Rob Colquhoun

Does Abstinence education work? 

 

There are many positive effects of abstinence education. Abstinence education helps to reduce STDs, decrease teenage pregnancy, improve emotional health, improve socio economic background and increase the probability of a stable marriage. The evidence that abstinence education works is robust and plentiful. The national abstinence education association has identified 10 studies that show the effectiveness of those working in this field.[1] These studies show that abstinence education is effective with students and contributes towards a decrease in unwanted teenage pregnancy.

 

Some of the studies criticising abstinence education, such as the Mathematica study, were flawed in their methodology and tainted with ideology. Abstinence for some is seen as an ineffective, intolerant construction of radical right that uses fear and shame to promote religious ideology. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some members of the sexual revolution generation of the 1960s, most likely those who frolicked around in the grass at Woodstock, have failed to notice that some sexually transmitted diseases are deadly and others can leave you permanently infertile.

 

Abstinence education helps to improve academic results. A national longitudinal survey of adolescent health showed that delayed teenage sex activity had a considerable influence on college attendance and graduation. The graduation rate was 42.5% for abstinent teens (teens who did not have sex before 18) compared to 22.6% for sexually active teens. This is a truly astonishing statistic!

 

To learn about saving sex until marriage is to be helped on the pathway towards a successful marriage. Marriage breakdown costs the government billions of pounds every year. The high costs are due to anti poverty, criminal justice and education programs, through lower levels of taxes paid by individuals whose productivity has been negatively affected through childhood poverty and family fragmentation. One study estimated that marriage breakdown in the USA cost taxpayers $112 billion a year. It identified national, state and local costs which accounted for more than $1 trillion in the last decade.[2]

 

To tell young people that they are unable to control their sexual urges is to treat them like animals. This is patronising, ideologically based and devalues young people. There is a basis of betrayal in believing young people are going to do it anyway. If you expect more out of young people you will get more out of them. Condoms encourage and reinforce behaviour under different risk conditions rather than encourage a change of behaviour towards abstinence and faithful monogamy.[3] This lulls teenagers into a false sense of security as condoms do not provide sufficient protection against most STDs.  In the words of Jerry Springer, “Teenagers have no business having sex at all.” It is my hope that chastity is making some kind of comeback and that it is spreading through popular culture. It’s now going to be cool to be a virgin.

 

 

The new sexual revolution

A Cultural Change for life and love

 

In Malcolm Gladwell’s classic book, the tipping point describes how fashions, trends and phases suddenly go from being deeply unpopular to the height of fashion. With an array of fascinating anecdotes he weaves a story telling us about the precise moment why and when New York became safe, hush puppies grew to be fashionable and children’s programs developed a ‘stickiness’ like glue that made them attractive to children.

 

Chastity is a moral virtue that was largely gleefully relinquished in the 1960s as part of the sexual revolution. Partly due to the ideology that stemmed from this revolution, today teaching about chastity has been virtually eradicated from the classrooms in Britain as teenagers are told the facts about sex in a void of moral guidance.

 

But a new revolution is on the way! A new sexual revolution is starting in the United States with the abstinence movement. Currently I am attending the 12^th annual abstinence clearinghouse conference in Orlando, a national gathering of abstinence educators. Speakers have spoken about the virtues of character education, the emotional dangers of pre marital sex and the need to communicate amusingly and effectively the message to save sex for marriage. Medical statistics have been delivered with considerable reliability and integrity, clearly showing the emotional dangers of pre marital sex, the rise of sexually transmitted diseases and the effectiveness of abstinence education.

 

Yet there is still a long way to go. For every $12 spent on sex education only $1 is spent on abstinence education.[1] There are a proliferation of pro choice organisations that are willing to undermine the efforts of these educators on all fronts, from the promotion of legislation mandating a new HPV vaccine in California to ensuring that the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision is upheld in South Dakota. The advantage pro choice organisations have is that their products and services (e.g. abortion, contraception and drugs) are financially self supporting- whereas the chastity message does not have that immediate advantage. To counteract this problem in such a dollar driven environment, groups such as the silver ring thing have invested heavily in merchandise to help promote their message.

 

Gladwell describes some popular phenomena as being like viruses or epidemics. With the proliferation of a great number of STDs since the 1960s, will the chastity message be able to spread at such a similar speed? For some teenagers in the midst of AIDS pandemic in Africa, this message as important as life and death. To be told to save sex until marriage will quite literally save their lives.

 

The success of abstinence education in Uganda clearly shows that with the support of friends in politics and culture, the abstinence message can become main-stream, transform the culture and save a new generation from disease, death and the depo-provera shot. But this success involved the support of the President, religious leaders, the government and business. Building such a coalition takes considerable networking skills, diplomacy, continuation of political support from election to election and sustainable financial viability. In recent years there have been continued successful efforts to keep the Title V abstinence education program financed by the Senate finance committee. Yet the danger of accepting government money is that it always is provided with strings attached and can be revoked at a later date.

 

For the abstinence message to become main-stream, educators will also have to find a method of connecting with teens, piercing youth culture with a message that will resonate with the hearts and minds of a new media generation. Educators at the conference have tried dance, theatre, fashionable internet websites, comedy, film and even a skydiving analogy to get this message across. But as Lakita Garth has pointed out (having attended a ‘what teens want’ conference), teens don’t really know what they want and adults largely determine boundaries and preferences of teenagers. The large number of teenagers and men at the conference is a considerable joy to the organisers, who have also provided a youth and Spanish series of talks.

 

It has been observed that pro-life advocates will eventually win arguments in America because their opponents will have aborted too many of their future supporters to be able to win the opinion polls. But building a culture of life will need slightly more insightful and hasty tactics if a chastity message is able to reach the mainstream culture which is saturated by fornication and pornography. Educators at this conference have shown good signs of building solid foundations for this cultural change, but have a long way to go. One particular problem has been the false definition and caricature of abstinence that opponents have created. This attempts to show that such education is ineffective and does not work. Many of these studies have had serious flaws and concentrate on microscopic statistics. Nevertheless a media frenzy has been created out of some of these anachronistic studies.[2]

 

The critical turning point

 

Yet where does the all important catalyst for becoming mainstream lie for the abstinence movement? It has been said that if you change the way people think, you can change the way people speak. If you can change the way they speak, you can change the way they act. If you can change the way people act, you can change the world. The importance of language, media and thought are therefore of utmost importance in bringing cultural change. Cultural imperatives lie deeper therefore than legislative reform which in theory remains reactive to culture.

 

One particularly successful method has been to get famous stars to embrace the chastity message and articulate their beliefs and views to the public. This helps to create healthy role models for young people who they can follow. The NFL quarterback Philip Rivers has spoken about his married life and decision to remain a virgin until marriage.

 

I believe the crucial turning point will be provided by credible medical evidence for a rational generation, fostering the support of government and culture and having an army of good speakers spreading the message of wait until marriage in every space possible. At some point this will help to overcome the lust dominated culture to help rebuild the culture of life and love that is desperately needed.