DOUG
OK, this could have gone in the politics section. Or humor!
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Abstinence message goes beyond teens
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.
"They've stepped over the line of common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. "To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health."
Abstinence education programs, which have focused on preteens and teens, teach that abstaining from sex is the only effective or acceptable method to prevent pregnancy or disease. They give no instruction on birth control or safe sex.
The National Center for Health Statistics says well over 90% of adults ages 20-29 have had sexual intercourse.
See here.
No Sex Before 30, Gov't Says! No Kidding!
- Doug
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No Sex Before 30, Gov't Says! No Kidding!
"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."
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Abstinence is a Pauline concept that really caught hold in christian power circles. Every century or two another sexless sect gets started, although, come to think of it, the Shakers were the last official one I know of. You'd thik the ridicule of other christians on the Shakers would have given the newbys thought.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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Fundies keep their "sexual purity" (no foolin' - I've had that term used against me) by only "doing it" within the confines of a monogamous 1st marriage. They go by the Pauline principal of "it's better to marry than to burn" if they aren't "strong enough" to deal without sex altogether.
Barbara Fitzpatrick
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