Resources
CDC Reports Rise in Teen Birth Rate
News Media Distorts Scientific Study About Consequences of Early Loss of Virginity
It's All About the Teen Brain / More on the Teen Brain
Porn Leads to Aggressive Behavior
Ex-Homosexuals Urge APA Not to Ban Therapy
New Study: Abstinence Works…
RESOURCES
The Intrinsic Meaning of Sex
http://www.cortland.edu/character/sex_character/Intrinsic%20Meaning%20of%20Sex.pdf
Sex and Character
http://www.cortland.edu/character/sex_character/Sex%20and%20Character_3pg.pdf
Sex, Love, and Character
http://www.cortland.edu/character/sex_character/sex_love__character%20_talk%20to%20hs%20students_new.pdf
(for Parents)
10 Emotional Dangers of Premature Sexual Involvement
http://www.cortland.edu/character/sex_character/2007-Fall-red.pdf
Articles & One-Pagers on Sex & Character
http://www.cortland.edu/character/sex_character/articles_sc.html
Educating for Character in the Sexual Domain
http://www.cortland.edu/character/sex_character/Philippines_educating%20for%20character%20in%20the%20sexual%20domain%2010-23-07%20TL.pdf
CDC REPORTS RISE IN TEEN BIRTH RATE. When adults repeatedly tell youth, "Do what comes naturally, just take 'precautions,'" the results are very predictable: emotional damage, an epidemic of std's, and, as the new CDC numbers show, more teen pregnancy.
How anyone can blame an increase of unplanned pregnancy on abstinence education when abstinence receives roughly 1/12 of the federal funding given to the failed contraceptive message is beyond us. When are we going to stop promoting a message that seriously damages kids, their families, and their communities?
The CDC, big Pharm and others should take responsibility of the teen pregnancy numbers. The CDC has promoted and aligned them selves with the contraceptive only message; wrapping teen pregnancies in latex, has failed and is unscientific.
America’s teens are failing at the contraceptive message; condoms don’t work.
Highly suspect is the CDC who rationalizes large amounts of dollars from American tax payers to do studies at a time when Congress is looking at reauthorization of the only message that has 100% success–abstinence until marriage.
What does the CDC have to gain with this kind of report? While Title X and Medicaid family planning is funded in the billions of dollars, the fault of teen pregnancy lays in the laps of “absti-phobics” — those who fear abstinence education.
It’s time to teach responsibility regarding sexual behavior instead of the irresponsible, dangerous message of failed condom contraceptive message.
Abstinence until marriage doesn’t happen by chance; it happens by choice.
Teaching teens to choose abstinence is the answer to out-of-wedlock births.
I invite the CDC and others to join the abstinence revolution; it can change America. America’s greatest resource and our future lie in our youth; they need a clear message.
Abstinence works! [6Dec07, Leslee Unruh, Abstinence Clearinghouse Press Release]
News Media Distorts Scientific Study About Consequences of Early Loss of Virginity and of AbstinenceHugely overemphasizes abstinence problems and ignores early sexual activity dangers. While an analysis of medical statistics on sexual activity and health show that starting sexual activity too early is associated with increased levels of potentially fatal disease, the mainstream media has used it to claim that abstinence-only sex education and waiting for sex until marriage is medically dangerous.
Using information from the 1998 US survey, National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, researchers at Columbia found there were more physical dangers associated with starting sexual activity too early, most significantly, an increase in the rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STD's), including HIV/AIDS. Starting sexual activity later, however, was associated with "sexual function" problems, largely in men, and what the study's authors said were impeded social and emotional development.
The authors admitted that the greater risks are associated with starting sexual activity too young.
Despite the contrast between the life-threatening consequences associated with an early loss of virginity, and the reported risks of delayed "emotional skills" development of starting too late, the mainstream media has attended heavily to the latter aspect of the findings.
ABC news ran the headline on their website, "Losing Virginity Later Linked to Sexual Problems". Fox news offered, "Waiting Too Long to Have Sex Linked to Sexual Dysfunction Later in Life, Study Says". Medical News Today said, "Many Teens Who Take 'Virginity Pledges' Substitute Other High-Risk Behavior for Intercourse, Study Says."
Reuters went so far as to say the findings "cast some doubts on the benefits of abstinence-only sexual education that has been introduced in U.S. public schools."
