A report released by a watchdog group, Texas Freedom Network, revealed that most public schools in Texas "use scare tactics and spread myths in place of teaching basic sex and health information."
The report, which was put together from a two-year study of education materials from 990 districts statewide, showed that abstinence only programs are used in 94 percent of schools. Specifically, the study stated "94 percent of public schools use abstinence-only programs that usually pass moral judgments while either downplaying or ignoring contraception and health screenings."
Two percent of the schools studied ignore sex education, which leaves four percent of schools that have a decent curriculum. Schools surveyed blamed fear of religious groups and administrators fear of controversy.
The fact that Texas has one of the nation's highest teen pregnancy rates isn't coincidental...it is a direct result of these irresponsible techniques used to educate teens about sex. Texas also receives more federal abstinence funding than any other state...see a pattern?
One of the report's writers, David Wiley from Texas State University, put it best when he said:
"I thought I was no longer capable of being surprised by the ignorance among our students. Then last year a sincere male student asked aloud, 'What is my risk for cervical cancer?' Clearly, ignorance surrounding sexuality and health is a problem among young people today."
The Star-Telegram article on the report has all kinds of other information, such as since 2001 the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district has taught that condoms are 80 percent effective, while the true number is 97 to 98 percent. Read more here.
Crossposted at Fort Worth Feminism.
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Also if you look at STD rates per state on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, Texas is usually up there in highest STD rates, along with many of the other Bible Belt states that insist on teaching abstinence-only programs. How silly these people are.
For the record, condoms are only 97-98 percent effective when used perfectly. Estimates that take human error into account tend to be in the 80s. The Mayo Clinic reports condoms as being 85 percent effective. That is, out of 100 couples who use condoms as their only means of birth control for one year, 15 will get pregnant.
I love condoms. Condoms protect against STDs. I'm just nit-picking your statistics.
And yeah, that story about Sex-Ed in Texas is depressing.
Heh, I was about to point out that same nit.
Correct condom use is surprisingly involved. Wasn't it one of the bloggers here who participated in a timed condom use exercise and made multiple mistakes? Yep, even folks who know what to do can make mistakes, and from that comes the 85% typical use effectiveness.
For the record, condoms are only 97-98 percent effective when used perfectly. Estimates that take human error into account tend to be in the 80s. The Mayo Clinic reports condoms as being 85 percent effective. That is, out of 100 couples who use condoms as their only means of birth control for one year, 15 will get pregnant.
I love condoms. Condoms protect against STDs. I'm just nit-picking your statistics.
And yeah, that story about Sex-Ed in Texas is depressing.
When I went to high school in Texas (about 5 years ago) my sex education consisted of all the students in the school, gathered in the auditorium where we were yelled at about abstinence. At one point the speaker (yeller? screamer?) literally said "condoms do not work"
Also, this was in Travis County, right next to Austin...the supposedly enlightened part of the state.
You can download and read the full report at
justsaydontknow.org.
You can also sign the petition and watch some reenactments of actual sex-ed curriculums taught in the classroom.
When I was a freshman in high school in Texas, we had some speakers come to our biology class and give lectures for a few days about abstinence. I was already somewhat opinionated at that point in my life, and I openly opposed the crap they spewed at us.
I was having a good old time pointing out the flaws in their logic, and I asked if teenagers who were already having sex, and were planning on continuing to have sex, should use condoms. I swear to you this stupid fucking person told us that condoms were pointless since people can get pregnant while using a condom, so they can’t really protect you against STDs. She then proceeded to draw a picture on the board with a big circle that was supposed to be a sperm, and then another, very tiny circle that was supposed to be the AIDS virus. Then what looked like a checker board that was supposed to be the condom. She said something along the lines of: "See? It's small enough to go right through the holes!"
I walked out.
That shit sticks out in my mind to this day.
Even if condoms are only 85% effective with average use (that's why we should be teaching how to use them!), I'd still rather have 85% protection than no protection.
I believe I read somewhere that the HIV virus IS small enough to pass through a condom, but it doesn't travel on its own-- its contained in some sort of protein or whatever that makes it bigger and thus it can't go through a condom. Is that true?
Its scary how many people I know who are taking birth control pills and are ignorant of things like how important it is to take it at the same time every day, certain antibiotics can make it less effective, what to do if you do miss a pill, etc etc. I take the BC pill and I have an alarm that goes off so that every day I take it at the exact same time. I know its still not 100% effective but its a heck of a lot closer to 100% than it is for a person who forgets to take it at the right time.
I actually remember sex ed in public school in Texas being a little better than this when I had it 4-8 years ago. As far as I can remember, in middle school we never discussed anything other than health concerns and "the plumbing" when it came to sex. I can't believe things are worse now. (Actually, yes I can...)
My environmental science teacher in high school had a full class dedicated to contraception use and efficiency, pregnancy statistics, and STD rates. All of it was disguised as a lecture on human demographics! I hope more teachers will take the time to do things like this for their students, because honestly, I didn't hear a damn thing besides that about sex ed in high school. Also, that was an advanced placement class that wasn't very popular, so the majority of the students only had whatever BS was fed to them in health class.
(That said, when the teacher mentioned douching as an ineffective means of birth control, everyone in the class laughed at the word “douche” until I called them out on it by asking if a single one of them actually knew what it meant. No surprise, no one knew. I got to explain it to the class!)
On a more positive note, I got to attend the Texas Conference for Women when I was in high school. The main speakers at the event that year were doctors Berman and Berman who were there to talk about...female sexuality! I will never, ever forget the look of poorly disguised embarrassment on Governor Rick Perry's face when they talked about why many women have problems being fulfilled sexually. What a great day. I think it was good for me to hear that as a teen in a formal, respectable setting and not just in the locker room. It was strange and wonderful to be surrounded by women who were much older than me (including my teachers) nodding in agreement to the “shameful” stuff I was hearing. I'm one of the lucky ones!
(PS: Nebraska, I went to high school in Hays county. I’m very glad I moved to Austin!)
Sabriel: thanks for pointing that out. I should have added that the district teaches condoms are 80 percent effective when used correctly.
P.S. -- when I took health class in Texas 10-15 years ago (note: they did NOT call anything sex ed) it was only anatomy and what-happens-when. no mention of birth control or stds was ever made. My mom's only sex-talk with me involved throwing away any clothes she deemed "slutty" and saying (and I quote) "I want you to be as pure as the virgin white snow for as long as possible." It embarrassed me back then but today it just makes me all kinds of angry.
I have to say I'm personally most disturbed not by the desire to stay at home, but how they feel one of their major roles is to please men sexually, and that they have this "confirmed" by boyfriends or SO's. To me, that's INCREDIBLY degrading- not only in that you're giving your view of your self-worth entirely to another person, but especially as a victim of child sexual abuse, where my abuser viewed my purpose in life bedroom furniture to be sexually gratifying him.
I don't know, maybe that's just how I see it, but that just struck me as... ew.