Really? The girls bodies don’t tingle and they don’t climax during sex? Perhaps that’s why they do it as often as possible and in every position?
Bless their hearts. If they want to pretend teen girls don’t screw for fun & pleasure that’s their business. But, they really need to start handing out some condoms and writing scripts for birth control pills. There’s no need for having 86 Pregnant teens in one school.
It’s been a few decades since I was 15. But, I still recall my discovery of sex quite fondly. My gf and I practically wore the vinyl off the car seats. I don’t think todays teens are any different.
86 pregnant teens in the school, knock one up, pass her around, 87 pregnant teens in the school…
Now after I’m going to hell, I gotta agree with the OP, maybe the school needs to learn to say YES to birth control. It wouldn’t damage so many young people’s futures like this failed policy does.
I’m a bit annoyed that so much of the campaign quoted in the article focuses on the girls–teaching them to say no, assuming they don’t want to, and so on. A lot of people seem blind to the fact that some, perhaps many, perhaps most girls–even teenaged ones–like sex.
That said, I teach in a district that has (or had–not sure if the statistic is still true; it was the case about 4-5 years ago) the highest teen pregnancy rate in Los Angeles county. What I believe, though, isn’t that the kids get pregnant because they don’t know how to say “no”–they get pregnant because having a baby and getting married (at 18, 19) is an easier solution (in their mind) than getting an education. When the kids get into high school and realize their years of not taking their education seriously is going to make it exceedingly difficult to graduate, rather than fight for it some get pregnant and drop out.
I had a conversation with one of my former students, now 19, who had a baby and got married for what seemed to be that very reason. I asked her if she was in school, and she said “No, I got married.” You can go to school and be married, I told her. No, her baby, she said. The continuation high school has child care, I told her. No, it’s not for her, she said. The look on her face has stayed with me–you could tell she didn’t believe she could, that at 19, it was already too late.
But, one of my former students who also blew off school during her middle school years found herself terribly far behind–but she went to the continuation high school to make up the credits and worked her butt off so she could get back on the path to graduation. She’s back at the regular high school now, and will graduate in June. Good for her!
It always amuses me when the anti-BC people will say “abstinence is the only form of BC that is 100% successful” because when two teens didn’t plan to have sex, then do and get pregnant, the anti-BC people are all “oh, that wasn’t abstinence”. But when two teenagers plan on using the Pill as BC, miss three pills in a week, and get pregnant, it’s all “see, the pill doesn’t work!”. Lots of teenagers who use abstinence as their BC method use it incorrectly and that needs to be included in the stats. It is for every other form of BC.
That said, as a high school teacher, I think there are plenty of kids–especially girls–who don’t know they can say “no” to sex, and it is a lesson worth teaching. [Checks forum] This is totally anecdotal, but many kids are very “hot to trot” in high school, but some kids–especially girls–aren’t. They just mature at different rates. Some of those girls are in sexual relationships, and some get pregnant, and in more than a few cases I’ve thought it was entirely because they felt the sex, at least, was expected of them. It’s not that they were forced, or manipulated, but that they saw sex as sex as something you let boys do. It would not be a bad thing for someone to make it clear to them that they have the right to say no.But, obviously, BC should be available as well.
Oh, the Just Say No variety of ‘sex education’ *always *focuses on the girls. Certainly can’t expect boys to rein their little weewees in, they can’t be held responsible for their overwhelming sex drives, it’s just how God made 'em . Also, they don’t even *get *pregnant, that’s a girl problem, so what’s their motivation?
A whopping lot of them don’t, actually. When I started having sex at the age of 19, I was the envy of all my close female friends because I was the only one of us having orgasms. Most of them were at least having a good time, most of the time anyway, but no tingling and climax for any of them but me.
Some teenage girls have sex for fun and pleasure. At least as many have it because it’s expected or because they think boys won’t like them if they don’t put out. (Given the number of times I’ve seen people here advise dumping a woman who doesn’t put out often enough, that’s not a concern that goes away as you grow up.) Or because they’ve been socialized not to anger or disappoint people or tell them things they don’t like to hear, and horny teenage boys don’t like hearing “no.” IME, the earlier girls start having sex, the less likely it is that they’ve started having it for their own fun and pleasure.
