The mormon teaching of abstinance only, chastity above life, and watered down sex education in schools is leading to dangerous increases in sexually transmitted diseases.
I'm not surprised. I was the only mormon at my public school whose parent consented to attend a sex ed class. I couldn't imagine any of church friends being properly educated by their stuffy parents. My Dad actually encouraged me to use protection IF I was ever in a situation that would get a girl pregnant.
PPI's were meant to be threatening and intimidating. Some as a way of their sense of authority would get in your face; yelling for maximum effect. I found them to be one-sided "Do as I tell you" very few were dialogues or pleasant chats. No they were to remind you of your imperfections and to get with the program.
teaching our children about sex. I was talking about how I think we are failing our children and that I thought sex education in the schools was necessary. This was like 1995.
The R.S. president got quite angry at me and said that sex education belongs in the home. Thankfully, one of my neighbors who was teaching middle school at the time, raised her hand and said that she has seen the problem and she felt that it should also be taught in the schools.
I liked the R.S. president up until that day. She continued to do really ridiculously uncaring things to me after my husband left. She finally quit sending me VALENTINES with a family picture. I taught 4 of her 5 kids in primary or YW and I liked them all, but I can't stand her. She moved out of the ward, but I still run into her.
Alcohol can play a role too. Experimenting with one forbidden thing can overcome natural precautions and lead to experimenting with another. Also, there are certain "practices" that can't cause pregnancy, but can transmit STDs of their own.
I live in a part of the world where religion barely figures any more yet STDs are through the roof. Oh yes, and we had very good and detailed sex ed - we got taught everything to do to help prevent pregnancy, STDs etc among the sexually active... but as the saying goes 'you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink'.
You want a culprit? The mass media promotes the idea that promiscuity is good and healthy when it's not. Celebrities like Madonna or the late Freddie Mercury sleep around like there's no tomorrow... Reality Television says it's good to sleep with a number of people before settling down without spelling out the consequences. Even a condom will not save you from some forms of STDs - especially skin warts.
Does Mormonism have a role here? I think it continually reminds people of sex too. For a while General Conference felt like an anti-pornography seminar. Same with the books.
TSCC seems to be always pounding the anti-sex message. When I got married, I was surprised to find that there’s a whole lot more to marriage than sex. The church has a credibility problem. As a TBM, my teenagers sure as sh*t had sex as well as teenagers from many ward families. They knew their religion was a sham so why take it seriously?
The problem with making stuff up is that any idiot can do it. Even if you get something right, you have nothing to back it up. If you want to be believed, the onus is on you to present a compelling argument. “It makes Jesus sad” is not very compelling.
They could aggregate plausible abstinence arguments from the world’s religions (east and west) but then that would undercut their prophetic claims. But since those claims are falling apart anyway, they could take a similar approach with that and other doctrine.
Neesh Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You want a culprit? The mass media promotes the > idea that promiscuity is good and healthy when > it's not.
Anti-sex bullsh*t. Having multiple partners can be wonderful and safe. Ignorance and not taking proper precautions is what results in STI transmission. My spouse and I have been swingers for years and have had zero STIs and zero unwanted pregnancies. A ton of other people in the scene can say the same thing.
We were both BiC and it was a long journey become sex positive and for the wife to come to terms with her bisexuality.
Back to the original post, I'm not surprised. Utah is a religious wacky hellhole and I'd never return there for any amount of money. It is a pity, because the natural beauty cannot be denied. Too bad the scam JS started is still front and center.
There is also the middle ground of serial monogamy. IMO being "sex positive" can encompass a range of sexual behaviors and choices. For some people that might mean just having one committed partner. I'm sure that you realize that "the scene" is not for everyone.
Agreed. And indeed our lifestyle choice absolute it isn't for everyone. I respect every adult's right to live their life as they wish. And I didn't mean to pop off above; it just kind of grinds my gears after dealing with prudery of the church for so many years.
Having multiple partners is not "safe" - you can still contract herpes, glandular fever, warts etc if you use a condom. That is if the condom doesn't burst (and that does happen on rare occasions) Also people who sleep around a lot are statistically less likely to form stable marriages etc later in life.
You should read up some health stats on swingers too. You might have been lucky to avoid the bullet so far, but only just. It only has to happen once.
Researchers from The Netherlands found that older swingers made up 12 percent of clients who visited an outpatient sexual health clinic.
