Speak Out Against federally funded faith-based sex mis-education

[Ian David]

Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2005
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: AHA Action AlertSpeak Out Against Federally Funded Misinformation and Religious Bias


Abstinence-Only Sex Education Embeds Religious Ideas in Public Schools:
Speak Out Against Federally Funded Misinformation and Religious Bias

Sign the American Humanist Association’s Humanist Statement on Sexuality.

BACKGROUND

Now taught in nearly a third of public schools, abstinence-only (or
abstinence-only-until-marriage) sex education is deeply rooted in
fundamentalist Christian ideology. As Humanists, we must do all we can to
prevent this religious-based curriculum from being taught in public schools. As
the Humanist Statement on Sexuality states, "sex education programs in public
schools should reflect our shared ethical values—not the sectarian values of
any one particular group."

Abstinence-only education as we know it first came into effect in 1996 as part
of "welfare reform." President Bush now requests $270 million in federal funds
to be allocated to funding the abstinence-only program, on top of the initial
$10 million per state per year that was part of the original five-year plan.

The Religious Right has the President’s ear, and Bush speaks of abstinence as a
matter of "conscience" for young Americans; this kind of attitude—which
pervades abstinence-only education—presents sexual activity not as a choice
about maturity and health but as one about morality.

The abstinence-only education program taught in public schools holds as one of
its core tenets "that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the
context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity."
Statements such as this one presuppose a religion-based idea of sexual morality
that is both out of line with the current reality and with the personal values
of many Americans: it has no place in our public schools.

Furthermore, abstinence-only curricula perpetuate male/female stereotypes and
heteronormativity, and present simplistic explanations of human biology. Unlike
comprehensive sex education programs that have been shown to encourage teens to
delay sexual activity and to use protection, abstinence-only sex education does
little to lower pregnancy rates and has been shown to lead to greater exposure
to sexually transmitted diseases.

The advocates of abstinence-only programs are attempting to use public schools
as a venue for promoting the fundamentalist Christian message at the expense of
all others. We as Humanists should not stand by and allow this to take place.

ACTION

It is essential that we reinstate comprehensive sex education and get this
fundamentalist message out of public schools.

Speak out against abstinence-only programs that endanger the health of
America’s youth: sign the AHA’s Statement on Sexuality. Go to
http://www.americanhumanist.org/signon/index.html

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[BOSSHOG]

1. An interesting outcome of this propoganda

is that the spawns of christians are having oral and anal sex and claiming they remain virgins since they do not get pregnant.

[Ian David]

4. No kidding. See this article in Salon by Bill Maher

Abstinence pledges suck -- literally
As news spreads that teens who pledge chastity have lots more kinky sex, millions of aging boomers ask: Where was Bush when I was in high school?

By Bill Maher
April 1, 2005


<snip>

New Rule: Abstinence pledges make you horny. A new eight-year study just released reveals that American teenagers who take "virginity" pledges of the sort so favored by the Bush administration wind up with just as many STDs as the other kids.

But that's not all -- taking the pledges also makes a teenage girl six times more likely to perform oral sex, and a boy four times more likely to get anal. Which leads me to an important question: where were these pledges when I was in high school?

Seriously, when I was a teenager, the only kids having anal intercourse were the ones who missed. My idea of lubrication was oiling my bike chain. If I had known I could have been getting porn star sex the same year I took Algebra II, simply by joining up with the Christian right, I'd have been so down with Jesus they would have had to pry me out of the pew.

More:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/04/01/abstinence/

[ComerPerro]

2. Thanks for the links

Abstinence-only is dangerous.

[acmejack]

3. This makes far too much sense

to be accepted by the * misadministration.

[Felix Mala]

5. If condems failed as often as abstinence the FDA wouldn't let them

be sold as protection against prenancy.

[Felix Mala]

6. Heheh

Condoms...

[Ian David]

7. I thought I would keep this kicked. n/t