# A Modest Proposal for Sex Education **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182 "2003-06-29T18:00:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/41 "2003-07-05T21:48:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joel \* > \*\*For one, if you’re married, you and your spouse **usually** want a kid or two, so when the wife is pregnant, the baby is wanted (usually, not always, I know). > Also, when you wait until marriage, you’re **usually** more prepared to take care of a child, you **usually** have steady income, a stable home environment, and are better equipped to handle rasing a child or two, whereas if you’re a horny-ass teenager sleeping with whoever, then a pregnancy is more likely to be unwanted since it **could potentially** bring on complications like one or both parents having to drop out of school and getting a job, something which **could** make the pregnancy undesirable to either or both parents, or if the father want’s nothing to do with raising the child, then he could be sued for child support, something which **would probably** make the pregnancy undesirable to the father. \*\* One would think, from your post, that there are legions of teenagers out there getting pregnant, spreading syphillis and worse, and causing general mayhem. It’s as if sexual activity, especially if it involves “horny-ass” teenagers (despite your implication that sexually active teens sleep with “whoever,” I see no evidence here that sexually active teens are any more promiscuous than sexually active adults) will inevitably lead to pregnancy. This is simply not the case, especially with the advent of effective means of birth control. Granted, marriage is a wonderful thing, and is certainly conducive to making responsible decisions regarding family planning. But it is not the only place to do so. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/42 "2003-07-05T21:51:30Z")
Posted by **Joel:** > [@](#): > > What about unwanted pregnancies? If you don’t have, sex, or have sex only with the person you marry, for example, you cut down on, or eliminate these potential problems. Also posted by **Joel:** > [@](#): > > Also, when you wait until marriage, you’re usually more prepared to take care of a child, you usually have steady income, a stable home environment, and are better equipped to handle rasing a child or two, whereas if you’re a horny-ass teenager sleeping with whoever, then a pregnancy is more likely to be unwanted since it could potentially bring on complications like one or both parents having to drop out of school and getting a job, something which could make the pregnancy undesirable to either or both parents, or if the father want’s nothing to do with raising the child, then he could be sued for child support, something which would probably make the pregnancy undesirable to the father. All quite true, **Joel,** but how is this of any help to horny teenagers? Their problem is not that they are unmarried, their problem is that they are teenagers, and therefore not equipped for domestic responsibilities by our society’s standards. You can’t just say to a teenager, “You’re horny? Why don’t you just do the decent thing and get married?” They have to find some other way to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/43 "2003-07-05T21:57:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Earl of Sandwhich \* > \*\*One would think, from your post, that there are legions of teenagers out there getting pregnant, spreading syphillis and worse, and causing general mayhem. It’s as if sexual activity, especially if it involves “horny-ass” teenagers (despite your implication that sexually active teens sleep with “whoever,” I see no evidence here that sexually active teens are any more promiscuous than sexually active adults) will inevitably lead to pregnancy. This is simply not the case, especially with the advent of effective means of birth control. > Granted, marriage is a wonderful thing, and is certainly conducive to making responsible decisions regarding family planning. But it is not the only place to do so. \*\* You might have missed my point a little, but that’s OK, it’s probably my fault. First off, I say teenagers because that’s what this thread is about, JR High, or High School students being taught sex education. This is why I’m limiting my comments to teenagers. Also, my post wasn’t whether sleeping with a spouse as opposed to sleeping around would produce more pregnancies or not. Instead, what it was about is that **usually** once a pregancy occures, it is **more likely** to be wanted if it occures inside a marriage, as oposed to outside of one. Again, I know that this isn’t allways the case. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/44 "2003-07-05T22:07:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrainGlutton \* > All quite true, **Joel,** but how is this of any help to horny teenagers? Their problem is not that they are unmarried, their problem is that they are teenagers, and therefore not equipped for domestic responsibilities by our society’s standards. You can’t just say to a teenager, “You’re horny? Why don’t you just do the decent thing and get married?” They have to find some other way to deal with it. \*\* Again, my post was to show how for two unwed teenagers, a pregnancy would most likely be an unwanted thing, as opposed to if a pregancy occured after they got married. The fact that they are unequipped for domestic responsibilities is an excellent reason as to why a pregnancy would be undesireable. As to how they should deal with it, I’m not sure that schools should be involved. Other than making rules saying no sex inside the school, sex is private matter unrelated to school work. Like I said earlier, schools should stick to the accademics, and let the parents, and religious community (if the kid isn’t an athiest) deal with the morals and ethics. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/45 "2003-07-05T23:40:27Z")
Why should parents and the religious community teach kids about se? What makes them better qualified? ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/46 "2003-07-06T00:01:04Z")
Exactly! If the parents know so much about birth control, how come they have kids? Hmmmm? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/47 "2003-07-06T03:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > \*\*Why should parents and the religious community teach kids about se? What makes them better qualified? \*\* I said that they should be the ones to teach about the moral and ethical aspects of sex. I have no problems with the schools teaching how it’s done, what body parts are used, etc… ---
**Author:** ![stoyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@stoyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoyel)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/48 "2003-07-06T20:29:29Z")
Guys, try to understand. It’s not a matter of inhibition. Female masturbation is simply not intuitive. For you, it’s pretty obvious. For women, what is there to go on? Sex is about inserting tab A into slot B – fine, except that a lot of women don’t enjoy penetration at all, and that’s certainly not what leads to orgasm. Emergency rooms are full of girls who manage to ‘lose’ things inside themselves because they don’t have a clue. Many sexually active men still don’t know where the clitoris is, and it’s not nearly as awkward for them to get down there and take a good look. Fumbling around blindly ‘down there’ doesn’t necessarily help. It’s not fun and not condusive to a state of mind in which a woman _can_ orgasm. The view that masturbation is something everybody should know all about without any help is, if anything, more damaging than the view that it’s shameful and dirty and wrong. Teenagers do a lot of things that their elders tell them are shameful, but if they try masturbation once or a few times and it just doesn’t seem to be doing anything for them, they’re not likely to keep trying. And yes, I admit it - it took me a lot of time and a lot of research to even figure out where to get _started_, and if I didn’t have such a disgusting amount of free time, I wouldn’t even . If sex education involved a few discreet pamphlets or URLs, I’m sure the proportion of female teens who masturbate would rise sharply, and a lot of marriages would be happier down the road. ---
**Author:** ![stoyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@stoyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stoyel)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/49 "2003-07-06T20:31:04Z")
Second to last paragraph should end “I wouldn’t even have bothered.” It’s cute when the cat jumps onto the desk, not cute when she tries to contribute to what I’m typing up. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182/50 "2003-07-07T01:31:35Z")
Hmmm… maybe I need to work on a new tract? That should put the Chickazoids up in arms! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-modest-proposal-for-sex-education/185182.md?page=2)