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Rose Siding Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 06:51 PM
Original message
Government Abstinence Web Site Draws Ire
WASHINGTON - How should you talk to your children about sex? Tell them no sex, says a new government Web site that proclaims "abstinence is the healthiest choice." That's dictating values, say organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and gay rights groups, and they want the site taken down.

Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, says the Web site is right on target.

The site was designed for parents who are embarrassed about talking with their children about sex, Leavitt said in a statement.
....
Promoting abstinence is fine, said Monica Rodriguez of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, but the government should also address the needs of teenagers who are already sexually active, gay or lesbian, or who have been sexually abused.

For example, she said Thursday, the site should promote the proper use of contraceptives, and it should not imply that homosexuality is wrong by encouraging parents of gay or lesbian children to consult a therapist.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=513&ncid=691&e=1&u=/ap/20050331/ap_on_go_ot/government_sex_talk
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Gloria Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 07:08 PM
Response to Original message
1. They are screwing Africa and other countries up with this crap
I listen to the reports on shortwave. Uganda dropped its AIDS infection rates from 16% to about 6% through educating about safe sex with condoms.
Now, they're supposed to do nothing but talk abstinence. One spokesperson that these nuts think that women don't get coerced into sex, that it's all a "choice."
The guy heading the overseas thing is a named Tobias (last name). Sounded like a typical RW creep....
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Erika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 10:03 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. Good point about women being screwed
Abstinence is fine but it's not reality and all the Bush spin in the world won't change the reality.
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yurbud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 01:12 PM
Response to Reply #1
23. If we don't teach abstinence only in Africa, AIDS will take a lot longer
to clear the natives off that nice sunny property.
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benddem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 08:58 PM
Response to Original message
2. These people are either
incredibly stupid or they they are pandering to the right wing. Abstinence was the only thing when I was in school and a number of my classmates left school early. They they got married. It just doesn't work. Spending money on this and hurting poor people in Africa is just incredibly insane.
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VegasWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 10:09 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. You must be implying that the Right Wing is incredibly stoopid. n/t
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nolabels Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 11:08 AM
Response to Reply #4
22. I clicked on this thread thinking "Government Abstinence" was about.......
avoiding getting screwed by the government, my bad :hide:
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BattyDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 10:18 PM
Response to Original message
5. "Tell them no sex."
Oh yeah ... that'll work. :eyes:
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Undercover Owl Donating Member (621 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 11:27 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. abstinence training has worked for centuries.
Society has preached abstinence throughout the centuries, and look at how well it has worked!!
:eyes:
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all.of.me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 10:00 AM
Response to Reply #5
19. right.
thousands of years' worth of pre-marital or <gasp> teen sex will be changed with the government proclaiming NO SEX!

just say no! again!

oh puleeeeeeezzzz........
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area51 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-31-05 11:15 PM
Response to Original message
6. "...abstinence is the healthiest choice..."
Um, I'd imagine that health professionals would say that masturbation would be the healthiest choice. :evilgrin:
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:47 AM
Response to Reply #6
16. Jocyln Edlers tried that-look at happened when she mentioned master-
bation-and that was during a Dem. administration!! Imagine if anyone dared do that now!!
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Daphne08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:54 AM
Response to Reply #16
18. Anyone remember Dr. Ruth on TV? That wouldn't fly these days.
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customerserviceguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #18
25. Apparently
You haven't seen "Talk Sex with Sue Johanson" on Oxygen TV. She's even more matter-of-fact about sex than Dr. Ruth was!
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Daphne08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-02-05 09:47 AM
Response to Reply #25
29. No, I haven't seen that.
Will tune in. ;)
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Moderator DU Moderator Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Original message
8. kick to combine
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Hissyspit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Original message
9. AP: Gov't Web Site Telling Parents to Promote Abstinence Draws Protest
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBM78F207E.html

Apr 1, 2005

Government Web Site Telling Parents to Promote Teen Abstinence Draws Protest
By Kevin Freking
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - An array of advocacy groups are calling on the federal government to take down one of its new Web sites, saying it presents biased and inaccurate advice to parents on how to talk to their children about sex.
The site - 4parents.gov - stresses the promotion of abstinence.

Emphasizing abstinence is fine, said the groups, but the government also should stress the need for contraception if sexual relations do occur.

"There's this misconception that giving young people negative information about contraception will encourage them not to have sexual intercourse, when all it will do is encourage them not to have contraception, so the strategy backfires," Monica Rodriguez, an official at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, said Thursday.

The council, which also provides sex education materials, sent a letter addressing its concerns to Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. More than 100 organizations, primarily liberal advocacy groups, signed on, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign and Planned Parenthood.

MORE

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coloradodem2005 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. Duh.
Gee, I didn't know that.
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. HHS describe sexual orientation (gay) as a n "alternative lifestyle"

......The Human Rights Campaign said it was particularly concerned about sections of the Web site that focus on sexual orientation. The group works for equal rights for gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

The site says: "If you believe your adolescent may be gay, or is experiencing difficulties with gender identity or sexual orientation issues, consider seeing a family therapist who shares your values to clarify and work through these issues."

