I was reminded of this significant evolution in attitude when our school system began to explore the idea that teaching abstinence to teenagers need not be the province of right-wing crazies. Could it be that teenage sex today is no more inevitable then we once thought of teenage drunk driving? Is it possible to make an open-minded, feminist argument for pushing abstinence in our schools? I believe it is.

Sex education does not work. Sure there may be a few nice things to be said about sex education. For one, it makes the teens more familiar, more tolerant, and maybe even more skilled lovers. However, it does not do the one thing we all wished it would: make them more responsible. In a landmark study of ten exemplary programs publish

So I asked myself, what is sex? Well “The dictionary defines sex as: “the sum of the structural, functional, and behavioral characteristics of living things that are involved in reproduction by two interacting parents and that distinguish males and females” (Stine). But what does all that really mean, is sex nothing more than a process involved in reproducing more of our species? I believe that if it were simply that, we wouldn’t have the problem of promiscuous sex, which we do because truthfully most of the people who are having sex outside of marriage don’t want to have children. So there must be more to sex than simple procreation.

“The recent launch of the CDC’s Prevention Marketing Initiative (PMI), and especially, the airing of it’s new public service announcements have generated a flurry of public comments, mostly revolving around the abstinence versus condom issue” (Department). Both abstinence and condoms are critically important strategies in preventing HIV, so both were incorporated into the PMI repertoire, which is what caused all the commotion. Parents were outraged about the idea that using a condom was a method just as effective as abstinence.

After all the seeking and searching of sex really is, I doubt my thirteen-year-old cousin was ready for such a plunge into emotions and power, I doubt that I was sincerely ready for sex at my young age. And I don’t think any kid is going to be ready for that until they experience love and then loss of love. Many teenagers just don’t understand the responsibilities that go along with being sexually active, they don’t even think about them. But maybe they should sit back and think before taking part. Our virginity is something that we can only give away once and is only kept through abstinence. The reason that virginity is so special is because of the unity that results from sexual intercourse. There is a physical intimacy that is only reached during sex. It is the closest two people can ever be with each other. Having sex should be a very important decision for anyone whether they choose to save it for marriage or not.

By today’s standards, current recommendations for “safer” sex are too unrealistic. Most young people know that before they have sexual intercourse with another person, both people should exchange detailed sexual histories. Ideally the next step would be a tandem AIDS tests; from there, if both can forge a monogamy pact they will only have sexual intercourse with the use of a condom for the first six months. Six months after the first AIDS test, both partners should be tested again. Now the question is, do people really hammer out these elaborate social contracts every time Cupid calls? Of course not, which is why teen sex is leading all too frequently to casual promiscuity, abortion, single motherhood, STDs, and AIDS.

Some topics in this essay:
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