Well said! I'd like to see much more done with education, availability, and discussion, to at least reduce the necessity for so many painful choices.
Well, you know, if they talked to us about it, there would be an uncontrollable urge to go out and DO it.
My mother, having become pregnant with me at 19 (nowadays, no biggie), took education about planned parenthood very seriously, for all 3 of her children. The message that sex was something that was natural and enjoyable under the right circumstances, *with protection*. We had that talk at 15, although I didn't really need it for another 2 years.
Abstinence-only programs have an issue - the kids for whom it does not work (and let's not kid ourselves about it working for everyone) have absorbed information about the failure rates, and don't use anything anyway. In the right setting, I think they can be a positive force. I think a more positive force would be teaching our daughters that They Have Value. Girls with a strong sense of self-esteem are less likely to fall for stupid lines, or to let a guy get away without using protection "just this once". For the males raised in these homes, they too learn that Women Have Value, and it's not okay to run over their wishes.
Yesterday I found myself explaining how birth control pills/patches worked. I think the fact that this woman got to be twenty years old without learning the basic facts is SAD.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 06:53 pm (UTC)Well said! I'd like to see much more done with education, availability, and discussion, to at least reduce the necessity for so many painful choices.
Well, you know, if they talked to us about it, there would be an uncontrollable urge to go out and DO it.
My mother, having become pregnant with me at 19 (nowadays, no biggie), took education about planned parenthood very seriously, for all 3 of her children. The message that sex was something that was natural and enjoyable under the right circumstances, *with protection*. We had that talk at 15, although I didn't really need it for another 2 years.
Abstinence-only programs have an issue - the kids for whom it does not work (and let's not kid ourselves about it working for everyone) have absorbed information about the failure rates, and don't use anything anyway. In the right setting, I think they can be a positive force. I think a more positive force would be teaching our daughters that They Have Value. Girls with a strong sense of self-esteem are less likely to fall for stupid lines, or to let a guy get away without using protection "just this once". For the males raised in these homes, they too learn that Women Have Value, and it's not okay to run over their wishes.
Yesterday I found myself explaining how birth control pills/patches worked. I think the fact that this woman got to be twenty years old without learning the basic facts is SAD.
DV (who needs a feminist icon, apparently)