abortion rights group, NARAL Pro-Choice America, held a “Screw Abstinence Party.” According to this fundraiser’s invitation, guests were treated to entertainment by “Pork Filled Players—Seattle theatre’s hottest sketch comedy group performs a sex ed class for adults”; and, “Toys in Babeland—Seattle’s sleaze-free, sex-positive purveyors of adult toys offer tips on ‘Sexy Safer Sex.’”
Ridiculing abstinence is politically correct, but it tells us nothing about its effectiveness. Some studies suggest that abstinence programs are very successful in encouraging students to forgo sexual intercourse and decrease the prevalence of STDs and unwanted pregnancy.1 Other research has been critical of the content of abstinence programs, claiming that they use alarmist statistics about the failure rate of condoms and prevalence of STDs to scare kids into abstaining from sex.2
This debate about what should be taught in sex education classes in public schools is an advertisement for why we need school choice, or policies that give parents more options and greater control over where their children attend school. There wouldn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all solution to sex education if parents were free to choose a school for their child that reflected their personal beliefs; instead, parents are stuck with their local public schools.
Regardless of where one comes out in this debate, all should be able to agree that it’s important for teenagers to be aware of the potential for contracting an STD and the limitations of condoms in preventing their spread. The SEICUS materials talk extensively about various forms of contraception. As a part of teaching the topic “contraception,” level three students (twelve to fifteen) are supposed to learn: Some methods of contraception, such as withdrawal, are not as effective as others.
Some methods of contraception, such as condoms, can also prevent the transmission of STDs/HIV.
The most effect methods of contraception, such as the Pill, injection, and the birth control patch, do not help prevent the transmission of STDs/HIV.
Couples who want to reduce their risk for both pregnancy and STDs/HIV need to use male or female condoms along with another effective method of contraception.
Any method of contraception, in order to be effective in preventing pregnancy and STDs/HIV, must be used consistently and correctly.
These students are also told, as a part of the “sexually transmitted disease” topic, that “Proper use of latex condoms, along with water-based lubricants, can greatly reduce, but not eliminate the chance of getting an STD.”
This leaves out a lot of information for students. SEICUS has recommended detailed discussions among students about the important, healthy role that sexuality plays in people’s lives, the need for acceptance and understanding of life choices made by others, and the importance of creating your own values. Limits in our ability to prevent the spread of STDs, some of which can have lasting health consequences for these students, deserve as much, if not more, emphasis.
At least formal sex education classes often acknowledge that condoms are an imperfect method of disease prevention. The rest of youth culture tends to leave this message out entirely, celebrating sex so long as it’s done “responsibly.”
Condoms’ great P.R.
The idea that sex is costless so long as it’s “safe” is sacred dogma on many campuses—with “safe” usually defined as sex with condoms. Condoms are championed at America’s colleges (and high schools), and student health centers and associations sometimes provide them for free.3
One young feminist writer summed up the sentiments of many on the importance of “safe” sex. She celebrates her rejection of the cultural prohibitions surrounding female promiscuity, discounting any physical risks since she practices “safe” sex: “The only other reason that could prevent me from embracing my bisexual identity is the implication to others that I might be easy. Ain’t no might about it. I am easy. But, as long as I’m safe, what the hell?”4
A Book You’re Not Supposed to Read
Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids; Meg Meeker, M.D., Washington, DC, LifeLine Press, 2002.
Women’s magazines also contribute to the widespread misperception that casual sex is safe as long condoms are used. Marie Claire featured an article on the activities of a subculture of people engaging in anonymous group sex. The article mentions how participants are “opening themselves up to the threat of STDs,” highlighting how many participants fail to use condoms.5
In two interviews with group sex participants, both proudly boast of using condoms during their encounters. One man brags, “I always take condoms with me—and insist on using them.” Another woman explains, “Some nights, I had sex with up to ten people. But I always used condoms.” 6 Condoms are depicted as a get-out-of-STD-free card. As if, because they use condoms, their actions are somehow responsible.