Truly effective teen pregnancy prevention, imo, needs to be a two-pronged approach. 1) Teaching kids, boys and girls, that they don’t have to have sex. Encouraging masturbation (not that the boys need encouragement :p), talking about the pros and cons of early sexual involvement, that sort of thing. 2) Comprehensive examination and encouragement of the various forms of birth control.
Why do you need the first one? Because women who aren’t comfortable saying “no” to sex typically aren’t comfortable insisting on condoms/waiting till the hormonal methods kick in.
Thank you for clarifying what I was trying to say. I would add to this: we also need it because no one should have to 15 miserable minutes 3-4 times a week wishing he’d hurry because they think this is just how the world works.
Abortion doesn’t seem to be in high school girls’ radar anymore. Sure, lots of girls seem to want to become mommies, but I’m sure that there are girls who would just as soon not have a baby. It seems like girls who’ve had abortions don’t talk about it, and so many girls just don’t consider it as an option. They’ve heard from everyone all around them that it’s murder, with no opposing viewpoints.
I live in this neighborhood. Any mention of them not getting sex education is bullshit. I’ve worked with teens in the Memphis City Schools and had one of my own in the system. They’re getting sex education starting in fifth grade. They know how babies are made, and they know where to go to get free condoms and birth control. They even know where to get an abortion, and we have several including at least one with sliding scale fees.
They just don’t care, or they think it won’t happen, or they like the feeling of being doted on when they’re pregnant. You get special privileges in school when you’re pregnant. You get excused from classes when you’re pregnant. You get attention and presents when you’re pregnant. And then you get a pretty new dolly plus it might keep your boyfriend from straying.
This is the mentality in my neighborhood, with my neighbor who, at 26, has eight children. EIGHT! She started at 13, and she is the person who told ME to look into section 8 housing because she just got a new house through the program. She’s the one who told me to get in touch with a local charity when I needed help paying my utility bills and she’s told me how much she gets in food stamps. The government is paying for her to go to some trade school and she gets money after the tuition and books are covered. There are all sorts of benefits for having children in this country. Why wouldn’t a poor young person think having a baby is a good idea? It can even be a step up from their current situation. There’s no downside, especially when grandma can babysit while you hit the clubs.
This is the mentality in MY neighborhood, like I said. I’m not criticizing government programs and I have even used them several times. I’m just saying, it’s not because they don’t know about birth control. Churches and the public schools around this area here don’t play that “just say no” crap.
You do understand the No Baby campaign isn’t a “just say no” program? And it’s for boys too.
I doubt it will work anyway. I don’t think anything will and I imagine the message is confusing being so mixed. One side thinks the only way to teach them is by warning them sex is a sin that will get them sent straight to hell and the other side expecting them all to be partaking of every pleasurable act as soon as it crosses their mind. Did anyone here ever just say no because they felt that they weren’t ready? I didn’t but many of my friends waited until they were older to have sex. Yeah we all heard the blue-ball speech but by the eighties we knew better.
And by 14 we all knew you can get off just fine without penetration.
You also might want to take a look at the program’s website, Nobaby.org.
Particularly their list of where to get birth control assistance, including abortion. It doesn’t SAY abortion but it lists pills, IUDs, condoms “and other forms of birth control” at the clinic where I got an abortion (the sliding scale fee I knew about first hand).
One of the problems is, at least in my experience, is boys have it in their head, it’s the girl’s problem. I worked in a big brother program a few years back and it was SO HARD, for me to get it into their heads, “NO IT’S YOUR PROBLEM TOO.”
I would hear it from a young male, “So she can play me for a sucker, tell me she’s on the pill when she ain’t and I still have to pay her child support.”
“Yes.”
“That ain’t fair and that ain’t right I wouldn’t do that.”
“The court would make you.”
“It’s not fair.”
“That is why you ALWAYS use a condom regardless or just don’t do it.”
“But if she says she’s on the pill, how come it’s my fault.”
“A baby isn’t a FAULT, it’s a person, one you helped create THAT IS WHY.”
Perhaps that’s why they do it as often as possible and in every position?
Okay, what the heck is that site? Please tell me it’s a spoof site - I haven’t laughed so much in ages 