People Are...Still Having Sex

Report suggests those who pledge abstinence try other sex

The latest study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that teens pledging virginity until marriage are more likely to have oral and anal sex than other teens who have not had intercourse.

Among virgins, boys who have pledged abstinence were four times more likely to have had anal sex than teens who have remained abstinent but not as part of a pledge, according to the study. Overall, pledgers were six times more likely to have oral sex.

Leslee Unruh, president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, called the study "bogus," disputing that those involved had pledged true "abstinence."

Of course she would say that. By doing so, she's guaranteeing that, no matter what, her programs will have a 100% success rate. If you make the pledge but then fail to keep it, you obviously didn't really make the pledge. I don't think I've witnessed such iron-clad logic since hearing Christians claim that other Christians who carry out immoral, unethical, or illegal acts aren't really true Christians. Of course they're not.

"Kids who pledge abstinence are taught that any word that has 'sex' in it is considered a sexual activity," Unruh said. "Therefore oral sex is sex, and they are staying away."

How provincial. How about we first start off with, "No, they're not staying away, as the statistics so clearly indicate". Next, what about words (phrases, actually) that don't have the actual word 'sex' in them but that still mean sex? Like 'blow job', 'hummer', 'oral gratification', etc. Those phrases don't have 'sex' in them so, it could be argued, they aren't sexual activity. Right or wrong, most people (adults and teens) don't consider oral sex to be sex.

"If adolescents only had sex in monogamous, married relationships, by definition there would be no STDs," Brueckner said, echoing President Bush's remarks in last year's State of the Union address. "But the majority of adolescents don't live like that. They do have sex."

~gasp~ He's kidding, right? Teens are having sex? Who knew!

Last year, the same research team found that 88 percent of teens who pledge abstinence end up having sex before marriage...

What an inspiring success rate! Let's funnel MORE money into these astoundingly successful programs!

Of course, some might argue that I've left out an important part of the statistic...that 99% of those who didn't make a pledge of abstinence, ended up having sex before marriage. By comparison, it looks as though the abstinence only programs really are successfull. That is, until you stop to consider that they're ABSTINENCE programs. In order for them to work, teens have to be NOT having sex (the definition of abstinence). However, teens are having sex. In large numbers, I might add, even in spite of their pledges. Perhaps a more succussful message would be, "Don't have sex...without a condom".