Oh, it was so dumb! Someone writing to say that instead of bettering the things that prevent STDs, teenagers should just NOT HAVE SEX. The worst sentence (and there were MANY, including ones saying that condoms send the message that we WANT teenagers to have sex) was that it didn’t take a medical degree to see that abstinence resulted in a 0% STD transfer. The letter also clearly assumed that only teenage sex was an STD problem, and said that parents were responsible for telling teenagers not to have sex—as if that would WORK. It was clear that the writer thought that teenaged sex = premarital sex, and that marital sex was by definition STD-free. DUMBASS.
I’ve seen some studies recently showing that the new trend towards abstinence-only sex ed isn’t preventing STD’s or teen pregnancies. The best results were had from programs that DID encourage abstinence, but also gave out some good old fashioned EDUCATION about safe sex practices as well.
Yeah, I live in an area of the country where I am in a very small minority when it comes to religious/political/social views and for some reason I still read the local letters to the editor. It makes me ANGRY and then I HATE EVERYONE and EVERYONE IS STUPID.
I hear ya, sista-friend. The same thing happens to me alllll the time. Then I get convinced that the world is just going to hell in a handbasket and my kids aren’t going to have anywhere to live in the future and those crazy scary scenes from the bible might actually happen.
OH! Just don’t have sex! Gee, I wish someone had told me that in high school, I’m SURE it would have made me stop doing it!
I think the real issue with people like that is that THEY weren’t able to Get Any, and want to spoil it for us regular people. I fully expect that our two are (gag) going to (urrgh) have sex when they’re teens, and although I don’t want to know about it, per se, I’m not such a dumbass that I think I can stop them. Although, the thought makes me throw up in my mouth just a little.
Our hometown is totally f*d up. I don’t know how you deal with those local yokels. Jeeze.
so this is probably too graphic or whatever, but i can’t help myself: i read that young catholic girls have been so indoctrinated into NO SEX! SEX BAD! STDs! BABIES!! that they’re doing OTHER things instead. like, for example, in some Other Places that normally are exit only. AND THEN, sometimes there is a … geez, how do i say this tactfully? .. a.. uh.. “trickle down” effect, if you get me? and they end up PREGNANT ANYWAY, as a result of the.. uh.. trickling. even though they’re still “virgins.” how the eff do you explain that to daddy?
I’m all worked up tonight too. Must be in the water. It’s looking like they’re going to put those texas kids in foster care and it is breaking my heart.
As much as I love ya Swistle, I just want to give a cheer for religion and family teachings that actually did keep me sex-free (no backdoor escapades either, lol!) during my teen years. After that, all bets are off. ;)
I’m sure the letter to the editor was terribly stupid and would have set me off too. And I’ll keep hoping there are still a few not-stupid people out there that feel the same way I do about abstinence for teens. Particularly I hope they’re the parents of the kids that my children will be dating!!
RainyPM- Oh no no no! I DEFINITELY will teach the teenagers in our house not to have sex, DEFINITELY. I DEFINITELY think the little idiots should be abstaining, DEFINITELY. But I’m not fool enough to think that “My mom says not to” keeps ALL teenagers from going ahead and doing it anyway. The person who wrote the letter thought that the only reason teenagers would ever have sex is that their parents failed to teach them not to. Stupid negligent parents, letting their teenagers have sex!
Also, the letter-writer failed to realize that STDs can be transferred among people who are NOT teenagers. He thought that if we kept teenagers from having sex, all STDs would end.
Also, he felt that teenagers who DID make foolish choices SHOULD die of cervical cancer in their middle age. I don’t know if he feels that way about his own children and grandchildren (that if they have sex, he wants them to be dead), but it’s not the way I feel about mine: if my daughter makes choices I consider very poor choices, I STILL want her alive and healthy.
Have to weigh back in: it SO annoys me that the old Bush campaign is spending all this money in Africa on Abstinence Only education. It seriously blows my mind. Not that there’s anything wrong with reminding people of the obvious: don’t have sex, and babies and diseases won’t happen. But to ONLY harp on that is as stupid as teaching all kinds of fire prevention safety and then never mentioning what to do if one should ever ENCOUNTER A FIRE.
So stupid. And the sad thing is, does this guy realize that not every teenagers has a concerned, loving parent? I see them all the time in in my GED class (as well as though who DO have involved parents). Opinions like that are just so useless. You know, if you can’t be helpful…
Re-reading my comment from last night, it didn’t come out at all like I meant it. What I wanted to say was that morons like the guy that wrote the letter really piss me off too.
I was going to write more, but my kid is crying that there’s a bug in her bed and isn’t believing that I can take care of it from down the hall. Damn dream bugs.
I love it when the anti-sex people get all riled up. Dingbats. These are the same people whose children are engaging in oral and anal sex because they think that vaginal intercourse is the only true sex and if they’re not having it, well, then they’re safe.
Oh, but can’t you tell us what it was about?
I hate those. Was it someone who was actually coherent or a Local Nutcake?
Are you going to leave us hanging like that??
Oh, it was so dumb! Someone writing to say that instead of bettering the things that prevent STDs, teenagers should just NOT HAVE SEX. The worst sentence (and there were MANY, including ones saying that condoms send the message that we WANT teenagers to have sex) was that it didn’t take a medical degree to see that abstinence resulted in a 0% STD transfer. The letter also clearly assumed that only teenage sex was an STD problem, and said that parents were responsible for telling teenagers not to have sex—as if that would WORK. It was clear that the writer thought that teenaged sex = premarital sex, and that marital sex was by definition STD-free. DUMBASS.
