"Its goals are to shame young people out of having sex."
Teaching students not to have sex before marriage is allowed in 37 U.S. states. Here's how abstinence-only education works ...
Teaching students not to have sex before marriage is allowed in 37 U.S. states. Here's how abstinence-only education works ...
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00:00Don't have sex because you will get pregnant and die.
00:15Abstinence-only until marriage programs, sometimes called sexual risk avoidance programs,
00:21teach that abstinence is the only morally correct option for sexual expression for young people.
00:27Its goals are to shame young people out of having sex
00:30and trick them by giving them false, judgmental, and harmful information.
00:36Don't have sex in the missionary position. Don't have sex standing up.
00:40Just don't do it. Promise.
00:41What else is happening? Losing its ability to bond.
00:59This is what happens when we have multiple partners before we get married.
01:04We give up our ability to bond.
01:05Some folks experience watching really shamey videos.
01:11Some folks have their facilitator, you know, have a chewed up piece of gum
01:16and share that that's what girls mostly, because it's very sexist, experience.
01:23You know, it's a metaphor, like, oh, if you're a chewed up piece of gum,
01:26no one's going to want you, and that's what happens to you
01:28when you have sex and when you're not a virgin anymore.
01:31Um, it is very based in religion and in maintaining virginity.
01:47The first federal abstinence only program was enacted via the Adolescent Family Life Act
01:53in the Reagan administration, and that program really tried to prevent pregnancy
01:59through promoting chastity and self-discipline.
02:02Wise policies such as welfare reform, drug education, and support for abstinence and
02:07adoption have made a difference in the character of our country.
02:10Because only 18 states require sex ed to be medically accurate,
02:14some facilitators and teachers flat out share lies about sex ed because it's not illegal not to.
02:29So,
02:40young people who pledge abstinence are less likely to use contraceptives when they do have sex.
02:46Abstinence only education does not delay young people having sex.
02:51And states that have abstinence only curriculum
02:55have higher rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs.
02:59So, research has repeatedly shown, time and time again,
03:03that abstinence only curriculum does not work.
03:14So,
03:22according to the Guttmacher Institute, abstinence only programs typically are heteronormative and
03:27frame LGBTQ folks as deviant, or that something's wrong with them.
03:32Stigma and discrimination against LGBTQ plus students increase their risk of STIs,
03:39substance use disorder, suicide, and experiencing violence.
03:57Comprehensive sex education should be medically accurate,
04:01positive, evidence-based, non-judgmental, and age-appropriate.
04:06Comprehensive sex ed includes so much.
04:09It includes pleasure, healthy relationships and communication,
04:13consent, online safety, porn literacy, mental health, condoms, contraception, birth control,
04:21gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, abortion, sex and disability,
04:28and so much more.
04:29Comprehensive sex ed has been shown to increase young people's knowledge of STIs
04:34and lead to safer sex practices.
04:36Sex education should not be a one-and-done class.
04:39It should begin in early childhood and continue throughout a person's lifespan.