The Kansas State Board of Education’s 6-4 approval Wednesday of a new sexual education policy for Kansas public schools upset some advocates of comprehensive sex education, because the policy’s wording emphasizes “abstinence until marriage.” To others, the policy will look like a reasonable compromise, though, because it also calls for kids to be given information about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. And consider where the debate started earlier this year — with conservative board member Kathy Martin wanting to mandate that schools teach “abstinence only” sex ed or lose accreditation, on the heels of the board’s misguided decision that sex ed instruction require parental permission. At least this policy is a guideline. Surely districts can make it work, so that children get essential health information along with the abstinence message.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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32 Comments
Oh, for the good old days, when we all got our sex-ed in the back seat of the family sedan, at the local drive-in with the neighbor girl (or boy). Sigh.Memories…………
The BoE has its collective head stuck in the sand. (and probably elsewhere). Read one book. Watch one television show. Go to one movie, and realize how absolutely out of touch the BoE is.
Casual sex abounds, at all age groups, and the BoE ignores that, preaching abstinence. They are clearly out of touch with the world we live in.
The number of couples living together is at an all time high, and the BoE is clueless.
*sigh*. How soon can we vote them out??
What is wrong headed with advocating for abstinence? Obviously, it won’t work in all or even most cases these days. But students will also be getting the info needed on contraception and STDs. If you are going to advocate shouldn’t you advocate for the ideal?
TRACY…Yes, I remember.. I hope that wasn’t you.. ;)
raptor..OK.. I have to say it… just because casual sex is rampant.. doesn’t make it right. There can be serious, serious consequences.So, teaching abstinence is a good thing. But, since it is going to happen anyway, teaching abstinence ONLY is a bad thing.They MUST know that bad things can happen if they have sex at such a young age.. but for Pete’s sake, teach them how to protect themselves!
We now have more information on the sex lives of State Board of Education members than I ever cared to have:http://cjonline.com/stories/061506/leg_abstinence.shtml
heheh mr. controversy
the kansas board of evangelicals is just following orders from their republican masters on the national level.
The jihad on sex and sexuality.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/17/the_war_on_sex.php
still not convinced?
Read about the illicit politics of abstinence education and how it harms our future. The kboevangelicals knows this well.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/06/07/the_illicit_politics_of_abstinence.php
aaarrrrgggghhhh!I don’t know why some people are so adverse to speaking plainly to our kids about sex. It’s a common discussion at lunch tables and while hanging out with friends. Teens do it, adults do it (talk about sex with friends).We need to be open and honest with kids about hormones and the desire to engage in sexual activities.The STD rates are astronomical and by encouraging a abstinance only program people don’t know how to protect themselves and pass it on unknowingly. Some of these STD’s have LIFETIME ramifications. You can’t get rid of AIDS or herpes – you have them for the rest of your life (1 in 4 sexually active people have herpes). Some untreated STD’s cause sterility. I know not everyone is going to talk to their offspring about sexual behavior. Unfortunately the BOE has to as part of education. Give them all sides of the issue not just the one that makes the adults feel good about it.Personally, I prefer to talk to my kids about it. My 12 year old blushes and stammers when it’s brought up but his embarrassment now will hopefully ensure that he will wait until he is more emotionally able to handle sex rather than just do it cause everybody else is.My 3 year old knows what causes pregnancy in terms that are APPROPRIATE for her. She knows her body parts and knows that nobody is supposed to touch her “there” and if she is “touched there” she needs to tell mommy or daddy. (Think she’ll remember when she’s 16 and in a car with a boy? LALALALALALA I don’t want to think about it but I have to prepare her for it and remind her that boy’s are icky)
“Some of these STD’s have LIFETIME ramifications.”
But as part of the wingnut war on sexuality, they are against legalizing a vaccine for cervical cancer caused by HPV.
In the world according to wingnuttia, if you have sex with someone other than your FIRST husband?
You deserve to DIE!!!
heheh. that’ll teach ‘em!
I see how well that “if you have sex you will DIE” thing worked with HIV.
And that would be why in my community we say “silence equals death”.
Farm Gal,”But as part of the wingnut war on sexuality, they are against legalizing a vaccine for cervical cancer caused by HPV.”This is nothing new- back when penicillin first came out, the wingnuts wanted it banned because it cured syphillis!
Sam, that depends.Are you male or female?Hetero, Bi, or gay?
I’m a hetero father of two.Bald headed grandpa of two more.I’ve never tried gay or bi,so that kind of narrows it down.
Keep me posted in case there’s sumpin’ I oughta’ remember!
“But as part of the wingnut war on sexuality, they are against legalizing a vaccine for cervical cancer caused by HPV.”
I read about this recently in Goldberg’s _Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism_.
The HPV was the perfect dominionist disease, because…? I hear you asking. Because those evil condoms can’t reliably stop it.
If you’re an abstinence only advocate a child’s after-life is MUCH MORE important than their life on earth! A few kids’ deaths, so what … just as long as the Lord’s work gets done.