Admittedly, it’s preferable that group sex participants use condoms—but the politically correct myth that condoms wipe away the risks of casual sex is just that—a myth.
Women’s biological vulnerability
The most well-known vulnerability that women face from sexual intercourse is unwanted pregnancy. And even though rates of teenage pregnancy have declined, many women continue to become pregnant before they’re ready.
According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, one in three women get pregnant at least once before age twenty.7 An estimated eight in ten teen pregnancies are unplanned and out of wedlock.8 About 30 percent of teen pregnancies end in abortion, which indicates that more than 250,000 teens have a pregnancy terminated each year.9 Regardless of one’s position on the legality of abortion, it seems reasonable to assume that no woman wants to undergo the procedure and thus these numbers are cause for concern.
Although high, these statistics are in some sense good news. Rates of teen pregnancy have dropped considerably since 1990—a fact celebrated by many health professionals and politicians. Many experts attribute most of this decline to increased use of contraceptives.
But even as the rate of unwanted pregnancy has fallen by nearly 30 percent since its peak in 1990, the number of STD infections has continued to rise. Each year approximately ten million individuals in the fifteen to twenty-four age group contract an STD, which means that of those who are sexually active, an estimated one in three will contract an STD before age twenty-four.10
For example, the rate of infection of genital herpes grew 30 percent since 1970, with the largest increase occurring in young teens. According to the CDC, forty-five million Americans over age twelve—or one out of five of the total adolescent and adult population—are infected with genital herpes. Those who are infected can look forward to a life time of periodic outbreaks of sores in the genital region.11
The human papillomavirus (HPV) has received increased attention in recent years due to a growing awareness of the virus’s relationship with cervical cancer. HPV is the name of a collection of more than one hundred different viruses, only some of which are sexually transmitted. Most of these viruses are not associated with any symptoms and disappear on their own. Others cause genital warts which are treatable. However, some strains of HPV can have serious consequences, such as potentially leading to cancer, particular cervical cancer, in women. The CDC estimates that nearly half of all sexually active people will acquire at HPV infection during their lives.
Chlamydia infections are the most common sexually transmitted diseases and the diagnosed incidences of chlamydia has skyrocketed during the last twenty years. The CDC cautions that this higher rate of diagnosis may in part be good news—the increase could be attributable to better screening and more treatment, not just to an increase in the rate of contraction. Diagnosing chlamydia is particularly important since while it’s treatable with antibiotics, left untreated it can result in pelvic inflammatory disease, which can cause infertility and other complications. 12
Regardless of whether the rates of infection have climbed or have always been this high, this disease affects too many young women today. In fact, chlamydia is most common among women in the fifteen to twenty-four age group: in 2003, 2.5 percent of women in this age group were diagnosed with chlamydia.
The truth is “STDs are not gender-neutral”; women are far more likely than straight men to contract an STD.13 A woman is eight times as likely to get HIV and four times more likely to get gonorrhea from one act of intercourse than is a man. Women are also more likely to have permanent damage from STDs, such as infertility and cancers. Yet, only one-third of women are aware of their greater vulnerability to contracting an STD.14
Of course, sexually transmitted diseases have more than just physical consequences. They also can be emotionally devastating, particularly for young people. Dr. Meg Meeker, author of the book Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids, details how all patients diagnosed with the life-long disease of herpes experience a sense of loss and grieve while coming to terms with their illness, but she emphasizes that the diagnosis is particularly devastating to already insecure teenagers, often leading to depression and loss of self esteem.15
Is safe sex making kids less safe?
