Just my CAD$0.02 worth,
When we sat down for our dinner at prom, we all found packages containing condoms and lube for all of us, “just in case”.
well, if they had handed out condoms at my prom, i can name one little girly who’s dress wouldn’t have been ruined!
Yup, you didn’t know about that? Didn’t you get the handbook? It also says that if you masturbate you will go blind and have hairy palms.
I just have two points:
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Everyone seems to think that the vast majority of teenagers are having sex- was there a poll taken that I missed? Can someone site this? I knew plenty of teenagers who abstained from sex- I’m not say remained virginal until marriage, but during the teenage years 13-19 they weren’t getting any.
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I don’t think the school should be encouraging this kind of behavior (ie, passing out condoms) for two reasons:
a. If I was given a condom before prom, my expectations of sex would go up (along with something else…)
b. The sex lives of teenagers should be the business of the parents and the teenagers themselves. This should also include teaching of homosexuality and other related topics (be they subjective or factual.) I say this because, while I probably wouldn’t care if my kids were taught about alternative lifestyles and safe sex, many people do, and it’s not my business to tell them how to raise their kids.
You said that fine. I agree 100%.
It’s the parent’s job to teach their kids about morality and a belief system. I know people who view masturbation, premarital sex, and homosexuality as “Grave Sins.” It’s part of the reason I no longer affiliate myself with organized religion. That being said I respect their views even though I disagree with them. Part of that respect is giving them the right to educate their kids morally.
see, i thought we were talking about people, for whom there’s way more consequences than animals when they have sex as teenagers. it’s my opinion (as a high school senior) that high schoolers aren’t ready for sex yet.
that’s appalling to me. my prom is in the near future (on april 26th) and i can’t even imagine how awkward it would be to sit down for dinner with that staring me and my date in the face. what do you say as someone who’s not going to have sex that night? “gee, lookie what we got here. you know we won’t be needing that, right?” i don’t know. even though we’re supposed to be all “mature” and worldly about sex by this point in our lives, i would still feel very awkward.
i don’t think there’s anything wrong with modesty…i tend to think that if two people are going to leave prom to go have sex, they’ll be comfortable enough to have a little contraceptive talk and decide to stop at the drugstore on the way to the hotel and pick something up themselves.
for a lot of people, prom isn’t about sex and has nothing to do with sex, and to pass out condoms makes it seem like that’s not how it should be, and like it’s abnormal just to go to prom to feel pretty and dance and have a good time without the weight of premature intimacy.
“see, i thought we were talking about people, for whom there’s way more consequences than animals when they have sex as teenagers.”
that came out really unclear. i didn’t mean the animals who have sex when they’re teenagers, i meant the people. i guess it would have been clearer had i phrased the sentence
“see, i thought we were talking about people, for whom there’s way more consequences when they have sex as teenagers than there is for animals who mate.”
Condoms are readily available in just about every place I’ve ever been to. Schools really have no business handing them out.
Marc
Uh MGibson that arguement has no substance. Yes you can get condoms anywhere…so…your point? Isn’t it more awkward walking into a store and asking for the condoms that are behind the counter, or is it easier to get them free and with little to no embarrassment?
Sorry I did not read all of your post KissMeI’Merin When I said :
I was refering to the human animal, you do know we are animals right…? Sorry for the sarcasm but I was trying to make the point that Humans are as much animals as any other living breathing furry creatures walking the earth, and furthermore, we do experiment when we are young. We learn by trial and error. And some of us have sex when we are teenagers. To make the broad generalization by saying Highschooler’s aren’t ready for sex is saying that the human animal isn’t ready to experiment. It is a highly individualized assertion to decide to have sex or not. If you are not ready thats fine, but that does not mean that others in your age range are not fully ready with the one they love…
I have been out of high school for 10 years (OH MY GOD) and I do no think things have changed all that much when it comes to having sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Some couples do and some don’t. I just don’t like broad generalizations…
I am in favor of having condom availiable through the school. I am even in favor of condom distribution during safe sex awareness events at schools. I also feel strongly that condom distribution at prom is inappropriate. I agree that few couples will decide to have sex at prom because they are given condoms, but a would suggest also that most of those who planned to would also plan to use protection.
I am more concerned with future proms. More has to be done to erase the idea of prom as a sexual milestone event. Teens will have sex, but when they do so, it should be because they have individually reached the point where they are comfortable with sex, not because they feel as though they are abnormal if they don’t want to have sex after prom.
As for the dinner plate thing, that is atrocious! Prom is supposed to be a night of elegance. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if condoms were distributed with dinner at any adult event???
To add a little more to the OP, it should be known that when students in the area attempted to buy condoms from local drugstores, they were told it was illegal for them to be sold to people under the age of 18.
