Monday, June 23, 2008
Stop blaming sex ed and "Juno"!
24 comments
I'm sure most of you have heard of this so-called "pregnancy pact" that occurred at Gloucester High. For those of you who haven't, basically 17 girls all got pregnant around the same time and there's rumors that these girls made a pact to get pregnant together. No doubt that abstinence-only advocates are going to have a field day with this one... especially because this particular high school doesn't use abstinence-only education, but rather comprehensive sex ed.
But I really don't think the school can be blamed. Obviously, these girls know how to put a condom on and they had easy access to birth control, but they chose to not use any of that. It was their decision... it wasn't like they were "brainwashed" by teachers telling them that having sex is okay. This is a rare and extreme case, and I wish people would stop trying to blame the cause of it on things like sex education and the movie "Juno." Below is a video from Fox News in which an author is being interviewed (it should be noted that this guy wrote a book basically outlining the "destruction" of today's schools as caused by sex education). I definitely rolled my eyes a few dozen times while watching this, but what irritated me the most was when this guy claimed that Gloucester High has a sex education program that "encourages" sexual activity. NO sex ed program "encourages" teens to have sex... they merely present all the appropriate information and don't act as if sex is a dirty and taboo thing that should never be talked about. I hope Gloucester High doesn't change a thing about their sex education program. But that's probably asking too much.
But I really don't think the school can be blamed. Obviously, these girls know how to put a condom on and they had easy access to birth control, but they chose to not use any of that. It was their decision... it wasn't like they were "brainwashed" by teachers telling them that having sex is okay. This is a rare and extreme case, and I wish people would stop trying to blame the cause of it on things like sex education and the movie "Juno." Below is a video from Fox News in which an author is being interviewed (it should be noted that this guy wrote a book basically outlining the "destruction" of today's schools as caused by sex education). I definitely rolled my eyes a few dozen times while watching this, but what irritated me the most was when this guy claimed that Gloucester High has a sex education program that "encourages" sexual activity. NO sex ed program "encourages" teens to have sex... they merely present all the appropriate information and don't act as if sex is a dirty and taboo thing that should never be talked about. I hope Gloucester High doesn't change a thing about their sex education program. But that's probably asking too much.
Posts
June 23, 2008 at 12:01 PM
I definitely don't blame sex ed, but I do blame movies like "Juno" - rather, our "teen girls should have tons of unprotected sex to be liked" pop culture.
June 23, 2008 at 2:18 PM
How does "Juno" fit into the "teen girls should have tons of unprotected sex to be liked" culture? I don't see that message anywhere in that movie whatsoever.
Nor do I really see much of that pop culture at all. I see "teen girls who have lots of unprotected sex are whores," but I'm not sure where you're seeing the message you described. Most teen girls are ridiculed for having lots of unprotected sex, and immediately deemed a "slut."
June 23, 2008 at 3:43 PM
I wasn't saying Juno was like that. I was saying that American pop culture pressures girls to have sex - there are a lot of media messages telling girls that the main or only way to get attention from boys is with sex, and pressuring younger and younger girls to have sex and to try to look sexy. One can't deny that!
June 23, 2008 at 4:59 PM
Oh, absolutely. Girls are definitely pressured to have sex to get attention from boys. But in this particular case, these girls didn't have sex to get boys. They had sex to get pregnant. One girl even slept with a homeless man just to conceive a child. That's what's so weird about this situation. What exactly made these girls feel compelled to become teen mothers? Because there's hardly anything in pop culture that glamorizes teen pregnancy.
June 23, 2008 at 6:14 PM
I don't really know why you're trying to argue with me so badly, and snipping at everything I say... We both agree that there's something wrong here, and there's most likely some larger issue related to it. I didn't know that not agreeing with you 100% would cause such a lash. I'll stay away from this blog from now on.
June 23, 2008 at 7:47 PM
Woah woah woah. How exactly was my last comment snippy? Because I didn't write it with intentions of being nasty. I'm not looking for an argument either, but I don't mind some civil debate, which is what I thought we were doing. You're free to not agree with me, I was just trying to explain my side... I honestly did not see the notion that girls need to put out to get boys to be relevant in this situation, since that wasn't what the girls were doing. I was just trying to explain that. I'm sorry if you thought that I was attacking you in any way.
June 23, 2008 at 11:22 PM
Looks like someone's got a case of the Defensive Danielles!
If we want to talk pop culture, why don't we start a discussion about how debating via the internet can be misconstrued? I don't think Amy was arguing, but I can see how disagreements through blog comments can be read in such a manner. Nevertheless, three deep breaths Anonymous. Three deep breaths.
June 24, 2008 at 12:34 AM
I don't appreciate being mocked by Nikki either. If you don't think she was arguing, fine, and she was nice and mature enough to apologize. But to mock a complete stranger is another level of immaturity all together...
(Keep in mind Amy was being "defensive" of her views also.)
June 24, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Actually it was less mocking and more like an attempt at humor to distill an otherwise heated conversation. Apparently it didn't work, and for that I apologize. The comment did come off a little nasty, but I think that was because I thought you reacted in an overly hostile manner. I should have given you a chance to respond to Amy first before getting involved.
June 24, 2008 at 7:43 AM
I can't say one way or another about how I feel about the movie, "Juno". I've never seen it because quite frankly, it didn't appeal to me, (nearly 48-year-old lesbian that I am), but I can tell you that I don't believe that films such as "Juno", or even sex education are the problem. The PROBLEM is that we don't have enough parents who really give a RAT'S ASS about their kids enough to give them the unconditional love, thoughtful discipline and guidance, (and by that I don't mean punishment), affection, and attention, they need which instills in them a healthy self-esteem and self-respect. When girls understand that they don't NEED the attention of a guy to make them feel worthy, and/or that they don't NEED to have a baby to make themselves feed needed and unconditionally loved, then we will see a sharp reduction in the teen pregnancy rate.
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