There's hope yet...
As many of you know, I am always on the lookout for "well duh" or "no shit" headlines or articles in newspapers, as they amuse me immensely. Today's Houston Chronicle featured one sentence in the Entertainment section that struck me as such. The article was entitled, "Events transform a teen in Lubbock" and it was about an upcoming documentary on PBS that chronicles a group of teens in Lubbock, Texas as they push for better sex education. One girl, Shelby Knox, a conservative Christian, stood out among that group of teens, and the documentary focuses on her, depicting the process that led to her finally getting it.
The "well duh" or "no shit" sentence was this: "Although the area's high schools teach abstinence-only sex education, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the country."
Proponents of abstinence-only education have long been missing the point: no one is pushing your children into the bed. In fact, if anyone is pushing them, it's the parents who are repressing them by demanding such a myopic curriculum. But for the most part, it's just pure adolescence: nervous experimentation, a search for new modes of expression. Kids are going to have sex. It's up to parents and schools to ensure that kids know how to protect themselves in the process, and make wise choices. The Texas Board of Education is not doing a particularly good job of helping either cause, as documented in a brilliant post on November 13, 2004.
And then you have this Shelby Knox girl. Raised Southern Baptist, she intends to wait until her wedding night before engaging in intercourse. A noble goal, held by many more of our generation than you might think (particularly as 15-year-olds - of course many of us grow out of it, but still). So how can a conservative Christian, a proponent of abstinence, push for comprehensive sex ed? Because she gets it. She, unlike so many of her sheltered contemporaries, understands that the key to solving the problems of unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs is to make sure that people are aware of all their options. Certainly, abstinence is one. But there are plenty of others that those with less willpower, or stronger appetites, should be aware of. People have needs, dammit.
Seriously, though, it's refreshing to hear about people whose desire for a conservative lifestyle for themselves don't begrudge others their more liberated lifestyles. Especially for someone who kinda lies in between. Anyway, that was my somewhat serious, somewhat amusing thought for the day.
Song lyric of the day:
"I find a fatal flaw in the logic of love
And go out of my head
You love a sinking stone that'll never elope
So get used to the lonesome"
- the Shins, Gone for Good
The "well duh" or "no shit" sentence was this: "Although the area's high schools teach abstinence-only sex education, Lubbock has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the country."
Proponents of abstinence-only education have long been missing the point: no one is pushing your children into the bed. In fact, if anyone is pushing them, it's the parents who are repressing them by demanding such a myopic curriculum. But for the most part, it's just pure adolescence: nervous experimentation, a search for new modes of expression. Kids are going to have sex. It's up to parents and schools to ensure that kids know how to protect themselves in the process, and make wise choices. The Texas Board of Education is not doing a particularly good job of helping either cause, as documented in a brilliant post on November 13, 2004.
And then you have this Shelby Knox girl. Raised Southern Baptist, she intends to wait until her wedding night before engaging in intercourse. A noble goal, held by many more of our generation than you might think (particularly as 15-year-olds - of course many of us grow out of it, but still). So how can a conservative Christian, a proponent of abstinence, push for comprehensive sex ed? Because she gets it. She, unlike so many of her sheltered contemporaries, understands that the key to solving the problems of unwanted pregnancies and the spread of STDs is to make sure that people are aware of all their options. Certainly, abstinence is one. But there are plenty of others that those with less willpower, or stronger appetites, should be aware of. People have needs, dammit.
Seriously, though, it's refreshing to hear about people whose desire for a conservative lifestyle for themselves don't begrudge others their more liberated lifestyles. Especially for someone who kinda lies in between. Anyway, that was my somewhat serious, somewhat amusing thought for the day.
Song lyric of the day:
"I find a fatal flaw in the logic of love
And go out of my head
You love a sinking stone that'll never elope
So get used to the lonesome"
- the Shins, Gone for Good
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