The study, titled "Long-Term Health Correlates of Timing of Sexual Debut: Results From a National US Study" published by the American Journal of Public Health, found that loss of virginity at too early an age was also associated with risk factors such as higher numbers of sexual partners and a history of alcohol-related sexual activity.
The study "explored long-term health correlates of age at sexual initiation and of abstinence until marriage" and admitted that "late initiation was associated with fewer risk factors".
The study's authors were careful to suggest that their research "only partially" supported abstinence-only education. Reuters quotes them saying that delaying sexual activity may "create heal
th risks by impeding development of the emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal skills that are crucial to satisfactory sexual functioning and general well-being."
Dozens of internet news reports showed a consistent lack of interest by media in the findings associated with life-threatening illnesses.
The news wire for the Centre for American Progress gave the headline, "Being a 40-Year-Old Virgin Isn't a Good Thing." The popular website Celebrity Cafe said, "New Research Suggests Waiting to Lose Virginity Can be Problematic." News Release Wire said, "Losing Virginity Later Linked to Sexual Problems, Finds Research." Mike Kuykendall of OpEdNews.com wrote, "Abstinence Debunked: Lessons from the Front Lines."
[5Dec07, J. Connolly, London, LifeSiteNews.com]
Read the study's abstract:
http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/AJPH.2006.097444v1
"Long-Term Health Correlates of Timing of Sexual Debut: Results From a National US Study" Theo G.M. Sandfort 1*, Mark Orr 1, Jennifer S. Hirsch 2, John Santelli 2 [1 HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies; 2 Columbia University]
Objectives. We explored long-term health correlates of age at sexual initiation and of abstinence until marriage.
Methods. We analyzed data from the 1996 National Sexual Health Survey, a cross-sectional study of the US adult population. We compared sexual health outcomes among individuals who had initiated sexual activity at an early or late age versus a normative age. We also compared individuals whose first sexual intercourse had occurred before versus after marriage.
Results. Early initiation of sexual intercourse was associated with various sexual risk factors, including increased numbers of sexual partners and recent sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol, whereas late initiation was associated with fewer risk factors. However, both early and late initiation were associated with sexual problems such as problems with arousal and orgasm, primarily among men. Relationship solidity and sexual relationship satisfaction were not associated with early or late initiation.
Conclusions. Early sexual debut is associated some certain long-term negative sexual health outcomes, including increased sexual risk behaviors and problems in sexual functioning. Late initiation was also associated with sexual problems, especially among men. Further research is needed to understand how sexual initiation patterns affect later health outcomes.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE (TEEN) BRAIN. Medical educator and physician Dr. Gary Rose has a lot to say about the neurochemistry of sex, and how it enables the permanent “warping” of young minds by exposure to a hyper-sexualized culture. In a recent interview, Dr. Rose explains the mechanism by which the damage is done.
Dr. Rose: “This is so important because in young people their brains are still being molded. If they are getting the wrong flood of chemicals — if their neural pathways are being developed in an abnormal way, those parts of the brain will be superhighways that can't be changed when they come into adult life. People who have multiple sexual partners at a young age are likely going to continue to have multiple partners all their lives. Certain synapses of the brain will be pruned off — and risk-avoidance and delayed gratification may be affected.”
[“Sex-Obsessed Culture Can Damage Young Brains, Says Doctor,” CNSNews.com, 11-13-07, http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200711/CUL20071113b.html; 5Nov07, Abstinence Clearinghouse Update]
MORE ON THE TEEN BRAIN… In a story dealing with teens in the justice system, experts further confirm that the adolescent brain, unlike the brain of an older person, has more “accelerator” and much less “brake.”
Dr. David Fassler, a psychiatry professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, offers this explanation:
"It doesn't mean adolescents can't make a rational decision or appreciate the difference between right and wrong," he said.
"It does mean, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional decisions, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or analyzing the consequences of their actions." [“My Brain Made Me Do It: Immature Brains Linked to Teen Risk-Taking Behavior,” AP, 12-03-07, http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,314601,00.html; 5Dec07, Abstinence Clearinghouse Update]
PORN USE LEADS TO AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR. The changes made by porn in its users are unseen at first, but continued viewing frequently results in acting out, experts say.
A recent article in the Journal of Research in Personality reveals that 60% of men surveyed admitted that they would engage in forced sexual activity if they knew they could get away with it.