Swingers older than 45 had higher rates of infection than men who have sex with men, heterosexuals and prostitutes -- groups traditionally considered high risk. Infections were most prevalent among older female swingers.
They have found anti-drug eduction to be a failure because telling kids not to do something is a sure way to motivate them to do it. Talk is cheap anyways. All you can do is lead by example. Preaching to kids only makes them want to rebel or at least roll their eyes and tune you out.
The church going on and on about pornography just makes people think about it more. People are going to look at porn. Being addicted to porn where it becomes a problem is a whole different issue.
One thing people do have a lot of respect for is couples who have managed to stay loyal to each other and still love each other. In my experience those people are more happy than the ones who sleep around a lot.
Winning! Heck. Charlie had two girls living and sleeping with him. If he made up some silly secret marriage ceremony he would practically be a Mormon. Charlie wouldn't like the no boozing or drugs part but he would be all for I am the male god and you are my harem that hearken unto my words!
It still makes sense to teach kids as much about sex and using protection when they are at that age. Those wonderful teenage years when hormones are raging and cognitive skills aren't fully developed. In my dream dystopia all males receive reversible vasectomies at age 12. When they can afford to have them reversed they can afford to have children.
shylock Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It still makes sense to teach kids as much about > sex and using protection when they are at that > age. Those wonderful teenage years when hormones > are raging and cognitive skills aren't fully > developed. In my dream dystopia all males receive > reversible vasectomies at age 12. When they can > afford to have them reversed they can afford to > have children.
So you'd give them a form of proxy castration, which would warp their development through puberty instead? It wouldn't stop STDs either. They'd still have raging hormones, just without the "loving spoonful".
designed and promoted by the LSD Church has an instant credibility program.
As in: "This message of chastity and abstinence comes to you from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the once proud sponsor and promoter of the largest pro-polygamy program in North America. If you like this message, you may want to learn more about the key founding fathers of this illustrious religious organization, namely Joseph Smith, Jr. who slept with at least 42 women other than his lawful wife (and even pretended to marry most of them), and Brigham Young, who at his peak, slept with women young enough to be his daughters' daughters (and may at times have worried that indeed, in all the confusion, they may have been his daughters's daughters.) For more information, please call: 1-800-465-935 (1-800-HOL-YFCK). Our missionaries are standing by to answer your questions."
If I didn't have a thorough sex education class in high school, I would have been largely ignorant. I later asked my mom why she didn't teach me about a sex, and she replied that she thought I would come to her with questions. Well, I was not about to do that. Plus, a lot of parents don't have up-to-date information about birth control, STDs, etc.
Sex education can also include the concept that waiting to have sex is a good idea for a variety of reasons.
The best sex education class I had was in college. It was a semester-long class that was so popular it was held in an auditorium. The professor had a gay man speak to the class. This was in an age when many gay people were still closeted. The man's talk was eye-opening for me.
I asked my mom how babies were made while riding in the car and my mom was a nurse and she had no problem telling me.
When I heard the father stick his penis inside the mother's vagina I went YUCK! The first thing that entered my mind was my dad doing that to my mom. Double YUCK!
Oh well. Now I knew. My sex education got a little more sophisticated when my friend up the street would get into his dad's Penthouse magazines and we would read the Penthouse Forum.
Later I learned a lot of what was in those Penthouse Forums was made up crap.
When you first hear about it as a kid, usually from other kids, you think it's too disgusting. Later, when you hear about it in medical school, you think it's too complicated.
I can’t access the original link, so just how watered down is sex Ed in Utah? If we hadn’t had sex Ed in school I wouldn’t have known much. My religious, conservative mother did not tell me much, and she was so awkward about it I would have developed some serious issues without the stuff in school, which was barely adequate as it was.
I don’t believe in promiscuity personally, but I find strict, conservative anti-sex views equally distasteful, and reminiscent of the mormon outlook. Practicing safe sex with a partner should be enough. And I think it’s good practice for both adults entering into a relationship to have screening done before you take that condom off. I think sex education should include conversation as well as simply dispensing facts; young people need to decide for themselves what they feel is right or wrong, as well as what is safe.
Reminds me of Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" to drugs campaign that instantly solved the drug crisis. :)
The word NO is no substitute for facts and education and double that when religion is involved. "Because I said so" is for lazy parents and lazy religion.
You don't just tell you kids not to cross the street without looking---you tell them what the consequences are of making a bad choice.