> Kids Shouldn't Be Learning About Sex from TV
>
> By Kelli Conlin, AlterNet. Posted September 19, 2008.
>
> Kids that don't get sex ed in school don't run to the Bible for
> information -- they get their ideas about sex from sordid teen dramas.
> The New York streets are filled with posters advertising the return of
> the hit TV show Gossip Girl: photogenic teens embrace beneath a quote
> proclaiming that the show is "Every parent's nightmare." While Gossip
> Girl may be filled with the endless sexual encounters of high school
> students, the fictionalized private school is not this parent's
> September nightmare. My real-life nightmare is that kids are once
> again beginning a school year that will most likely not provide them
> with comprehensive sex education, leaving them at the mercy of shows
> such as Gossip Girl and the revamped 90210.
>
> Unfortunately teen melodrama hardly pretends to provide the important
> information young people need to keep themselves healthy and safe.
> Rarely is there discussion of sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
> birth control methods, relationship negotiation, parent-child
> communication or abstinence -- all of the components included in the
> medically accurate, age appropriate sex education program our students
> so desperately need.
>
> In a state that ranks among the highest in the nation in both teenage
> pregnancy and STI rate, it is a travesty that our schools do not
> provide this critical information. Did you know that one in four teen
> girls has an STI? Or that more teens are having sex while fewer of
> them are using condoms?
>
> We know that real sex ed works: students who complete comprehensive
> sex ed programs delay sexual activity, have fewer partners and are
> more likely to use condoms when they decide to become sexually active.
> It is patently irresponsible to look at information that tells us that
> over 6 in 10 New York teens have sex before graduating high school
> (and over one in ten has sex before the age of 15!) and yet deny them
> the information they need to keep themselves healthy and safe. But the
> fact is that -- lacking a statewide program, a mandate or funding --
> the decision whether or not to teach sex ed currently depends upon the
> resources, will and comfort level of individual principals or school
> boards. This haphazard approach means that a student in one school may
> be receiving full comprehensive sex education, while a student up the
> street may simply be told to "just say no."
>
> Ironically, many people view New York as being the pinnacle of
> reproductive health care but the reality is that we lag behind other
> cities and states when it comes to sex education. The Democrat-led New
> York State Assembly has tried to help rectify the situation. For the
> past four years, the Assembly has passed the Healthy Teens Act (a bill
> that would set up a funding stream to help schools provide
> comprehensive sex education) with bipartisan support. Unfortunately,
> the Republican-led New York State Senate has repeatedly failed to act
> upon this bill, completely abandoning the students who entered our
> high schools as freshmen and then graduated without ever having
> received sex ed.
>
> On the bright side, New York did refuse federal abstinence only
> dollars and that money was re-routed toward pregnancy prevention
> programs. While a positive first step, that was not nearly enough. All
> students deserve accurate information; it is incumbent upon state
> leaders and urban city officials to act swiftly to ensure they receive
> it. In two months, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to vote for
> elected officials who will make sex education and reproductive health
> a priority; it is high time that we send a message to our elected
> officials that they need to stop stalling and move quickly to ensure
> that every student gets sex ed every grade, every year.
>
> Because while I'm sure that primetime TV is, for many, simply escapist
> entertainment, it is not where we want young people learning their
> facts of life.
>
> Kelli Conlin is the President of NARAL Pro-Choice New York.