Jezebel republishes an article that makes an interesting comparison:
Like Texas, many of the same states that resist comprehensive sex ed are the same places that pride themselves on loose laws for gun ownership. Gun-rights advocates maintain that straight-forward education, not regulation and licensing, is the best way to keep kids safe.The National Rifle Association leads the way: they have a cool program called Eddie Eagle, aimed at exactly the same age group those parents are up in arms about learning about their own bodies. According to the site, the curriculum is designed to be used in schools. Anyone can use it—you don’t need to be an NRA member or certified to teach anything at all. The curriculum is even available in Spanish.
According to the NRA, it doesn’t aim to teach kids that guns are either “good or bad”, but rather how to stay safe when you see one. “Like swimming pools, electrical outlets, matchbooks and household poison, they’re treated simply as a fact of everyday life. With firearms found in about half of all American households, it’s a stance that makes sense.”
I don’t have a gun in the house, but I can agree with that line of thinking. Like it or not, guns are around, so kids at an early age should learn how to be safe around them.
Now, genitals, at my last count, are in 100% of households. Why not use the same common sense approach that knowledge is power, and give our kids straight forward, age appropriate information?
Proving that tired old line about great minds, Darrell at Stuff Fundies Like created this:
canakkale
canakkale
gelibolu
balik tutma
And pointing out that states that have abstinence only have the WORST teen pregancy rates have no bearing on their attitudes… Anyone remember that HORRIBLE thing Mississippi did with cheerleaders and “Don’t touch my No-No” or some other such nonsense…
And then you mention places where real sex education is available, and show the much lower rates of teen pregnancies and STDs and they just don’t get it. It must hurt to walk around with all that mental dissonance…
It scares me to think of the amount of undiscovered child rape that is probably going on in places where children are never taught about what’s being done to them. But I wouldn’t put it past deranged fundies to think it’s ok if the kid doesn’t know. More pregnancies, more bored, poor, armed youth, more fodder to throw at the next Amalekites or whoever is supposed to be exterminated this century.
I did laugh, and I thought this was a pretty insightful post, but what practical knowledge does sex education REALLY provide? Is there really a 14 year old out there, in America who doesn’t know what condoms are, but does know how to have sex? I’m thinking more correlation doesn’t equal causation. The people in places where sex ed is strongly fought have a higher teen pregnancy rate, std, etc, but is that because they don’t have sex ed or because they’re more likely to refuse to carry condoms and then have spur of the moment sex. Its early in the morning and I’m not being very well spoken, but I hope I’ve communicated my point.
Still though, sex education is a totally good to do and all, and I’m for it. Its just the statistics seem to be affected by a lot of different factors.
I think just hearing an adult talk about sex in a matter-of-fact, no-sensational way is worth a lot to kids.
Here’s what happened to the little boy in AZ who shot his father and another man:
http://rbbadger.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/the-vincent-romero-case-ends/
Uhh… are you aware that there are spam links to what appears to be the Çanakkale tourist board at the bottom of this post?
They don’t show up on this page or in the raw RSS feed, but for some reason they appeared on my Google Reader feed. Still I checked the source code for this page, and they’re there (look for a series of “IFRAME” tags between the stufffundieslike image and the “plastic to oil” link).
Huh. I’ve cleared out the spam directory, are they still there?
Can you mods keep the chatter down? Your maintenance talk is better suited to a private forum, or personal emails. Jeezus, you guys are annoying.
Anything else they can do for you on your visit to this free content? Fluff your pillow, offer you an amusing caricature? I’m sure that your comfort is paramount. Wouldn’t want you disturbed by a mod responding to another users concern. Sheesh.
:) I was just bein’ snarky for fun Blue. Nothing serious.
My bad then. In my defense I did try to snark back amusingly at least.
If it makes either of you feel better, I was entertained by both posts.
They’re actually embedded in the article HTML itself. That explains why Google Chrome offered to translate this page from Turkish to English.
It’s gone from my feed now. :)
Many kids are seriously misinformed about sex. Education is the only cure for that misinformation. Kids today, in large numbers, still believe these types of myths:
You can’t get pregnant the first time
You can’t get aids from oral sex.
You can practice oral or anal sex and still be a virgin.
The more handsome/pretty someone is, the less likely they carry a STD.
Sex ed isn’t about teaching the mechanics of sex. It’s about teaching the correct methods, and statistical chances of failure of all the current methods of birth control. It’s about dispelling common myths. It’s about teaching the possible consequences of having a sexually active lifestyle.
Oops, that was supposed to be a reply to Danny Wuvs Kittens.
It’s equivalent to the recent discussion about the damage that can be done by Twilight (apart from the massive brain damage from reading so much concentrated stupid). You need to make sure that kids get reliable information. If the only available source of information about birth control and STD is other kids then you get wrong information like the points Revylation mentioned propagated. The same apply to relationship in general, if your only sources of information about relationships and gender roles are the Twilight books and the buybull (and porn) without a balance from responsible adults who know how things work in the real world, you’re going to end up with some really fuc*ed up ideas.
Isn’t that just a matter of definitions? I don’t think very many people consider oral sex to be the same as vaginal sex. In fact statistics support me there.
Just ask Bill Clinton.
Guns don’t kill people. Bullets don’t kill people. Massive tissue damage and blood loss kills people.
Lung cancer doesn’t kill people, pneumonia does.
Pneumonia doesn’t kill people, sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome do.
Sepsis and ARDS don’t kill people, organ failure, respiratory failure, circulatory failure, anemia, ketoacidosis, and a shitton of other complications do.
See, there is always a more proximal cause. This is a stupid debate.
Revylution: Right On!
Dispelling harmful myths is the only way we’ll see any serious drop in unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
Some other myths:
* Coitus Interruptus (as a means of birth control)- It’s already too late, the little wigglers are on their way.
* Can’t get pregnant if she’s on top. – Want to Bet?
* That there is anything inherently sinful about sex. (This one’s gonna be tough here in the BabbleBelt)
Hi Guys,
Long time reader, first time commenter. It is funny how you brought up gun education as an example of what the American right does correctly. Education, not taboo is the best way for a child to learn, be safe and lead to the correct decisions. What is interesting is that the left does it completely different. They promote sex education, but hold guns as a taboo. I think this does just as much harm. It leads to a protectionist culture where you’re not giving children the education and guidance they need to use or do something dangerous in a safe manner. It doesn’t seem correct that the left is all about personal freedoms given in the constitution, but blatantly refuse to properly acknowledge the 2nd Amendment and its freedoms.
I’m extremely socially liberal, and I own four guns, three of which are handguns.
I think gun control is a flailing attempt at crime control that doesn’t do what they actually want it to do. Guns are, I believe, just a visible symbol of violence. You can’t take people’s violent tendencies away by government fiat, so you take the guns away instead as a stand-in. It doesn’t work, but it makes you seem like you’re doing something.