A new article on American sexual habits brings with it a host of questions:
The results of the analysis indicate that premarital sex is highly normative behavior. Almost all individuals of both sexes have intercourse before marrying, and the proportion has been roughly similar for the past 40 years.1
The first, and most obvious question is "How did the study define sex?" As we learned during the Clinton administration, there are multiple definitions of what sex is, from "hand holding" and "closed mouth kissing" (both acts something that some Christians would have people avoid as vile and despoiling before marriage and (I suspect) even after, according to those people) to "it only counts the third time you do it with the same person." The study actually defined "premarital sex" as "vaginal sexual intercourse" more than one month before marriage2.
Is Christian teaching, asking that people abstain until marriage, unrealistic? Are current abstinence programs (based on fear and often misinformation) merely piling burdens on people that we are not helping them lift? Are we merely perpetuating a cycle of guilt? Are the promoters of abstinence attempting to deal with their own guilt by demanding of others what they themselves could not manage?
Do we stop teaching abstinence? Do we encourage children to marry at age 15, so that remaining a virgin until marriage isn't so difficult? Do we shoot children up with chemicals like Depo Provera to give them the strength to abstain?
What do you folks think?
- Finer, Lawrence B. Trends in Premarital Sex in the United States, 1954-2003. Public Health Reports 2007 (v.122); 1:73-78. Available from: URL: http://www.publichealthreports.org/userfiles/122_1/12_PHR122-1_73-78.pdf. [back]
- Page 74 of the article cited. [back]
[...] December 29th, 2006 by Gutter Ball Master Did you hear the new statistic about premarital sex? 90% of people surveyed have had premarital sex. The results of the analysis indicate that premarital sex is highly normative behavior. Almost all individuals of both sexes have intercourse before marrying, and the proportion has been roughly similar for the past 40 years. As I understand it, the goals of sex education are to reduce the number of premarital (and perhaps extramarital) sexual encounters (define it as you may), reduce the number of STD cases, and/or reduce the frequency of school-aged mothers (again define as you may)? The U.S. already has many programs: abstinence only, give them the facts, a mixture of the last two, just give them a condom already, abortion as birth control, RU-486 (?), self-mutilation, and the morning after pill. In my opinion, “Abstinence Only Education” is a step in the right direction; however, I would go further to the realm of “Chastity Lifestyle Education”. Making girls make contracts with their Fathers’ and wear promise jewelry while using fear in “Abstinence Only Education” is not the way to go. These forces quickly come loose in anyone’s memory. (Same goes for the guys.) Instead, with “Chastity Lifestyle Education” young people may come to understand that their body is not something to be used and discarded but something to be cherished and that physical, mental, and spiritual intimacy needs to be nurtured over a lifetime. This new life view taught by “Chastity Lifestyle Education” may not unravel as easily as the methods mentioned above. (But as I say, “Anybody is capable of anything at any time. Pray to God that He may help you.”) Of course the “Why Chastity?” will be asked. That’s the catch with “Chastity Lifestyle Education”. God cannot enter into play for many schools, but the ultimate sex education comes from the Creator of sex (as wonderfully explained by JP2). Until “Chastity Lifestyle Education” takes place, no real headway will be made toward the goals of sex education. Can you tell I’m pessimistic about U.S. sex education curricula and outcomes? What do you think? gbm3 —- [...]