I’ve seen some studies recently showing that the new trend towards abstinence-only sex ed isn’t preventing STD’s or teen pregnancies. The best results were had from programs that DID encourage abstinence, but also gave out some good old fashioned EDUCATION about safe sex practices as well.
See, that’s why I never read editorials. If I wanted to hear skewed opinions about issues like that I’d call my grandparents. ha.
Come on, you can’t leave us hangin’!
Yeah, I live in an area of the country where I am in a very small minority when it comes to religious/political/social views and for some reason I still read the local letters to the editor. It makes me ANGRY and then I HATE EVERYONE and EVERYONE IS STUPID.
i could have written this same EXACT post – no lie! there are some people that have gone and pissed me off this week! ergh!
Religion and politics. Whew. Just the mention of those two words together starts my blood pressure rising.
I hear ya, sista-friend. The same thing happens to me alllll the time. Then I get convinced that the world is just going to hell in a handbasket and my kids aren’t going to have anywhere to live in the future and those crazy scary scenes from the bible might actually happen.
Then I usually come down off my ledge. Usually.
I recently saw a bumper sticker that pretty much sums it all up quite nicely, or at least how I’ve been feeling recently:
“Everyone’s an Asshole – Until Proven Otherwise.”
OH! Just don’t have sex! Gee, I wish someone had told me that in high school, I’m SURE it would have made me stop doing it!
I think the real issue with people like that is that THEY weren’t able to Get Any, and want to spoil it for us regular people. I fully expect that our two are (gag) going to (urrgh) have sex when they’re teens, and although I don’t want to know about it, per se, I’m not such a dumbass that I think I can stop them. Although, the thought makes me throw up in my mouth just a little.
Our hometown is totally f*d up. I don’t know how you deal with those local yokels. Jeeze.
Now why the hell didn’t THAT occur to me when I was a teenager?! Oh yeah, because I didn’t have a medical degree. duh.
so this is probably too graphic or whatever, but i can’t help myself: i read that young catholic girls have been so indoctrinated into NO SEX! SEX BAD! STDs! BABIES!! that they’re doing OTHER things instead. like, for example, in some Other Places that normally are exit only. AND THEN, sometimes there is a … geez, how do i say this tactfully? .. a.. uh.. “trickle down” effect, if you get me? and they end up PREGNANT ANYWAY, as a result of the.. uh.. trickling. even though they’re still “virgins.” how the eff do you explain that to daddy?
Alice- OMG. And that makes TOTAL SENSE that that would be happening, and that the little idiots wouldn’t have thought of that.
I’m all worked up tonight too. Must be in the water. It’s looking like they’re going to put those texas kids in foster care and it is breaking my heart.
As much as I love ya Swistle, I just want to give a cheer for religion and family teachings that actually did keep me sex-free (no backdoor escapades either, lol!) during my teen years. After that, all bets are off. ;)
I’m sure the letter to the editor was terribly stupid and would have set me off too. And I’ll keep hoping there are still a few not-stupid people out there that feel the same way I do about abstinence for teens. Particularly I hope they’re the parents of the kids that my children will be dating!!
RainyPM- Oh no no no! I DEFINITELY will teach the teenagers in our house not to have sex, DEFINITELY. I DEFINITELY think the little idiots should be abstaining, DEFINITELY. But I’m not fool enough to think that “My mom says not to” keeps ALL teenagers from going ahead and doing it anyway. The person who wrote the letter thought that the only reason teenagers would ever have sex is that their parents failed to teach them not to. Stupid negligent parents, letting their teenagers have sex!
Also, the letter-writer failed to realize that STDs can be transferred among people who are NOT teenagers. He thought that if we kept teenagers from having sex, all STDs would end.
Also, he felt that teenagers who DID make foolish choices SHOULD die of cervical cancer in their middle age. I don’t know if he feels that way about his own children and grandchildren (that if they have sex, he wants them to be dead), but it’s not the way I feel about mine: if my daughter makes choices I consider very poor choices, I STILL want her alive and healthy.
So I’m pissed at him.
Have to weigh back in: it SO annoys me that the old Bush campaign is spending all this money in Africa on Abstinence Only education. It seriously blows my mind. Not that there’s anything wrong with reminding people of the obvious: don’t have sex, and babies and diseases won’t happen. But to ONLY harp on that is as stupid as teaching all kinds of fire prevention safety and then never mentioning what to do if one should ever ENCOUNTER A FIRE.
OMG what Alice said!!
Now THERE’S a not-so-immaculate conception for you!
AR AR.
So stupid. And the sad thing is, does this guy realize that not every teenagers has a concerned, loving parent? I see them all the time in in my GED class (as well as though who DO have involved parents). Opinions like that are just so useless. You know, if you can’t be helpful…
Re-reading my comment from last night, it didn’t come out at all like I meant it. What I wanted to say was that morons like the guy that wrote the letter really piss me off too.
I was going to write more, but my kid is crying that there’s a bug in her bed and isn’t believing that I can take care of it from down the hall. Damn dream bugs.
You’ve got include a clip of this insanity.
I love it when the anti-sex people get all riled up. Dingbats. These are the same people whose children are engaging in oral and anal sex because they think that vaginal intercourse is the only true sex and if they’re not having it, well, then they’re safe.