"Conservatives say teaching sex education in the public schools will promote promiscuity. With our education system? If we promote promiscuity the same way we promote math or science, they've got nothing to worry about."
— BEVERLY MICKENS, Women's Lip
The System Today
It's 2013 and every day, more and more young people get pregnant. This in and of itself is not a big deal, but the fact of the matter is that most of these young people have no way to provide for a child. Combine that with the rising number of sexually transmitted infections in all age groups and it is clear to see that we have a failure somewhere in the system.
So, whose fault is it? Does the fault lie with the collective religious organizations that shame all aspects of sexuality? What about with an education system that glosses over things, presents fallacies as fact, and tries to scare the youth away from having sex? Or perhaps parents that won't accept their responsibility for their own children; the same parents that wouldn't have this problem had their own parents not skipped at-home sex ed?
I'm placing the blame squarely on religion. At the essence of the matter, no one wants to discuss sex with their young ones, because it is "awkward" to talk about or too dirty to discuss.
Why?!?! This makes no sense, unless you take religion into consideration. The values that are passed down from parent to child are all too often religious values, passed down from generation to generation. This, in turn, causes the same views on sexuality to be perpetuated endlessly. Don't hurt others, don't steal, etc.; all things we understand as human beings, but at what point can we realize that sex is going to happen regardless of how adamantly the preacher/rabbi/cleric/whatever rants and raves about abstinence being the only way?
It's outdated, foolish and a risk to the health of the youth of the world in the 21st century to turn a blind eye to sexuality!
Religion may be at fault for a lot of the problems with rampant teenage pregnancy and rising numbers of sexually transmitted infections, but it can all be fixed! Parents, guardians, elders of the communities and role models should most certainly adopt a new policy when it comes to sexual education. Instead of preaching abstinence only, teach that abstinence is the safest, but also teach about how to properly use contraceptives.
Teach the youth about condoms and spermicides; teach them about diseases and infections. Don't put all of your eggs in the basket of ignorance. Sex is wonderful and we shouldn't be teaching the youth that it is bad. We should be teaching the teenagers and young adults of the world about safer sex, their anatomies and the financial and social costs of having a child that you aren't prepared for. Parents, don't let the fear of a conversation being awkward stop you from arming your children with the knowledge to protect themselves and have a fulfilling sex life.
A question as you leave:
Would you rather find that your young one is being perfectly safe, but having sex younger than you expected or find out they have been having sex when they come to you pregnant or infected with a disease and scared?
It is my job, as a mother, to teach my daughters about sex and sexual health. They are all very young yet (2, 3, and 5) but they already know the sexual organs (penis/vagina) and that no one is ever supposed to touch them (outside of doc visits, bathtime, etc), which direction they are supposed to wipe, and that touching themselves (yeah they almost all go through this phase) is only appropriate when they are alone and in their rooms. My kids should be able to teach the class once they get old enough to take sex ed. because I am teaching them now.
I find that beautiful! Way to go as a parent!!!!
I think any one involved with a kid should be open and honest about sex I know its not easy but I am open with my 13 year old niece
I'm with Chastity. I don't know about just throwing all blame on "religion" and not even taking other factors into account when it comes to something so big like this. I don't blame anybody for what happens to other people. I mean I am a Christian and you may or may not consider that "religious" depending on what your idea of religion even is (if it means any kind of Godly beliefs or something more specific) and I turned out wonderfully, but my parents are who taught me. They didn't leave the church or school to do THEIR work & they done an excellent job with me. I'll just say, I don't think we can place full blame on one particular party where this is concerned. Not at all. It's much bigger than just simply saying "oh, it's religions fault," or "it's the school!"
PS. And my parents (nor my church) raved about "abstinence being the only way."
Kendra, I agree to an extent.. but my problem is this: In general, the disconnect on all of this is that societal norms and familial traditions in this country are largely shaped by the religious status quo.
I don't think religion is inherently bad, but I find it to be behind the times in it's many current forms and it also restrains societal advancement in favor of "doing things the right way" (which often leads to things being done out of sync with society's needs).
Thanks for reading and commenting though! I think it is awesome that some religious (I'm using it for a blanket term for all faiths and belief systems) aren't so uptight about things.
This is a hard one. I think parents, the problem being most parents, at least mine had no clue of what to teach. The school doesn't teach the whole truth. The church feels like we all should know already and that only couples getting ready to marry need to know. Then enter planned parenthood. They teach a skewed version since they don't want to chance lowering the pregnancy rate and thus their money flow from abortions. I could not believe some of what they were teaching children. I was 64 before I knew much of anything. Maybe there should be classes for parents so that they can teach as long as it is proper information. Body parts and their functions. Abstinence is the only safe way to avoid pregnancy but in this day and age they are not going to remain abstinent.