# Contraceptive dispensers in high schools? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033 "2003-04-29T23:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/21 "2003-04-30T07:07:23Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by JThunder_ > **Speak for yourself. I wanted it, but I refrained because of what my parents taught me. I’m glad that I did.** You can suppress the instincts of _a kid_, but not kids in general. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/22 "2003-04-30T07:53:45Z")
And frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with kids screwing around as long as they are safe, consenting, and educated. Even if condom dispensers were condoneing sex (and I think it’s no more condoneing sex than programs for pregnant girls are), I don’t think that is such a bad thing. You guys do know what happened before contraception? They threw their unwanted newborn babies off bridges. If otherwise good people are more willing to kill their crying newborn babies than not have sex, I think they won’t avoid having sex just because they can’t get a condom. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/23 "2003-05-01T01:38:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by klockwerk \* > \*\*Of course we could make the assumption that, for example, say a diaphragm dispenser was installed in a girls washroom. Surely the machine could have more than one “size” of the contraceptive device available. Good point though; if schools were to put a condom machine in a mens restroom, and they were offered in different sizes, how often do you think you’d see a guy walk in and take one of the smaller sized condoms for himself? \*\* In addition to the point **Lissa** made, it is neither easy or intuitive to correctly insert a diaphragm. Not every girl is comfortable putting things inside her vagina, and few to none are able to accurately ascertain whether the diaphragm is in there correctly. If the user isn’t capable of using the device correctly, it is going to be an ineffective birth control device. It is simply not practical to have a diaphragm dispensing machine. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/24 "2003-05-01T01:43:43Z")
> [@](#): > > You guys do know what happened before contraception? They threw their unwanted newborn babies off bridges. Still happens every once in a while. And let me take this space to say states that won’t allow a girl to get an abortion without the consent of her parents are, in my opinion, contributing a lot to this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/25 "2003-05-01T01:49:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Marley23 \* > **I think you’re mistakenly assuming that kids respect the opinions of high school administration and authority figures.** You missed my point. ‘Respecting’ the opinions of the high school admin was not what I was talking about. I said: > [@](#): > > especially among those students who might be facing peer pressure, who might themselves be undecided, or who are just impressionable. What I meant was that for someone who is undecided about giving in to an internal sexual urge or external pressure, having a condom dispenser would be seen very strongly as a legitimization of the sex act. So, most all teenagers are horny (as you said), many of them want to and do have sex, a few are undecided for various reasons. It is these on-the-fence kids whose choices might be affected by a freely available dispenser. In any case, practically everyone in this debate seems to support the dispenser idea. Could anyone who opposes it come in? **Klockwerk** , you mentioned that your group’s consensus was that the machines should be kept out. Any reasons? ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/26 "2003-05-01T02:21:10Z")
My personal experience is that good sex education plus the availability of birth control has helped PREVENT me from having sex before. I like to think that I’m a responsible guy and won’t go schtupping around blindly, it’s serious business. I have been in the situation before where things started to got very steamed up, she literally had me in her hand and was saying things like “I want you inside me” and the fact that I didn’t have condoms available (I was going to say “on-hand” but decided not to for obvious reasons…) kept me from having sex. If I’d never had sex ed and there was limited/no availability of birth control, I’d almost certainly have been having unsafe sex with all the risk of pregnancy, STDs, etc. My hat’s off to people who stay virgins until they get married, that’s wonderful, but not everyone will do that and knowing how everything works and what the risks are makes you MORE responsible, not LESS. I never considered sex education to mean “Go ahead, hump away!” I heard about one sex ed class which had the following as an assignment: Go to the drug store, buy a condom and bring it to class. -V- PS - centuries of “sex is bad” and no available contraception didn’t exactly slow down the population increase or help prevent STDs. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/27 "2003-05-01T02:44:22Z")
No one really seems to be interested in the age spread we’re talkking about here. There will be kids as young as 13 in high school (I was that age in high school) as well as those 18 yrs old. What is appropriate for an 18 yr old may very well not be appropriate for a 13 yr old. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/28 "2003-05-01T02:58:43Z")
> [@](#): > > What I meant was that for someone who is undecided about giving in to an internal sexual urge or external pressure, having a condom dispenser would be seen very strongly as a legitimization of the sex act. So, most all teenagers are horny (as you said), many of them want to and do have sex, a few are undecided for various reasons. It is these on-the-fence kids whose choices might be affected by a freely available dispenser. I don’t see the problem with the kids having sex if they’re responsible enough to do it only it protection is available. I think that’s a non-issue. What I was getting at is that ‘the sex act’ doesn’t need to be legitimized by condom distribution; it’s going to happen anyway. Hormones are all the legitimacy anybody needs, add peer pressure and the rest on top and it’s just that much more so. As Valgard points out, there was LOADS of sex going on long before condoms in high schools. Contraception as a popular thing is very recent. ---
**Author:** ![klockwerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/klockwerk/32/6475_2.png) [@klockwerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klockwerk)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/29 "2003-05-01T03:13:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aasna \* > \*\ ***Klockwerk** , you mentioned that your group’s consensus was that the machines should be kept out. Any reasons? \*\* Nothing all to different from what everyone on this board has already said at some point; It may put a message in teen’s heads that it is okay to go out there and have sex, even with multiple partners. It’s hard to remember everything. I myself am starting to side with putting them in there for many of the reasons stated already. Plus all the contravercy which could arise with parents - does the school board have the right to put these things here without total parental concent? Under what grounds could they install a machine in a restroom? I must thank everyone who has participated in these discussions, it has actually altered my perceptions on the topic and given me a new insight. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033/30 "2003-05-01T03:18:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Under what grounds could they install a machine in a restroom? For the sake of argument, the grounds are “the kids are having sex anyway, so why not try and make it safer.” Many parents don’t like that, but hey. I’ve seen Planned Parenthood estimates that more than three-quarters of high school seniors have had sex. Maybe that’s high, but even lowering that would demonstrate to me that 1) condoms won’t increase sex because plenty happens anyway, and 2) they WOULD make the sex that’s happening safer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/contraceptive-dispensers-in-high-schools/172033.md?page=1)