It’s about priorities & context.
DD and kfg: Do you think that IF this is true, (note the big IF)it is more than a few wackos? It is sad that folks will find the most outrageous example they can find and then try to tag it to whoever you can. Very disingenuous, IMHO.
So outlander, are you disavowing the Family Research Council and James Dobson, the gay marriage thug, as “just a few wack jobs”?
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3944/is_200507/ai_n14824000
Or maybe it is the dominionists that outie is calling “a few wack jobs”?
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/6/8/162413/1861
But why bother with links?
One’s too many and a hundred arent enough!
From Goldberg:
“But almost all abstinence materials leave out a crucial fact. Even for women with dangerous strains of HPV, cervical cancer is usually preventable with routine Pap testing. Imparting this information could save lives by encouraging women to get checkups, but it’s rarely included in abstinence textbooks, perhaps because it would lessen PHV’s effectiveness as a rhetorical weapon.
“The truth is that the abstinence industry needs HPV to be dangerous. That’s why, when a vaccine arose in 2005, several leading abstinence advocates – the very people who have spent years warning of the disease’s horrors – could scarcely hide their dismay …
“‘Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV,’ the Family Research Concil’s Bridget Maher told _New Scientist_. ‘Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex.’”
The Family Research Council link – with a photo of their supporters which in addition to Dobson, & Colson – also includes Prsidente’ Geo. W. Bush.
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?c=ABOUT_FRC
A link to homepage for Goldberg’s book:
http://www.kingdomcoming.com/index.htmlGoldberg’s book:
Out, I am glad you qualified your accusation of disingenuousness by saying it was “in your opinion” – hopefully people will be seeing sooner, rather than later, that your mindless defenses of the indefensible is (at its best) nothing but bullshit. Thank you for taking the time to post though.
“God loves you just as you are; we can only hope that he loves you enough to not allow you to stay that way.” – from the movie _Junebug_ (a great line, but a lousy movie)
“…because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex.’”
They said the same thing about birth control pills, years ago.
And maybe it did lead to more promiscuity, but having sex outside of marriage has been going on for centuries. Even good kids from good Christian homes do it, and some even end up pregnant. That’s what life is about.
“having sex outside of marriage has been going on for centuries”
This is not directed at outie, but ya know, some people have also been saying for centuries, and still quietly think it, that PREGNANCY is punishment for having unapproved sex.
That is the real messagae behind hating contraceptives. The “fornicators” might escape their punishment from god.
heheheh I know several couples who wouldnt mind being “punished” with children.
I know. It makes your head explode to think about it too long.
KFG,Yup. Mountain Man was poking fun at me and I went and took him seriously.I never could take a joke.sigh.
kfg: Do you have anything that is not from a left wing org of questionable veracity? How about an FRC news release, or a position paper or anything like that? IF (again note big IF) the organization took that position, and I still very much doubt it, then they are clearly wrong.
DD: I am disappointed that you would resort to insult rather than substance. But that seems to be an unfortunate tendency of yours. I’m sorry that I asked you to think. Sigh…
Oh, but thanks for posting.
“DD: I am disappointed that you would resort to insult rather than substance. But that seems to be an unfortunate tendency of yours. I’m sorry that I asked you to think. Sigh…”
I beg to differ Mr. Out, I provided substance in the above posts. Because you may be unable to refute what I said, that doesn’t mean there was not substance there.
I am assuming that since you did not respond to the points made in my arguments that you can’t counter them. I am very disappointed that you didn’t even try.
Sorry that I hurt your apparent sensitive feelings when I responded to your accusations of disingenuousness. But you must surely have noted that I responded with sources in addition to my opinion.
Anybody else noting the trend that when these right wing folk can’t deal with an argument, their fall-back position is that they charge that the opponent is uncivil? I don’t think that one is going to be working any more. Think of something else, if you can.
“Out, I am glad you qualified your accusation of disingenuousness by saying it was “in your opinion” – hopefully people will be seeing sooner, rather than later, that your mindless defenses of the indefensible is (at its best) nothing but bullshit. Thank you for taking the time to post though.”
There’s your entire post DD, that wasn’t cut and paste or a link. So, what is your point??? Where is your substance??? What is your argument???
As I said, nothing but petty insults. It appears that we have nothing left to say to each other and we are off subject. In accordance with my suggestion to KFG, we shouldn’t tie up the thread. My email is live should you desire to continue this discussion.
Oh, and thanks again for posting.
Out,Sent you an email.
Out,you’ll answer I am hoping…
KFG,
I think you have the word punishment confused for consequence.
Out,
Haven’t heard from you yet. What does that mean? Could it be that you are about B.S.? Surely, not.
Please have the testicles to stand up for what you spout about!
Later.
Yeah DD. I notice that when they are clearly wrong, they love to cry for civility. But them? They just think that if they dont swear, their insults, their lies, their bigotry, and their ignorance will be accepted.
