Conservative states with higher pregnancy rates
 

http://www.everydayhealth.com/sexual...6pLid%3D133567

well now, who da thunk it?

There's a difference between teen pregnancy rates and teen birth rates. Conservative states, like the second to last paragraph says, see abortion as more taboo, and thus the BIRTH RATE would probably be higher. To know if teen PREGNANCY rates were higher or lower we need pre-abortion figures.

Like the last paragraph says (and I love how it practically un-writes the article) more study is needed, with more accurate numbers.

Question-does sex education make any real difference in overall social behavior? Certainly you don't need to go to class to know that sex=babies, or about the existence of venereal diseases.

Oh boy


Wanna know why birth rates are high among teens in "conservative" states? It's not because our (yes I am a southerner and no I'm not a Republican) sex ed classes are biased or inadequate. Every dumb f*ck teen knows having sex can get you knocked up. It's because sex is something you don't discuss...and if you do ask you mother to put you on birth control you never hear the end of it.

Kids down here aren't freaks who think you gotta wait for marriage.....or don't know anything about sex... jesus, media.

I'd almost say that in some places, there ain't much to do. I know teens in my town just sit in parking lots...for fun.

I'm sure if that's one way kids "have fun" sex is probably high on the list of pass times, too.

I guess the sex "education" is a huge part of the problem.

Well it was a good run. So long thread. We barely knew ye.

Kids like to hump. Whatcha gon' do?

:lol: That's classic, TTN, I needed that laugh today. Wasn't expecting that. :)

Agreed when I first read that, I almost fell out.

Yeah, same here. I don't know what to make of the article. It sounds pretty inaccurate if it's stating that more study needs to be done. Maybe some of the sex ed programs don't focus on abortion, but I remember from my own school days that we were taught about abstinence and condoms. That was it. There was never talk about abortion either. Still, we learned a lot about STDs and what could happen if we acquired them. It was actually very informative, and I really liked the person who talked about it. She seemed very well-informed about it and mostly focused on STDs because she said that anyone could survive being pregnant.

we did not have a well informed sex-ed class.

I was scared for a long time that things where gonna rot and fall off due to being uncircumcised.

Gotta love fanatics doing sex-ed, and this wasn't a random lady doing those classes. It was our freaking regular teacher, never liked that woman.

According to these statements the premise could also be made that Southeren States have higher pregnancy rates.

Oh, THAT kinda "conversative state"... :P

Where they have lots of conversations...

"I don't have any proof it's better I just know it worked for me!". And that guy is a governor. Genius.

Reminds me a bit of this. Skip to around the end if you want to see the best quote. "You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the senate."

Ahh, that's one of my senators. When I watched the movie, I face palmed.

But of course only southern politicians say incredibly stupid things, right?

I'm not surprised, as people get married sooner in those states plus with less of an emphasis on career and urban life compared with other, more progressive states, leads to such a higher pregnancy rate. Gays are also more taboo in those states as well.

I'm sorry Jester, but saying abstinence works is like saying you'll never be in a car accident if you don't drive. Of course if you don't do something that has any risks to it, you'll be safe but for the vast majority of people it's not a satisfactory solution. In addition to that, it is only an option for extremely religious people because the reasoning behind it wouldn't make sense to anyone without a religious background.

Wanting to wait to have sex until you've met "The One" only makes sense from a religious stand point? It may be pushed harder in those circles, but I'm sure there are others outside the religious community who practice sexual abstinence until they are in a monogamous sexual relationship.

Love Education should be encouraged more than Sex Education.

All we had (and still happens today) in UK education is somebody handing out different sexual prophylactics for everyone to pass around with a lecture on how they are used. No encouragement of values, waiting for 'the one', pride in staying 'pure', Abstinence, self respect, or dealing with peer pressure. The message we got was "We are old enough to and can sleep around, so we should!".

===HERO

The way I see it, abstinence is usually connected to the idea of "waiting till marriage" and in that context marriage is always a religious concept.

It's more than a little heteronormative to assume that everyone should wait until marriage, given that the US doesn't recognize the unions of a minority of people who can have sex and never have to worry about an unplanned pregnancy.

Though, I do have to say that every time a religious group bangs the "abstinence only" drum I chuckle, because according to them you can get pregnant without having sex. It happened once, who's to say it couldn't happen again?

Yup .

The way I see it, it's more about kids thinking they're invincible. No matter what you say to them about sex and the dangers of it, they're going to do it anyway because they don't care. They don't want to listen to authority, and I highly doubt any of them even pay attention during these little lectures. So, to blame the sex ed programs is just a way for people to find a scapegoat instead of realizing that kids today just don't care what authority figures have to say.

Oh, another kid hater. How original.

I'm not a kid hater, Barkworm. I never said I hated kids in that post. I'm just pointing out that kids today don't care what adults say about anything and will go ahead and do the opposite of whatever they're told not to do. It's the sad reality of society today whether you choose to admit it or not. Sure, not all kids are like that, but a majority of them are.

