Difference between revisions of "Sex education"

Revision as of 22:00, 30 May 2010

About

Sex education is education about the facts of human sexual reproduction, especially at the grade-school level (adolescents and almost-adolescents).

Contraceptives

Contraception is a major area of sex education because it allows those who are sexually active to:

reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancy
reduce the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), especially among teenagers

United States

Sex education is considered controversial in the United States, where it is often strongly opposed by conservatives and the religious right (see, for example, Conservapedia ) on the following grounds:

teaching kids about sex will increase their interest in it
it is better to teach kids to abstain from sex (abstinence-based education) than to teach them more about it

This has given rise to two major forms of sex education in the US, "abstinence-based" (which emphasizes abstinence as the best prevention) and "comprehensive" (which teaches proper use of contraceptives and includes bioscience).

Since 1982, the US has spent over $1.5 billion on ABE. The Bush II administration widely promoted ABE and laws to encourage abstinence-based over comprehensive.

Conclusions

There is no evidence that abstinence-based education is effective, and considerable evidence that it is ineffective -- especially when it displaces comprehensive sex education.

Evidence regarding the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education versus no sex education at all is less easy to come by, and Issuepedia is still collecting data.

Links

Reference

Wikipedia
Conservapedia
~~dKosopedia~~: no equivalent article (as of 2008-08-26)
~~SourceWatch~~: no equivalent article (as of 2008-08-26)

Filed Links

redirect template:links/smw

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-==Overview==
+==About==
-[[Sex education]] is [[education]] about the facts of human sexual reproduction. One of its primary intents is to inform adolescents (and near-adolescents) about the risks of sexual intercourse, i.e. unwanted pregnancies and [[sexually-transmitted disease]]s (STDs), and the preventative measures they can take to reduce those risks.
+[[Sex education]] is [[education]] about the facts of human sexual reproduction, especially at the grade-school level (adolescents and almost-adolescents).
+===Contraceptives===
+Contraception is a major area of sex education because it allows those who are sexually active to:
+* reduce the risk of [[unwanted pregnancy]]
+* reduce the spread of [[sexually-transmitted disease]]s (STDs), especially among [[teen pregnancy|teenagers]]
+===United States===
+Sex education is considered controversial in the {{USA}}, where it is often strongly opposed by [[US conservatism|conservatives]] and the [[religious right]] (see, for example, {{conservapedia}}) on the following grounds:
+* teaching kids about sex will increase their interest in it
+* it is better to teach kids to abstain from sex ([[abstinence-based education]]) than to teach them more about it
-Sex education is notable for being effective at reducing unwanted pregnancies while also being opposed by many [[anti-abortion|abortion opponents]], who often advocate for the highly ineffective [[abstinence-based education]] in its place. (See {{conservapedia}} for one take on their side of the story.)
+This has given rise to two major forms of sex education in the US, "[[abstinence-based education|abstinence-based]]" (which emphasizes [[abstinence]] as the best prevention) and "[[comprehensive sex education|comprehensive]]" (which teaches proper use of contraceptives and includes bioscience).
-[[Sex education]] is, amazingly, not required in most (any?) [[US public school system|public school systems]] in the [[United States]].
+Since 1982, the US has spent over $1.5 billion on ABE. The [[Bush II administration]] widely promoted ABE and laws to encourage abstinence-based over comprehensive.
+====Conclusions====
+There is no evidence that [[abstinence-based education]] is effective, and considerable evidence that it is ineffective -- especially when it displaces [[comprehensive sex education]].
-The [[Bush II administration]] has widely promoted [[abstinence-based education]] over [[sex education]].
+Evidence regarding the effectiveness of comprehensive sex education versus no sex education at all is less easy to come by, and Issuepedia is still collecting data.
 ==Links==
 ===Reference===