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a separate letter to Leavitt, that describing sexual orientation as an "alternative lifestyle" is outdated and inaccurate language that can alienate youth at a time when they are particularly vulnerable.

"By terming sexual orientation a 'lifestyle,' HHS is discussing it as a matter of choice, which is contrary to the vast majority of scientific evidence. Sexual orientation is not a lifestyle," Solmonese said. ....
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. this is a new site-just last week

...Leavitt said in a statement unveiling the site last week that it was designed for parents who are embarrassed about talking with their children about sex.
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #9
13. This is what the religious right get out of Bush. A web site. Just a
whole pile of nothings whispered into the ears of the religious right so they don't get with reality and realize they are in fact chumps used to elect Bush so he could implement the Elite agenda.
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:45 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. these web sites are teaching tools for health educ classes
These web sites are important cites of information for teachers-they are important in that respect.
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. this information puts our kids at risk for developing std-it is terrrible
that the HHS-a Fed Dept that is suspose to be promoting heatlh, is actully putting them at risk for sexually transmitted diseases (std)
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #15
26. Yes it is terrible. But the average adult is going to know the difference
and ignore the propaganda. Perhaps this is more of the destroying government from within... so that even teachers learn to cringe at the thought of going to a government web page.

It works on many levels..like all the sociopathic stuff does. If you are a gay-hating christian..you like plus you feel Bush is on your side even though he implements none of your agenda..even though for once in the life of a Repuke he has control over all levers of government... it works to dis-hearted, depress, coerce the people who are not hateful.

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Shallah Kali Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:20 AM
Response to Reply #9
14. Abstinence - because Just Say No eliminated drug abuse in America
:eyes:
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Bridget Burke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 10:16 AM
Response to Original message
20. The Junior Anti-Sex League?
The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act. Not love so much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it. All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose, and -- though the principle was never clearly stated -- permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another. The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the Party. Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema. This again was never put into plain words, but in an indirect way it was rubbed into every Party member from childhood onwards. There were even organizations such as the Junior Anti-Sex League, which advocated complete celibacy for both sexes. All children were to be begotten by artificial insemination (artsem, it was called in Newspeak) and brought up in public institutions. This, Winston was aware, was not meant altogether seriously, but somehow it fitted in with the general ideology of the Party. The Party was trying to kill the sex instinct, or, if it could not be killed, then to distort it and dirty it. He did not know why this was so, but it seemed natural that it should be so.

www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/6/


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stanwyck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 10:58 AM
Response to Original message
21. In my very unscientific study
once again, the people who will be hurt most by these archaic attitudes are religious conservatives. By not being educated on sex, they make mistakes and risk unplanned pregnancies and sexually tranmitted diseases. The girls who became pregnant in my son and daughter's high school were religious fundamentalists who didn't believe in sex before marriage. Except...they had sex before marriage. And babies before marriage. And so their education ended and their life of poverty began.
Meanwhile the Georgia legislature has now made it easier for the daddies to pay less child support. The "Mad Dads" have pushed through new guidelines which allow them to blithely leave behind those first children as Dad remarries. And remarries.
More poverty for the women and children. Republican family values is one of those Bushian jokes like Blue Skies. The family values are all about Dad keeping his money.
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sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 01:14 PM
Response to Original message
24. I'll say this
abstinence until one is finnacially and mentally ready to have a child. If one is not wanting a child, abstinence until marriage/partnership.
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winston61 Donating Member (642 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 07:01 PM
Response to Original message
27. they just don't get it!
You'd think that people that hate abortion would welcome ways to reduce the demand for abortion. On the contrary, they despise real sex ed. and contraception. They force this crap on kids and give no real information. What happens? The kids engage in sex anyway. But the kicker is that the kids don't know anything about safety, so the girls are pregnant and STDs get spread. This has to be the most astounding case of group denial of fact ever. They think that if you hand a kid a condom that is permission to have sex. But by kidding themselves and keeping kids in the dark what they do is guarantee themselves some early grandchildren.
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LevelB Donating Member (181 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Apr-01-05 09:06 PM
Response to Original message
28. You guys don't get it
All this site needs is the personal touch.

It needs personal stories from Bush, Cheney, DeLay, etc., about how they abstained as teenagers.

I would honestly pay good money to see these idiots go in a public forum and relate their personal abstinence stories. "I wanted Laura and I to 'save ourselves' for our wedding night". :rofl:


B.
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noamnety Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-02-05 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
30. choice quote from the site
"In reality "safe sex" does not exist outside of a committed, monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner, preferably marriage."

I guess the wedding license is less prone to ripping than a condom, but it doesn't seem like it would be too comfortable.
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