Mary Anne Layden, clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said porn creates false beliefs about sexual behavior. “These messages lead to permission-giving beliefs," she said, "for violence, sexual entitlement, that I should be able to have sex whenever I want, however I want, wherever I want, with whomever I want.” [http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000006041.cfm; 5Dec07, Abstinence Clearinghouse Update]
EXPERTS LINK NEW STUDY ON AGGRESSIVE SEXUAL BEHAVIOR TO PORNOGRAPHY USAGE: U.S. Department of Justice has all the tools it needs to stop U.S. commercial pornographers but is not using those tools.
The pervasive use of pornography in western society appears to be the cause of 6 of 10 men polled indicating they would rape a woman if there was no chance of getting caught.
This is according to a recent study by the Journal of Research in Personality, a report that experts are linking to the consumption of pornography.The study showed that 60% of men polled would rape or force a woman to do something she didn't want to do if they were sure they could do so with impunity.
Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Program at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Cognitive Therapy, said there is a correlation between viewing porn and aggressive sexual behavior among individuals.
The results of the study reflect attitudes and behavior that she attributes to prolonged exposure to pornography."These messages lead to permission-giving beliefs," she said, "for violence, sexual entitlemen
t, that I should be able to have sex whenever I want, however I want, wherever I want, with whomever I want."
Layden also said that people who use pornography start to think sex is a form of recreation and that sex isn't about intimacy, love, or respect.
"What this statistic shows is that men will go from just consuming pornography on a regular basis to acting out," said Patrick Trueman, special counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the truth.
In an interview concerning pornography in March, Trueman was critical of the government's failure to stop pornography, especially on the internet.
"The U.S. Department of Justice has all the tools it needs to stop U.S. commercial pornographers, who are responsible for most Internet pornography, from operating illegally on the Internet, but those tools are just not being used," he said.
The pornography industry took in more than $13 billion last year, and provides millions of the internet's websites.
In 2004, Senator Sam Brownback called for more research to uncover the destructive effect of pornography addiction following a U.S. Senate hearing discussing the dangers of pornography addiction. During that hearing, Layden said pornography addiction has similar effects on the brain as heroin or crack cocaine addiction.
Pornography "One of the Most Pervasive and Destructive Problems in Our Society" – Philly Cardinal
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jun/06060908.html
Large Increase in Porn DVD Sales Indicates Growing Pornography Addiction
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121603.html
Pornography Addiction Destroying Lives, US Senate Told
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/nov/04111909.html
[15Nov07, J. Connolly, D.C., LifeSiteNews.com]
Message from "Ex-Homosexuals" to American Psychiatric Association: Don't Ban Therapy. Debbie Thurman was shocked when she was told by homosexual activists that, as she defined herself as a former sufferer of same-sex attraction disorder, she could not possibly exist.
In a very personal self-disclosure, Thurman has written urging the American Psychiatric Association (APA) not to carry out its threat to ban therapy intended to correct the underlying psychological causes of homosexuality.
Thurman writes that "gay activists" tried to deny her own experience of having overcome same-sex attraction, so entrenched is the doctrine of "sexual orientation" as an indelible characteristic.
Research and anecdotal evidence provided by people who have themselves overcome the condition have shown clear indications that homosexuality, or same-sex attraction disorder (SSA), is connected to a quantifiable set of circumstances.
Children from "broken homes" where the parents are divorced or separated and where one or both parents are not present; children who were sexually abused; and children who are temperamentally sensitive are more likely to suffer same-sex attraction disorder and the many psychological disorders associated with it, like depression.
"I raise my hand to all of the above." Thurman wrote, supporting the work of some psychotherapists in helping homosexuals overcome the disorder.
Debbie Thurman, the author of the book "From Depression to Wholeness: The Anatomy of Healing", is a minister with Sheer Faith Ministries and is a family mental health advocate. She says her "mission [is to] educate, encourage and bring unconditional love to the mentally and emotionally ill and their families."
"In order for gay activists to disparage the very possibility of change in one's sexual orientation," she wrote on the website of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), "and convince the mental health establishment to do the same, they generally must engage in the predictable ploy of ad hominem attacks on ex-gays."
She fears that therapists and other professionals helping homosexuals overcome SSA will be forced out of the APA because of the organization's dedication to legitimizing homosexuality.
"If the APA decides to ban such therapy," she writes, "not only will it disregard empirical evidence, but it will also close itself off to recognition of the fourth realm (in addition to the bio-psycho-social) where change has been shown to be especially effective — the spiritual." Such an omission, she said, "would, most assuredly, 'do harm'."
