From: mpolen@gelato.mips.com (Michael Polen)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Sex education at home Re: Abortion story
Date: 20 Aug 1992 18:24:08 GMT
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Inc.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: gelato.mips.com

In article <4724@news.duke.edu>, eyc@acpub.duke.edu (EMIL CHUCK) writes:
|> mpolen@gelato.mips.com (Michael Polen) writes:
|> +EMIL CHUCK) writes:
|> +|> :Second, I think one of the whole points of this story is:  SO WHAT if it
|> +|> :was the result of consensual sex?  Regardless of how it came about, this
|> +|> :pregnancy was simply *not* something she was prepared to deal with at that
|> +|> :point in time, PERIOD.  
|> +|> 	I can't disagree with you there that she wasn't prepared to deal
|> +|> with the pregnancy, but my point about consentual sex is that was she
|> +|> willing and knowledgable about the possible consequences of her having
|> +|> sex? It's not right to treat someone like a little kid one day then an
|> +|> adult the next. If anyone consents to engaging in sexual intercourse, then
|> +|> I assume he or she is a responsible adult who understands the risks and
|> +|> the consequences. It's not right to wash our hands of the problem of
|> +|> teenage sexual activity and promiscuity (since kids are going to do it
|> +|> anyway) and then all of a sudden be shocked when "they're not ready! Get
|> +|> thee to a clinic!"
|> +|> 
|> +This all assumes that people are educated about sex and its consequences,
|> +that they know how to take precautions, etc.  The pro-live religios right
|> +not only opposes abortion, they oppose such eductation.  You cannot 
|> +have it both ways.  Children *do not* get sex education at home, and they
|> +are not allowed to get it at school.  So they get it from each other and
|> +from television.
|> 	My interpretation of the Religious Right's view is that they
|> oppose the state educating children about sex education without the
|> consent of the parents. I don't wholeheartedly agree with them, but I do
|> understand about how teaching teenagers how to put on a condom in a
|> class sometimes has a trivializing effect, not to mention the fact that
|> this doesn't address birth control failure.
|> 	Children should become educated by their parents with regards to
|> sex because they have the perspective of looking at sex as a sign of
|> love and committment rather than pure anatomy or birth control. I
|> understand it is not easy to discuss, partially because parents fear
|> that the knowledge they accord to their children will be applied too
|> prematurely. This is becomes a family matter of trust.

The assumption that their children will wait until the parents or the
church decide it is time to KNOW the truth is humorous at best.  What
you have is a bunch of uneducated children out drinking and screwing and
getting pregnant.  Check into you local high school's pregnancy support
program.  At my daughters high school (she worked with the program one
semester), many were white, middle class, baptist girls.  One went
to the junior high school next door.
|> 
|> +How many times has someone in a movie or TV worried about protection?  How
|> +realistic are TV/Movie love scenes (~ zero)?  How accurate is the info
|> +from the "sophisticated kid" down the street?
|> 	Oh my God! Have you stumbled on the truth about the "Cultural
|> Elite"? Hmm....

If the "Cultural Elite" in hollywood were all you said they were, the
scenes would be much more realistic.  As it is, they have to pander
to the "Religious Elite's" desire to see enough to tittilate, but
not enough to educate.
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,talk.politics.theory,alt.politics.elections,alt.politics.marrou,alt.politics.bush,misc.education