The reason why I chose this article is because since Obama has been such a big follower in bettering women in society, now all of a sudden he is supporting this program that sounds like it would be for a good cause, but it ends up not. The program does not enlighten students on what is happening to their bodies during puberty and how they can work through the sexual urges they might feel during this time. it gives little to know information about the actual dangers that sex can have such as HIV, AIDS, or other sexually transmitted diseases. this relates to the course because throughout the program description they have some quotes from the student and teachers manual for the program. Some of these explainations about why students should abstain from sex is:
“Males and females are aroused at different levels of intimacy. Males are more sight orientated whereas females are more touch orientated.” The implications of this difference are explained further: “This is why girls need to be careful with what they wear, because males are looking! The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. For this reason, girls have a responsibility to wear modest clothing that doesn’t invite lustful thoughts. ” (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 46)
Instead of giving valid reasons why students should abstain from sex, they are blaming women for wearing clothing and leading the boys on.
these reasonings in the program have little to no explaination of the dangers of sex and also contains little to no information about puberty, anatomy, sexually transmitted diseases, or sexual behavior.
~ Ashley Marcello
http://feministing.com/2012/05/02/why-is-the-obama-administration-endorsing-a-virginity-pledge-based-abstinence-only-program/
This is shocking to me!!! I wonder if this is because he came out in support of gay marriage. Especially since these kinds of programs never end up providing any evidence that they even work - I wonder if he's going conservative on this to even out going progressive on the gay marriage issue. (Not that I think that works.) Let's pretend for a moment that those quotes from the manual are true about men being more sight oriented and women more touch oriented. For starters, what does "touch oriented" mean? Also, even if that were true, how does that explain why to abstain from sex? I don't see how that is connected to choosing abstinence or not. It's like saying, "Cows moo and pigs are messy and oink, so don't eat meat."
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