Despite substantial protest from many therapists, the APA removed homosexuality from its diagnostic list of mental disorders in 1973. The homosexual activist doctrine about the substantial association of homosexuality with depression and drug abuse is the result of tensions experienced from society's "homophobia".
Some have accused the APA of having reduced itself from an organization dedicated to objectivity and empirical science to being a tool of the homosexual political lobby. In 2003 the APA discussed the possible removal of paedophilia from the psychiatric manual of mental disorders and this year made a statement supporting "gay marriage".
In July this year, in the face of the threat by the APA to disallow "reparative therapy" for homosexuals, a group of religious leaders and professionals urged the organization to guard against discrimination against clients' religious beliefs, including those that hold homosexual activity to be sinful and damaging.
Homosexuality is widely associated with elevated levels of psychological disturbance and self-harm including suicide, depression, eating disorders, antisocial personality disorder and substance abuse. The homosexual activist community claims that such problems are exclusively the result of a "homophobic" culture and the social stigma attached to "gay lifestyles". Despite the wide and growing acceptance of homosexual "lifestyles", however, such problems have not been reduced among the self-identified homosexual population.
Given the growth in media, courts, the medical and mental health fields, and even the churches, Thurman calls on those who have recovered to speak out in support of therapy. She writes, "Just as many gays remain closeted, so do a number of ex-gays. Not all of us are going to be front and center in discussing our journey. Most of us have no interest in going on the Oprah Show. It's painful for most people to disclose their personal struggles."
"The time has come, however, when more of us are realizing the need to stand up and be counted."
Related:
Professionals, Religious Leaders Urge Religious Toleration by American Psychological Association
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07071202.html
American Psychiatric Association Now Wants To Normalize Pedophilia
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/jun/03061108.html
[4Dec07, H. White, Encino, CA, LifeSiteNews.com]
< /span>
New Study: Abstinence Works
Shortly after the publication of Douglas Kirby's Emerging Answers 2007, a study which found that abstinence programs were not effective, and after Virginia Governor Tim Kaine rejected federal funding for abstinence until marriage programs, a new study to be published in 2008 shows that a Virginia based program has been effective in delaying sexual activity.
Of course, you know which study made the headlines…
Interestingly enough, Dr. Stan Weed, the author of this new study, is on the Effective Programs And Research Task Force, which reviewed Emerging Answers in early 2007.
Being on this task force should give Dr. Weed an equal standing and equal credibility in the media. After all, if he wasn't a credible researcher, he wouldn't be on the task force along with Dr. John Santelli, who is the Department Chair of the Population and Family Health department at Columbia University, would he?
When Douglas Kirby or Dr. John Santelli publish studies supporting comprehensive sexuality education programs, headlines across the nation echo, and quite often misrepresent, the conclusions of their work.
For example, the Associated Press' recent headline describing Emerging Answers reads "Report: Abstinence not curbing teen sex" – yet this headline is misleading.
This AP headline, as well as others, has caused me to suspect that reporters don't actually read the studies, and if they did, they don't actually understand the issue well enough.
Consider that in Emerging Answers, Kirby acknowledges that abstinence increased from 1995 to 2005. (Page 28, paragraph 3) Had the reporter read this paragraph, they wouldn't have been able to honestly pen such a misleading headline.
Interestingly enough, I wasn't able to find an AP story about Dr. Weed's study.
And this isn't the first time the media has ignored studies supporting abstinence until marriage programs.
It seems that a double standard exists – if a study supports contraception and comprehensive sexuality education, it is considered newsworthy, but if a study supports abstinence, it is not.
Dr. Weed's study will be published in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of American Journal of Health Behavior.
You can read more about it here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/88807.php
In closing, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine rejected Title V funding since he wanted to fund programs that are evidence based.
Now that there is evidence that Virginia's program is effective, will Gov. Kaine accept the funding?
What can be done to about the media blackout of studies supporting abstinence program?
Here are some ideas..
1. Bring these studies to the attention of reporters who you have spoken with in the past
2. Announce this study on your blog or website in a prominent location
3. Email news about the study to your mailing list
4. Send out press releases discussing the study
Email news about Dr. Weed's study to your friends.
[19Nov07, http://noroomforcontraception.com/cblog/index.php?/archives/78-New-Study-Abstinence-Works.html]