Straightforward Sex Education Now Here

British website www.likeitis.org.uk Tells It Like It Is

Sarah Brown, Director of The National Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy, recently estimated that about $200 million in Federal dollars are now being spent on programs in the US which preach "abstinence only." Not that anyone, especially Ms. Brown, is AGAINST abstinence by teens or anyone else, but governments, school systems, and anyone accepting these Federal grants must agree to teach ONLY abstinence to our teens, despite the realities of teen physiology and sexuality.

America's sex education- and contraceptive-providing performance compared to the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and Canada proves that as a nation, we are guilty of widespread child abuse. Jacqueline E. Darroch, M.D., at the prestigious Alan Guttmacher Institute, reported in 2001 on teen-age sexual and reproductive behavior in these four developed countries and the United States. She noted, "Some 35% of school districts that mandate sexuality education require that abstinence be presented as the only appropriate option outside of marriage for teen-agers, and that contraception either be presented as ineffective in preventing pregnancy and HIV and other STDs or not covered at all." This laughable, if it were not so dangerous, policy condemns many uninformed teens to choices which may ruin their lives.

Fortunately, most teens are not restricted to the information given in my era (e.g. too little and mostly unclear) because they have access to computers and the internet. This implies both good and bad information about sexuality can be derived, just as newspapers often provide sexy ads for movies, but won't carry ads for condoms.

The good news is that there is a major new source of solid, easy to acquire, responsible sex information on a wonderful new web site created by Marie Stopes International (Marie Stopes was the Margaret Sanger of the UK). With today's limitless computer web site connections, anyone who wants accurate information, honestly and clearly presented, can go immediately to a computer, bring up a search engine, and type in the web site address: www.likeitis.org.uk. A jaunty page pops up with a message that says: "Sick of reading stuff that doesn't tell you what you really want to know? Well, LIKE IT IS isn't like that. We'll tell you everything you need to know EXACTLY AS IT IS with no frills, no judgments, and definitely no holds barred."

Along the top border one can find options such as "cool or fool," "say what?," "locker room," "dear doctor," "search," "what's new...teenage sex survey results" which give answers to common questions. Example: the "cool or fool" category offers a true/false quiz debunking such ideas as "You won't get pregnant if you have sex standing up" or "Your girlfriend or boyfriend will leave you if you don't have sex with them."

Any "abstinence only" advocate who tries to make you believe that offering accurate information about sexual matters is AGAINST ABSTINENCE is simply lying. No one should have sex before they wish!! As this honest and clear UK web site www.likeitis.org.uk says: "How do you know when you are ready? The best rule is, if you don't feel ready you probably aren't. Plus it's worth remembering, it's not a good idea to have sex because someone else wants you to, or all your friends are doing it, or you think you should, or you feel too scared to say no." Nuf said!

Teenagers need all the good, clear, honest ways we can offer to find out about their evolving sexual selves. Our youngsters are America's most precious resource, our future generations! Remember about half of the teen-age girls in France, a Catholic nation, Sweden, Canada, the U.K., and the United States have had sex by age 18. But our rates of teen-age pregnancy, abortion and STDs are much higher. So spread the word. Knowledge is not dangerous. Ignorance is.

Donald Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC., frequently writes on issues of family planning.