{"id":6317,"date":"2021-01-18T12:32:57","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T17:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/?p=6317"},"modified":"2021-01-18T12:32:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T17:32:59","slug":"replacing-abstinence-only-sex-ed-could-reduce-sexual-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/2021\/01\/18\/replacing-abstinence-only-sex-ed-could-reduce-sexual-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Replacing Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Could Reduce Sexual Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Justin Lehmiller<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in Vice<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trump administration is doubling down on abstinence. For the last two years,\u00a0they have sought to\u00a0prioritize funds for abstinence-based sex education programs, while cutting funds to science-based programs that take a comprehensive approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence has mounted that abstinence-only sex education just doesn\u2019t work. In fact,\u00a0research has found\u00a0that abstinence-based programs do not reduce rates of teen pregnancy or STDs. In fact, the US states with the most abstinence programs paradoxically have\u00a0the\u00a0highest<\/em>\u00a0rates of teen pregnancy. That\u2019s right: Abstinence programs may hurt more than they help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstinence-only programs aren\u2019t just failing when it comes to teens\u2019 sexual health, though. New research finds that they aren\u2019t doing anything when it comes to combating the widespread problem with sexual violence on college campuses, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a study published in the journal\u00a0PLoS ONE<\/em>, researchers at Columbia University sought to identify factors that would predict higher versus lower rates of sexual victimization among college students. In total, they surveyed 1,671 undergraduate students age 18-29 about their experiences with penetrative sexual assault\u2014meaning coerced or forced vaginal, oral, or anal penetration\u2014as well as a range of factors that might be linked to the odds of victimization in college, including the type of sex education they received in adolescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One in ten students reported having experienced penetrative sexual assault since starting college; however, and consistent with previous research, the number was far higher for women (14 percent) than it was for men (5 percent). Receiving abstinence-only sex education was not associated with risk of sexual assault. In other words, it didn\u2019t reduce the odds of being sexually assaulted, but it didn\u2019t increase them either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, comprehensive sex education that specifically included training in sexual communication skills\u2014especially in terms of how to turn down unwanted sex\u2014was linked to a lower risk of victimization. Specifically, those who received this type of sex education were about half as likely to report having been sexually assaulted in college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These findings have important implications. As the authors of this study write in their paper, \u201cIn the broadest sense, our findings point to the underexplored opportunities for pre-college sexual assault prevention\u2026 Sex education promoting refusal skills before college may protect young people in college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, if we want to fight our problem with sexual violence in colleges and universities, we need to reach out to students before they ever set foot on campus. And their high-school sex education classes present an ideal opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors go on to say that, “sexual assault prevention should adopt a lifecourse perspective, including teaching young people before college about healthy and unhealthy sexual relationships and how to say no when sexual interaction is not wanted and yes when it is wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of where they are on the political spectrum, most people would agree that we have a big problem with sexual violence that needs to be addressed. However, if we\u2019re serious about doing something, we need to let the evidence\u2014the data\u2014serve as our guide instead of ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the data shows is that abstinence-based programs and policies aren\u2019t helping. No matter what outcome you look at\u2014teen pregnancy, STDs, sexual violence\u2014preaching abstinence until marriage just doesn\u2019t seem to work. At best, there\u2019s no effect. At worst\u2014like in the case of teen pregnancy\u2014it\u2019s counterproductive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only is this approach failing to equip students with the skills they need to successfully navigate sexual and romantic relationships, but it\u2019s also unrealistic in an era when most people start having sex in their mid-teens (age 16-17) and the average age of marriage is creeping up to almost 30. We shouldn\u2019t be surprised that teens aren\u2019t listening when we tell them to keep it in their pants for the next 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does work is comprehensive sex education that focuses on telling people what they need to know if and when they decide to become sexually active, and then building sexual communication skills. If health and safety is really our priority, we need to show it by changing the way we teach our kids about sex in school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/bjekez\/replacing-abstinence-only-sex-ed-could-reduce-sexual-violence<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Justin Lehmiller Published in Vice The Trump administration is doubling down on abstinence. For the last two years,\u00a0they have sought to\u00a0prioritize funds for abstinence-based sex education programs, while cutting funds to science-based programs that take a comprehensive approach. Evidence has mounted that abstinence-only sex education just doesn\u2019t work. In fact,\u00a0research has found\u00a0that abstinence-based programs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":6320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6321,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6317\/revisions\/6321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}