by Marissa Mark
Let’s talk about sex. Or can we? Since 1981, the federal government has been supporting abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Though theoretically, abstinence-only programs are a good thing, in actuality, they are ethically problematic; exclude lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth; and create unknowledgeable teens (SIECUS).
Abstinence-only education, set up through the Social Security Act of 1998, states that the programs must teach, “social, psychological, and health gains of abstinence; abstinence as the expected standard; abstinence is the only certain way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity; sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects; how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances” among other things (U.S. Social Security Administration). Abstinence-only education is somewhat like communism-- in that the idea looks good on paper, but the execution of it becomes skewed. Though it claims to be teaching what is moral and what is effective, it is misleading to teenagers.
