For A Good Time, Call ...Your Local Church Lady!

"They have long-term relationships. They have better marriages. They make more money. They're happier. All the data is there..."

In order to give credence to Tennessee's walk down the road to the Middle Ages*, abstinence-only advocates are coming out of the woodwork and making outrageous statements:

"All the data is there, and it is time for everybody to recognize it, both in the church and in the public sector that you know what, the church ladies are having the best sex!" - Leslee Unruh, founder of Abstinence Clearinghouse.

"All the data" meaning that something in Christian literature states that abstinence until marriage will reduce unwanted pregnancies much more than sex education combined with birth control. "All the data." Where? To most everyone on the planet, that data is coming out of Unruh's own private place where the sun doesn't shine. 

Last Monday Sermon, we talked about faulty research used to further the goals of the Righteous Right. This example, however, goes beyond those lies because Unruh is citing research that's too twisted for words. 


And twisted research doesn't count. 

The most pertinent study for AO advocates has been, of course, twisted to tout absolute success: the study showed that AO education for 12-year-olds delayed intercourse for only two years - certainly not until marriage. The study group was also held in question as not quite applicable to the question of AO. Of course, if you google "abstinence only studies" this one pops up a lot because of its popularity. 


Earlier in the interview, Unruh stated an even more unbelievable premise: that sex education is "really based on profound ignorance about human nature and what makes for a healthy family." This WTF? moment indicates that Ms. Unruh has been living on Pluto and is as far away from earth's reality as you can get: since the beginning of time, man has always had sex whenever and wherever he wanted. The Church - not man - has set its own limits on sex, creating guilt complexes and suicides.


Oh, and the part about relationships and money, sorry Leslee: you failed to mention that the church ladies also have a higher divorce rate than non-Christians and atheists**, their relationships don't last, and they make less money than their male counterparts, speaking of whom, don't get enough sex. 


At this point, a pertinent paragraph about Unruh - who is now considered the Queen of Abstinence Only - might be in order:

Unruh's obsessions include pedophiles, rape, molestation, pornography, disease, peer pressure to have sex and the idea that having multiple sexual partners automatically makes sex less intimate. She swears her daughter never even kissed her own husband until her wedding day. She thinks that taking birth control pills that limit menstruation is an effort to turn women into men. She also loves to hand out dolls of baby fetuses.

Life with Leslee Unruh must be so much fun!

So the best teen pregnancy prevention program is really not to talk about sex at all, right?


Right. Comparisons of AO programs to no sex education revealed the same results in teen pregnancy. And remember "virginity pledges"? They worked really well! One study over a five-year period showed that not only were virginity-pledged teens having just as much sex, they were having more unprotected sex than teens who didn't take the pledge. 


Tennessee and Utah:  Be Prepared!


It has never occurred in their righteousness just what the consequences of failed abstinence only programs will be, and while it may seem hyperbolic to say that Tennessee and Utah better be prepared for baby booms and playgrounds teeming with misinformation, the grain of truth in the statement is more like a rock. Very much like the rocks in Leslee Unruh's head, for she'll think that abstinence only is working - while she continues to hand out fetus dolls.


NOW ISN'T THAT SPECIAL!

*[JURIST] The Tennessee House of Representatives [official website] has passed a bill[HB 3621, PDF; bill summary] that augments the state's abstinence-only sex education curriculum to allow parents to sue school teachers or organizations that promote "gateway sexual activity."

** Some interesting stats: Born-again Christians 27% Other Christians 24% Atheists, Agnostics 21%

Kissing Will Make Babies...But Only In Utah!

The abstinance-only crowd is having a field day in Utah. Good for upright religionists. Bad for normal teenagers.


"You know all about those things, don't you? We don't have to tell you, do we?" My parents assumed that I informed about sex through the usual teenage osmosis. Needless to say, I had all the misconceptions you could think of as well as all of the guilt associated with daring to think about the subject.


In an age of more sexually transmitted diseases than ever before, and questions about sexual orientation up the wazoo, comprehensive sex education is absolutely necessary.


Tell that to Utah.

A bill passed by Republicans in the Utah House of Representatives would effectively ban comprehensive education about human sexuality, forcing schools to teach abstinence or nothing at all...The bill forbids advocating for "the use of contraceptive methods or devices," sex outside marriage or homosexuality. It also restricts teaching about sexual intercourse or erotic behavior.
Public and charter schools would have the option of developing an abstinence-only curriculum or skipping the discussion of sexuality altogether.

Taking a cue from presidential candidate Rick's Santorum's stance on all things sexual, Utah is indeed looking backward to the good ole days of "don't ask, don't tell." Not in the military, but in the classroom: if students doesn't ask about sex, then the teacher certainly won't tell them.


Back To The Playground


It's a known fact that when you tell teenagers not to do something they will do it. They have no fear of the "great unknown." That is what makes them foolhardy and courageous at the same time. They also feel that they are invincible and immune to things like HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, the "virginity pledge" touted by most of the Christian Right resulted in more unprotected sex and greater risk of infection and pregnancy.* 

And abstinence only programs have been the country's biggest (and most expensive) joke on the American tax payer: the ineffective programs cost $208 million in 2008 (up 300% from 2000 - the result of George Bush's faith-based prerogatives. Yet Rick Santorum and his anti-contraception group would have us believe that they do: on Jan. 25th, Santorum knocked the Obama administration for defunding abstinence only programs stating that "He [Obama] wants people to live in poverty." He did not properly relay how he came to this skewed reasoning. 

So now it may be back to the playground for Utah kids in terms of sex education:
"We’ve been culturally watered down to think we have to teach about sex, about having sex and how to get away with it, which is intellectually dishonest," Wright said in defense of the bill. "Why don’t we just be honest with them upfront that sex outside marriage is devastating?" [Utah state representative William Wright]

Devastating? So are STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Someone should tell Rep Bill Wright, the originator of the Bill, that there is a difference between being "intellectually honest" and intellectually deficient: and he is definitely the latter.

*In recent studies, the "virginity pledge" was found to have no effect whatsoever on teens and their sexual habits. Most teens have taken the "pledge" to appease their parents, and have had sex at the approximately same age and with the same number of sex partners. However, these studies also point out that teens taking the pledge were less likely to use any protection or contraception.   

In The Case Of Rep. Mark Souder, Abstinence REALLY DOES Make The Heart Grow Fonder!!

And gets you the title:

BONEHEAD OF THE MONTH!

From TPM:

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) had an affair with a part-time staffer named Tracy Jackson, Fox is reporting. Jackson played the role of interviewer for a Souder Web video show on the issues of the day -- including one on the value of abstinence.

The fact that it was reported by Fox News is ridiculous enough, I guess. When you're so stupid in your hypocrisy that even Fox has to show it... Anyway, stay tuned.