Some researchers believe that the increased awareness and availability of contraceptives have fueled the rise of sexually transmitted diseases. Young women, liberated from fear of the most immediate negative outcome from sexually intercourse—unwanted pregnancy—may be engaging in more sexual activity leading to the increase in STDs. Dr. Meeker sums up the relationship thus: “The very contraceptives that have made the teenage birthrate go down have also made casual sex easier than ever, thus making the STD rate simultaneously rocket up.”16
In addition, once a teen has sex, it becomes much easier to do it again. As a result, teens end up engaging more partners and undertaking more risky behaviors. Not surprisingly, the younger a girl becomes sexually active the more likely she is to have numerous partners and the greater her chances of contracting an STD.
Rx: Advice from a doctor
Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated to prescribe oral contraceptives to teenage girls. In fact, any form of birth control was fine with me, as long as the patient used it consistently. As a young doctor swept away by the message of “safe” sex, I didn’t know any better . . . .
But today, I think long and hard about prescribing birth control pills or Depo-Provera to kids because this puts them in such grave danger of contracting at STD. In giving a girl birth control that I know will protect her from pregnancy, am I inadvertently encouraging her to pick up a sexually transmitted disease?
And if you might ask, “What about condoms?” read on. We place far too much trust in those slim packets of latex and lambskin. In most cases, the chances of condoms preventing STDs is almost as thin as the condoms themselves.
—Dr. Meg Meeker, pediatrician and author of Epidemic: How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids
The limitations of condoms
Condoms, while reducing the risks of the transmission of many STDs, are of limited utility in protecting against several STDs of serious concern to women. A 2001 report by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found that condoms didn’t reduce the likelihood of contracting the HPV.17 The CDC notes the limitations of condoms in preventing the spread of genital ulcer diseases, such as genital herpes and syphilis, since infections can be present in skin not covered by a condom.18 Condoms were found to be most effective in preventing HIV/AIDS, reducing the likelihood of transmission by approximately 85 percent per incident of intercourse—not bad, perhaps, but far from perfectly “safe.”19
Condoms reduce the spread of disease only when used consistently and effectively. Unfortunately, teenagers tend to use condoms sporadically. A 1997 study of high school girls found that just about half had used a condom when they last had intercourse.20 Once teens become involved in a sexual relationship, they are more likely to become lazy about using condoms. They have had sex without getting pregnant and without contracting an STD (at least that they know of), so they become less worried about the potential consequences of sex and are more likely to take risks.21 This is one potential explanation for the finding that older teens (age eighteen and nineteen) were less likely to use condoms than younger teens (fifteen to seventeen).22
To be sure, it’s far better to reduce the risk of transmission of these diseases than to take no precautions at all, so it’s important for sexually active young adults to use condoms. But statements like “As long as I’m safe, what the hell?”23 irresponsibly imply that sex is worry-free and just another recreational activity, as long as precautions are taken. Young Americans deserve to know the facts about the limits of condoms so they don’t unknowingly take risks with their health.
Chapter Six
MEN AREN’T THE ENEMY
Violence against women—whether it’s domestic violence, rape, or
other forms of assault—is a significant problem in the United
States. All women need to educate themselves and take precautions to reduce the risk of being a victim.
Women also should recognize that such events are aberrations, completely inconsistent with healthy relationships. Unfortunately, this is often not the message that feminists and popular culture give to young women. Feminists often imply that men in general are hazardous to women’s health and that violence against women is inescapable. Heterosexuality itself is cast as fraught with peril, emotionally and physically, for women.
Women should know the true facts about the prevalence of violence in our society, not the inflated statistics that feminists often repeat to suggest that violence against women is unavoidable. Although too many women are still victims, crime rates have actually dropped considerably during the last decade. It’s also important to remember that violence affects both genders. In fact, men are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than are women.
A fact-based understanding of the prevalence of violence is the best way for women to protect themselves and their families.
Guess what?
Women should know the true facts about the prevalence of violence in our society, not the inflated statistics that feminists often repeat.
Feminists have unhelpfully conflated the actual experience of being assaulted with the mere potential for violence.
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism Page 6