I know that this comes from another source, but pray tell, what GAINS could accrue? Is avoiding a disease a gain? Maybe it’s semantics, but the implication is that there is something specifically beneficial from abstinance. Are there health benefits from not buying a hammer? Because if you DO buy a hammer, you could hit your finger with it. By the way, when I taught sex ed, the most intriguing thing I taught (for the kids) was the menstrual cycle, and how the likelyhood of pregnancy ebbed and flowed through the month, and how anyone could actually get pregnant at virtually any time of the month. Kids didn’t know this at all at first, and without saying to them “Abstain!” they did realize the dangers in unprotected sex. Knowledge is power.
Abstinence-only sex education programs almost always say that any sex outside of marriage is wrong. Since same sex marriage is illegal most places, this population is expected to stop being sexual all together. That’s the other question I have for these “educators.” How do they address homosexuality? I guess I know the answer to that one.
Sure there are “dangers” in unprotected sex. There are also obvious benefits that most of these programs ignore and most students know this, most of them instinctually being sexual beings themselves. Some of the dangers that abstinence-only programs teach are: STDs/HIV, date rape, emotional problems stemming from being too immature to handle sexual relationships, unplanned pregnancy. Masturbation releases sexual tension and leads to none of those problems. Don’t mean to editorialize about this here. It seems obvious that these programs would teach that masturbation is normal, healthy and that kids should not feel ashamed about it.