By Beacon Editorial Board
There are approximately 20,000 scenes of "suggested sexual behavior or intercourse and sexual comment or innuendo" in one year of prime-time television, according to the "Getting What You Want From Abstinence" pamphlet in the University Health Center.
With the media constantly selling sex like this, it's no wonder that approximately 19 million new infections of sexually transmitted diseases occur each year, almost half of them among young people aged 15 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2006 statistics.
Then there is the fact that sexuality education teachers are more likely to teach abstinence-only education and less likely to inform students about birth control, how to obtain contraceptive services, sexual orientation and abortion than they were 15 years ago, according to a study in the Family Planning Perspectives, a peer-reviewed journal.
"Because of this, and in spite of some abstinence instruction that also covers birth control and condoms as effective methods of prevention, many students are not receiving accurate information on topics their teachers feel they need," the study said.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, which performs sexual and reproductive health research, the majority of young women in the developed world become sexually active as teenagers, with more than 75 percent becoming sexually active by age 20.
Increased sexual activity paired with limited sex education could have dangerous and irreparable results. Often, the consequences of teaching abstinence-only education are measurable. For instance, among Catholics, many of whom do not believe in the use of contraception, the abortion rate is 29 percent higher than that of Protestants, who do believe in other methods besides abstinence, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
This isn't to say that contraception is for everyone. Those whose values dictate abstinent behavior have every right to adhere to their own beliefs.
In this sense, the University Health Center is to be commended for explaining all options, including abstinence and contraceptives, despite the fact that it cannot provide birth control due to the University and Church policy.
In a day and age where sex and abortion rates only continue to rise, however, it is irresponsible to not provide teens and adults with all of their sexual and reproductive options.
Sex education should be thorough and informing, not limited to one, sometimes unrealistic option.
Teaching other options is not going to lead to wild nights full of one-night-stands and drunken orgies, as some fear. In fact, according to a recent survey by Smartersex.org, "one in four students (26 percent) said they passed on an opportunity to have sex during the last year."
In a perfect world, perhaps people would take the many abstinence brochures up on their suggestions and find other ways to "Make Love Without Doin' It." For some, however, suggestions like "take a drive together" or "give each other pet names" just aren't feasible alternatives in the heat of the moment. In times like this, it is vital that young people know their options so they can make educated choices in regard to their own sexual health.
Abstinence-only education doesn't allow for young adults to function as the informed, responsible citizens society demands they be.
