Hi, all. This is my first post :D (though I've commented on things a few times). Part of me hates to make it a rant, but part of me loves it.
So, a few days ago I saw something that really made my blood boil. I was in the car, coming back from Costco, when I saw a giant orange billboard with nothing written on it but "Abstinence always works" in huge block letters. I normally don't get riled up too much by things like that, but for some reason I was really infuriated this time. It seemed so ridiculous to me, this billboard put up on a random urban street somewhere that was spewing this... lie. I can't think of a better word to say it. Abstinence always works? Are they kidding me? It's fairly obvious that these things are targetted at teenagers, but that message couldn't sound more out of date. It's very patronizing and I don't know anyone my age (high school) that would actually believe that. Of course, I live in a really liberal area of MD, so that might change things. But up until now, I was convinced that this message was a pitiful attempt to conform people into a false and idealistic way of thinking.
But then I realized that they were right. Encouraging abstinence always works. It works to misinform people about their morality and self-worth, it works to unprepare people for the fact that it doesn't always work, and it works to leave them stranded when (surprise) it doesn't work. And it works to create a situation in which if you have sex, you will either get an STD (because who needs education about how to prevent diseases when you have abstinence) or have a baby (because contraceptives are immoral and unnecessary, to say nothing of abortion). It works to create a culture where people are deserted and left ignorant for not following someone else's unrealistically high personal standards.
And I couldn't help think, what if it were the other way around? Would a billboard be allowed that said "Abstinence doesn't work"? I may be wrong, and it may depend on the area, but I don't think so. And why is that? Why is it that these ridiculous oversimplifications of life are allowed a megaphone but realistic alternatives that actually deal with real problems are so often frowned upon? Sure, abstinence works if you don't have sex. But when over 95% of Americans have shown that abstinence doesn't always work, we need a new philosophy.
Has anyone else seen these billboards? What group/organization are they from? What is your response?
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To be fair, abstinence does always 'work' - assuming that, by 'work', they mean 'keeping yourself from getting pregnant and/or getting an std'. The problem is, abstinence-only education does not work. Kids have the right to choose abstinence, but they also have the (extremely important) right to be informed about protecting themselves and their partners if they don't choose that path, and to not be judged if they choose to not abstain.
In short, I don't have a problem with that billboard, because it's accurate, if a little silly. Also, it's not saying, "choose abstinence or god will smite you with an STD!!" or something like that, which I think would be offensive. "Abstinence doesn't work", on the other hand, makes no sense. "Abstinence-only education doesn't work" would be an accurate billboard, and one I'd personally like to see. Feel very free to disagree with me, but I'd way rather see that billboard than the all the "Pregnant? Need help?" ads for CPC's. :-)
P.S. I guess it's a little bit of a sore spot for me, because I was lucky enough to have good sex education, and a mother who told me that she would rather I be protected than ignorant, and I still chose to abstain from PIV sex until marriage because a .01% chance of pregnancy outside of marriage still freaked me out enough to avoid the possibility. Anyway, that was my choice, and nobody else has to follow in my footsteps, but I hate that people always assume that nobody abstains from anything, because it makes me feel kinda stupid for making the choice I did, and I don't think I should have to feel that way. As long as you're fully educating kids on protection and giving them the right statistics, and none of this fake "Condems fail 50% of the time!!!OMG!!" crap, I see nothing wrong with abstinence.
In any proper study of the effectiveness of medical care, any persistent failure rate due to patient error and patient failure to follow instructions has to be included if care methods are going to be compared to one another. The failure rate of abstinence as a method of birth control is, in reality and contrary to belief in some quarters, quite high, even excluding cases of rape.
Abstinence doesn't work.
If you have sex and become pregnant, you're no longer abstinent. As long as one remains abstinent, it can be assumed that one is not having sex and at an increased liability for pregnancy and STDs. You can't compare the "failure rates" of abstinence and, for instance, hormonal birth control, when the events indicative of "failure" are entirely different. Hormonal birth control failure is when the pill is taken faithfully and as instructed and the woman becomes pregnant regardless. She hasn't deterred from her birth control program; the birth control itself failed. In the other situation, the woman ceases to be abstinent. That's not remaining on the same birth control program.
Because, however, those who have been instructed to practice abstinence as the only birth control method will likely not adopt another in the event of having sex and breaking abstinence, then yes, I can see how a higher number of the women in such situations would become pregnant - creating the "failure rate" you speak of.
In short, I'm with natsbat. I don't support the message behind the billboard, but it's not technically incorrect.
"You can't compare the "failure rates" of abstinence and, for instance, hormonal birth control, when the events indicative of "failure" are entirely different"
Actually, you must consider and compare all sources of potential failure for any treatment whether it be pharmacologic or behavioral. Almost all voluntary (meaning not forced) behavioral modifications have failure rates by virtue that they rely solely on the ability of the person to adhere to the behavior.
And it doesn't matter if we are talking about abstaining from certain foods (diets) and activities (sex, smoking) or failing to stick to a drug regimen (e.g., skipping doses).
While it's true that birth control pills have a pharmacologic failure rate (very very low) and an adherence or "real world" failure rate (pretty low), careful clinicians always consider both.
We should absolutely be making the same distinction for behavioral modifications such as abstinence.
I agree that in a certain context behavioral modification can absolutely be included when discussing failure rates. However, my mind tends to jump to the statistic that "99.9% of birth control pills are effective at preventing pregnancy (and in find print) when used as directed." That's why I made the statement as I did; of course if I could reference the efficacy of BC pills including when they're not taken as directed then that takes behavior into account as well...
That's hilarious.
Who are the most vocal supporters of abstinence? Conservative Christians.
Who birthed the Christian messiah? A virgin.
Do these organizations even think before they do things like this?
My thoughts exactly. "Abstinence always works? It didn't work for Mary."
Oh my god. Can I please use that slogan?
As a woman who's been unemployed for months and has lowered my standards to house cleaning, canvassing in the rain and jobs less than my dream, seeing more and more job posts on Craigslist in Washington State just like this Maine one, it makes me furious! Is it just the summer up north that make bikini and pastie coffee shops and car washes (which require full body pics to apply)so appealing? No one wants to be sprayed with boiling coffee or oogled at by trogladytes... but in this economy women will debase bedroom furniture themselves for good tips. It is not empowering to have managers judge prospective employers on age, weight and cup size.