Kids have always been like that, it's called being a teenager. Teenagers acted no different now then they always did. Rebellion comes with being a teenager and even if their parents didn't know their kid was doing it they were doing it. I'm pretty sure the number of kids who lied to their parents is much higher then the ones who didn't across any generation.

Blindly listening to advice and never making mistakes on your own is exactly what we don't need. People need to make mistakes sometimes. It's how we learn.

Wow. Never been in the South have you.

Less of an emphasis on career? Glad to know the rest of the country thinks no one south of Indiana has the drive or motivation to be successful. Guess we all just sit on the front porch and drink our sweet tea and chew on some hay while the day passes....

Urban life? Guess Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Nashville, Little Rock, New Orleans, etc. Aren't urban enough? I grew up in Huntsville, AL.......don't know why Huntsville is a special place? Google it.

Not Progressive? :roll: again, we aren't sitting in the dark ages. I went to college and everything. Golly! And I'm a mixed race person in Alabama whose parents grew up during Civil Rights times. Damn! Guess its only because I can "pass" that I succeed. Or maybe it could have been because of affirmative action, right?

I know more gay, lesbian, bi, and transgendered people than straight ones. And they aren't living in fear of being lynched. And seriously. Have you heard of Key West? Or New Orleans? I love watching the shoe dropping outside La ti da on New Year's eve.

I hate when people take the stereotypes of the South which are presented in the media as the gospel truth. At least come visit and see for yourself.

*hitches up his over-alls and spits a massive wad of chaw into his spittoon*
Yep.

You do realize that you sound like a bitter 90 year old? As someone who actually works with kids I know that their values have changed somewhat compared to, lets say the 1950s. It doesn't mean that all kids are inconsiderate rebels.

Back to the topic of teen pregnancy, I believe it is usually connected to the kids' parents and their overall education. I'm at a school for "smart" kids (i.e. kids who want to go to college afterwards) and cases of teenage pregnancy at schools like that are VERY rare. Every teacher who is not deaf or blind can figure out that they do sleep around but it seems like they are more careful with sexual prophylactics than their less ambitious peers. Teenage pregnancies are a lot more common at schools without college entrance exams here.

You're right. Not all kids are like that. I should've reworded my post a bit. However, a majority of kids are like that, and to say it's the fault of the sex ed programs is absurd. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, I do sound bitter. I'm a cynical person. I don't have faith in much of anything anymore.

I should note that many supposed "progressives" are just as, if not more, intolerant and bigoted than the conservatives they mock as ignorant and closed-minded. I know this from personal experience.

As for "progressive" places, on another forum I follow, a resident of Ontario, Canada had mentioned coming out as a homosexual. He ended up being kicked out of his home, ostracized by his friends, fired from his job, and subject to homelessness and violent attacks by thugs. Another stereotype down the tubes.

I think that this supposed study is just stupid and very biased. It doesn't matter how the kids are educated about sex. Regardless of that, they're going to do it anyway because they want to. You can be educated about something and still want to try it. How many kids are educated about drugs, yet they still do them because of peer pressure?

What is "Conversative"...the Dictionary.com gives a definition that makes no sense, it's like i need a dummied down version of the definition:
1. Relating to intercourse with men; social; - opposed to contemplative.
She chose . . . to endue him with the conversative qualities of youth.
- Sir H. Wotton.
I can't seem to derive the meaning in the title.
"social states with higher pregnancy rates"...???
isn't that obvious. The more you talk(flirt) the more intercourse you can expect.

In my high school we did have a class, part of which dealt with why marriages fail. As one of the handouts, we got the story of a man who was married two dozen times. The idea was that he didn't know what to expect from a spouse or how to make a marriage work.

Also, in actual sex education classes, we were taught about contraceptives and how and why they work. We were also warned about the risks of sexuality. Since such education was segregated by gender, I wonder what the girls were taught.

Not to mention the fact that so many people drink and drive despite so many messages about the dangers of potential tragic consequences.

Exactly.

And the OP meant "conservative states" not "conversative states." Can someone please fix that?

As a teacher, I've seen first hand the lack of sex education in schools. I've overheard girls talking about taking the pill after sex for prevention. I've witnessed outbreaks of VDs because many didn't know the facts.

I'm in TX, in a mostly Catholic area. I hate the arguments against teaching sex ed. because of religion or conservative values. I consider myself close to both conservative and religious, but I also value teaching all views. I know so much could be prevented if we opened up instead of concealing the facts about sex.

See, this is where you are both right and completely wrong: Of course, kids are going to have sex. But if they don't have any sex education they might not have it responsibly. Just look at the numbers posted here:

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/pub.../419?task=view

Can you honestly tell me that numbers like that, especially in comparison to other "modern" countries, are simply caused by American teens being more rebellious?