Politiks

Ulyanov · Fri May 04, 2007 8:40 pm Abstinence Education

I'm an asexual, so this really isn't an issue that affects me personally even though I'm in high school, but I don't think it makes much sense anyway. Most teens will have sex, telling them not to won't make a difference, it makes far more sense to make sure they/we know how to prevent pregnancy and do it all safely. Abstinence education doesn't include this, it just assumes that it will work and everyone will be abstinent until marriage.

Ekaf · Fri May 04, 2007 9:46 pm

It does have its good sides, non-abstinence education assumes condoms will work and they don't always do. I think we should have a mix of both, access to information but encouraging of abstinence.

agentkgb · Sat May 05, 2007 11:55 am

Romantic or aromantic Ulyanov? I'm asexual too, this is the first time I've seen an asexual on the internet that I didn't meet on the aven forums.</offtopic>
Abstinence should be encouraged, it's not like we should tell teenagers "go do it, condoms are infallible!', but it's not like it will work most of the time. Abstinence is the only thing that works 100% of the time, but abstinence education's failure rate is higher than the condom failure rate.

Ulyanov · Sun May 06, 2007 1:26 am

agentkgb wrote: Romantic or aromantic Ulyanov? I'm asexual too, this is the first time I've seen an asexual on the internet that I didn't meet on the aven forums.</offtopic>
Sorry I didn't see this until now. I'm pretty sure I'm aromantic but I guess there's a chance I'm romantic and just don't know it yet. You?

Maximus Vigilus · Sun May 06, 2007 3:31 am

The odds of you guys meeting are very low, considering asexuality and aromanticism are among the smallest percentages of people in the world.

Ulyanov · Sun May 06, 2007 10:44 am

Maximus Vigilus wrote: The odds of you guys meeting are very low, considering asexuality and aromanticism are among the smallest percentages of people in the world.
It's ridiculously low, asexuals are less than 1% of the population and aromantics are probably no more than 20% of them. While we're off-topic agent, do you have a sex drive (I don't, so that would be even weirder)?

agentkgb · Sun May 06, 2007 12:11 pm

I have no sex drive and am aromantic. I don't know how many forums ulyanov's on and how often the subject would come up, but I'm on a lot, so actually the probability probably isn't below 10%. If you combine the number of times I've seen people state their sexualities and the number of people who have seen me mention that I'm asexual (I used to be pretty active in the gay&lesbian section of a big political forum), I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out to at least 200. None of them before now have said they're asexual, but it's not unlikely that at least one of them would have by now.

Ulyanov · Sun May 06, 2007 12:25 pm

If you assume 200 people have seen it and that only .15% of people are aromantic-asexuals , there's about a 26% chance one of us would have been an aromantic-asexual (I have a major stats test tuesday). Still though, neither of us have a sex drive, which makes it less probable. Also, we seem to have similar views on a lot of things (and we both have similar career aims), which may be slightly connected to asexuality, but still, it is quite weird.

agentkgb · Sun May 06, 2007 1:10 pm

Well it's not like the 200 people (which is a low estimate considering I used to blog too and mentioned it there a couple times), are completely random, most of them had an interest in politics (you obviously do), and the gay/lesbian forum I referred to was mostly people who supported gay rights. It's still very unlikely, but not unbelievably unlikely.

Maximus Vigilus · Sun May 06, 2007 11:56 pm

Back on topic, Abstinence education in my opinion is a fairly stupid idea, however sex education is general is fantastic. If we try and hammer abstinence into the heads of everyone they will be less likely to be receptive of the idea. However if we simply educate them on all the facts and not put Abstinence on a pedestal you are allowing them to make their own decisions. Either way some teens will have sex before marriage and some won't.

Matt · Mon May 07, 2007 12:32 am

I'd like to support abstinence-only education, but the fact is it doesn't work, and it makes more sense to have teens having sex with condoms than without, so I agree. Plus theoretically fewer abortions that way.

Bob Frankenberry · Mon May 07, 2007 4:23 am

I'm of the idea that if a teenager wants to have sex bad enough, they'll do it. The same can be said of any person, and any situation.

Of course, I think if they're going to teach that teenagers should "wait until they find 'The One'" they should teach the kid that masturbation is not a bad thing.