I read an article yesterday about how the percentage of teen pregnancies in the U.S. is at an all time low right now. Can I get a "wooyay"? That being said, there are still a lot of them. I'm sure you know or have seen quite a few of them yourself. I know I have. Studies say that nowadays more teens are choosing to wait until they have sex. Obviously this has an impact on the decline in pregnancies, however, there's also been a huge increase in teens using SAFE sex (some links to statistics will be posted at the bottom). So, how to continue this decline? Education, obviously.
I've been bitching about how terrible the sex ed is in this country since I was still in sex ed. Just about everyone realizes how awful it is, to the point of being parodied in many a television show and movie (who else loves the scene from Mean Girls?). Here in the U.S. it's widely taught that abstinence is the way to go. Clearly that's the only way to be 100% assured you won't get pregnant. BUT the thing is, teens are going to have sex. Most of them, anyways.
I still remember my 8th grade sex ed assembly pretty well. A lot of people didn't take it the least bit seriously. One of my friends managed to catch our teacher completely off guard to the point of speechlessness by yelling out "Can we still masturbate?!" Ah. Good times. I remember they passed out these little buttons that said "I'm worth waiting for." It's a nice little slogan and promotes self-confidence. Some people even took it to heart and wore them around... for a while. See, the problem is, teens are incredibly hormonal beings. We all know this. No matter how much they believe in that little slogan, odds are they are going to have sex by age 18. I know I said earlier that more teens are choosing to wait, but I think the only thing that can honestly convince a teen to stay abstinent is by entirely their own choice. Not because they were scared into it. And studies have shown that those who choose abstinence often turn to riskier alternatives, i.e. unprotected anal sex.
At the risk of getting some hate mail sent to me, I think they should stop funding the abstinence part of sex ed. It doesn't work. AGAIN, as I said before abstinence has had an increase. But as someone just recently out of high school and almost all of my friends being around age 18, I can tell you that the few that are choosing to work still find the abstinence sex ed completely ridiculous and they are choosing to wait for their own reasons and on their own accord. And they are still by far the minority. What needs to be taught far better than it is, is contraception. Adults need to face the facts that they cannot keep their teens from having sex. They need to tell teens how to be safe and how things work instead of just flat out telling them not to have it.
I'm not against abstinence in any way whatsoever, that's a personal choice everyone needs to make for themselves. But as for the majority of teens who will be having sex no matter what you tell them, the least that could be done is being honest with them and telling them how to be safe and preventing pregnancy or transmitting STDs. This country needs to get out of this weird rut it's in that makes sex this huge cultural taboo when it's a completely normal human function and is nothing to be ashamed of. Just be safe! Teaching people to be ashamed of something completely normal and natural is just promoting self-shame and low self-esteem. And THAT, I can say, is at an all time high. So let's be nice and honest to our teens, please?
Reference Links
The article I read.
Teen pregnancy statistics as of 2009.
Statistics on contraceptives attributed to decline in teen pregnancy.
Studies on teens who pledge abstinence.
I'm not promoting teen sex. I'm promoting what's realistic based on what I know from my peers and statistics. As I said abstinence is a choice everyone needs to make themselves, and I have respect for those that choose to and those that choose to have sex safely.
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