They only cry civility long enough to end the discussion. We are only off topic of they are losing. If they are REALLY getting hammered, they have to get a haircut, go to work, do something VERY important, and then leave the field.
Their tactics are uniform and clear. Assault, retreat, cry unfair, assault, retreat, cry bashing, assault, retreat, leave the field like a whining coward.
Their demands that we police the left side of the blog were only to secure the field for THEIR insults, their degrading comments, their theocratic pronouncements, their out and out lies.
I have YET to see outie, heck, hank, nathan, ruby, kansassam, call out their own for being uncivil. Or for lies. Nope, and the silence is deafening… and telling.
And they wanna debate the difference, AGAIN, between kill and murder? Oh please, let’s parse words while flinging hate, insult, and untruths. But just dont swear, and it will be ok.
Is there some part of “thou shalt not lie” that needs to be debated?
Can you spell Hypocricy?
I think the most telling is their promotion, not just the defense, of godless coulter.
If tb was over the line, what the hell is godless? And they not only defend her, they QUOTE her and promote her.
I see the “values” at work here. It is as obviously transparent as the glass houses they live in.
KFG,I think misquoting your post and saying “send me an email” is Out’s code for “I give up.”
Too bad he just can’t say those 3 easy words.
So outie, here is a direct quote from the Family Research Council, headed by James “Gays are to Blame” Dobson’s boy Tony Perkins.
“The FRC’s Bridget Maher said her group believes over-reliance on the vaccine for the human papilloma virus (HPV) could send the wrong message to young women. “Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV,” Maher told New Scientist. “Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex.”
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3944/is_200507/ai_n14824000
Dont believe it, check their own website:
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR05J04
Don’t like their own words, ok, is CNN an ok source?CNN quoting that conservative rag, MONEY magazine?
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/10/31/8359188/index.htm
“The ACIP’s deliberations on the dual cervical cancer vaccines promise to be contentious.
To help ensure that conservative views are articulated, one of the Bush appointees is Reginald Finger, a public-health doctor named to the ACIP in 2003. Until September he was also the medical-issues analyst at Focus on the Family, the influential Colorado Springs, Colo., Christian advocacy group run by Dr. James Dobson.
“I have a lot of different feelings about the vaccine,” Finger says. “The objective is to prevent as much cervical cancer as possible without crossing bioethical or moral lines.”
A priority, according to Finger, will be for Focus to align itself with the three other groups that have medical expertise and preach abstinence–the Medical Institute for Human Sexuality, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, and the Physicians Consortium.
Focus also will consult with Perkins’s Family Research Council, which split off from Focus in 1992.
The FRC predicts a grassroots uproar among Bush’s “value voters” if the ACIP recommends mass inoculation for preteens.
“The vaccine is associated with sexual activity,” says Pia de Solenni, who heads women’s issues at the FRC, “and the family groups want families making that decision.”
I could go on posting links to what these sex obsessed, dominionist, anti-gay groups say and do, but why?
Like I said before, one’s too many, a hundred’s not enough, and the sources are NEVER credible.
Read ‘em and weep outie. I’ll be waiting for your response.
Round and round the reasoning goes; we must discourage sex because it leades to pregnancy and STD’s, and we can’t have birth control or vaccines because they promote sex. It’s people who think in tautologies whose parents should have practiced abstinence!
Uh, kfg, did I not say earlier that if that was their position, they were wrong? But what if you’re just blowin’ smoke? What is that really isn’t their postion?
And since you threw out the FRC website like it supported your position, let’s just put the postion statement right here.
Washington D.C. – Today, the Family Research Council released its statement regarding the development of vaccines against certain strains of the human papillomavirus:
“The Family Research Council welcomes the news that vaccines are in development for preventing infection with certain strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease. We also welcome the recent reports of promising clinical trials for one such vaccine. Any medical advance in this area holds potential for helping to protect the health of millions of Americans and helping to preserve the lives of thousands of American women who currently die of cervical cancer each year as a result of HPV infection. Media reports suggesting that the Family Research Council opposes all development or distribution of such vaccines are false.
“The Family Research Council, along with other pro-family groups, will continue to monitor the development of these vaccines, the FDA drug approval process, the development of recommendations for their use, and the marketing of the vaccines. In particular, we will seek to ensure that there is full disclosure to the public of what these vaccines can and cannot achieve, their efficacy, and their risks (including side effects) and benefits. We believe that adults must be provided with sufficient information to make an informed, free choice whether to vaccinate either themselves or their children for HPV.
“While we welcome medical advances such as an HPV vaccine, it remains clear that practicing abstinence until marriage and fidelity within marriage is the single best way of preventing the full range of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, and negative psychological and emotional consequences that can result from sexual activity outside marriage.”
Hmmm, sounds reasonable to me. Not at all like you were trying to portray it kfg. They are not against the vacine, but may advise believers to avoid it. Sounds like free choice to me.
Remember kfg, smile, and keep on keepin’ on. We need you.