To add a little more to the OP, it should be known that when students in the area attempted to buy condoms from local drugstores, they were told it was illegal for them to be sold to people under the age of 18.
Sorry about that gush of replies, my computer froze while i was submitting and kind of screwed things up. 
I find it very hard to believe that students were told that they have to be 18 in order to purchase condoms.
Heck, where I live, you can go into any grocery store and see them displayed right next to the chewing gum and AA batteries right before the checkout counter. They’re also on display in any Walmart, Kmart, Target or any other store in America. Not behind the counter, in front of the counter. Ready to be sold to anyone who wants them.
I can’t speak for the other parts of Southern California, but they aren’t like that in my area. I’m not sure if they have them at regular supermarkets. At supermarkets with pharmacies they are on display behind glass, and one must go up to the pharmacist and ask him/her for them. A year and a half ago they were out on display at the convenience stores around here, but more recently they were put behind the counter, not even in plain sight.
I’ve never been asked for ID though, and I’ve never been denied. I don’t think there is a law against it, but individual establishments always reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
i do know that we are animals (like the song that jiminy cricket sings, you are a human animal…), but we’re so much more than animals. animals wander around following their instincts and they have no capacity to regret what they’ve done. dogs don’t sit around in their old age thinking, i wish i hadn’t mated so much when i was young, because you know, i really don’t think it was a good idea looking back. (that wasn’t meant as snippy, just explaining my point of why i felt the need to say that we’re more than animals.) yes, people experiment when they’re young, and yes, some people feel ready to have sex in high school and never regret doing it. but there are other people who are not ready, and shoving condoms in their face makes them question their own judgement in this area. it leaves people feeling like, if the adults think i should be having sex right now, and my date thinks i should be too, then what’s wrong with me that i just don’t feel like i should? i think that making sex at such an early age seem like lighthearted experimentation that has no consequences apart from disease and pregnancy (both of which have apparantly been taken care of by the free condoms) is misleading. you’re making youself very vunerable when you have sex with someone, and you give them a large capacity to hurt you. in high school, most people aren’t mature enough to realize the weight of this vunerability, and wind up hurting their partner and feeling hurt themselves. some people think that sex should just be or is just experimentation, and that it’s not such a big deal that your life could be altered for the worse even if you don’t get a disease. but i disagree. sex should be a big deal, not something to cavalierly call experimentation, and it should be something that leaves you vunerable to the person you share the experience with. without vunerability and without making sex a big deal, it isn’t the ultimate act of love anymore. it’s casual, meaningless sex.
as far as the blanket generalization that all teens are not ready for sex, well, “all generalizations are false,” i know…but looking around at all my schoolmates, all the people who do and don’t have sex, i truly don’t think that any of us are mature enough, at this stage, to handle all the emotions and responsibilities that come with having a sex life. i think that the danger of not passing out condoms, and having some people wind up with diseases and pregnancies, does not outweigh the danger of making teenage sex the norm rather than the exception in our society and thus winding up with disease and pregnancy anyways.
i know that sounds kind of naive, but i think that people are better off waiting until they’re older to have sex, and that something can still be done to lessen the amount of high school kids having sex. and passing out condoms will not at all help this.
Checking in on the whole what kind of supermarket do you go to question…
I know that in St. Louis, the only place that seems to sell condoms is Walgreens and WalMart. Hrm… something about walls… very interesting. Anyway, at the supermarkets, if they have them, they hide them well enough that I sure can’t find them. it’s possible that they are stored in the pharmacy section, but I never actually get to the supermarket by 5 or whenever they close that thing. So Walgreens it is. They’re open 24 hours, but are wicked expensive. Much better deals at WalMart.
Er… yeah, that was incoherent. Thank you for your support.
Tenebras
In '90, when I went to my prom, they had condoms in bowls placed by the exit. Either you took one or you didn’t. There was no discussion about them being there, no mention during the evening, but they were there. There is nothing wrong with providing condoms prom night, as long as it is discrete.
I don’t think they should be placed at dinner settings. I’m just saying it is better to provide them discretely, then not at all.
We have to keep in mind that not all teens are mature, some are embarrassed to go into a store and buy them. Granted we hope there is some level of maturity in teens that have sex, but let’s face reality. Not all teens come from a home where their parents will talk to them about sex. These are the one’s IMO that learn what they know about sex from experiment, on the back of the bus, in the locker room etc… I say better safe then sorry, but this can be done discretely.
I should also tell you that we all knew in high school if we needed condoms there was a basket hanging on the wall outside the nurses office. Not one person in my school ever complained about the condoms provided for us. They weren’t in your face, just there in case.
And I couldn’t even get a date to my Senior Prom… :mad: