Posted on 11/17/2004 11:14:54 PM PST by Lorianne
Each summer since in 1998, Advocates for Youth and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte sponsor annual study tours to France, Germany, and the Netherlands to explore why adolescent sexual health outcomes are so much more positive in the three European countries than in the U.S.
Rights. Respect. Responsibility.® The study tour participants—policy makers, researchers, youth-serving professionals, foundation officers, and youth—have found that this trilogy of values underpins a social philosophy regarding adolescent sexual health in these countries. Each of these nations has an unwritten social contract with young people: "We'll respect your right to act responsibly, giving you the tools you need to avoid unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV."
In these nations, societal openness and comfort in dealing with sexuality, including teen sexuality, and pragmatic governmental policies create greater, easier access to sexual health information and services for all people, including teens. Easy access to sexual health information and services leads to better sexual health outcomes for French, German, and Dutch teens when compared to U.S. teens.
(Excerpt) Read more at advocatesforyouth.org ...
Why do they think "sexual health" means promiscuous sex with multiple partners of both genders, just as long as everyone uses a condom?
You'd think that condoms granted divine blessing for any sexual acts from what they have to say.
Like these clymers would publish a straight study!
Did you read the report?
The gist of the report is that US teens and young adults have more sex with more partners and take more chances and suffer worse consequences than their european counterparts.
In europe they are far more open and far less uptight about sex than here in the US. Perhaps it is a coincidence that they get better results, but I think not.
There are more sexually irresponsible minorities in the U.S.
Sexually irresponsible minorities? Oh, yeah, the media that is targetted at the average young black kid has nothing to do with it, they're just more irresponsible. I wonder if there's some grant out there to pay for a study to compare the pregnancy rate vs. the release of each major rap album...
Find out why all the problems skyrocketed after the 60s?
Then they could recommend that we return to the cultural norms that kept STD's, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, etc. at bay until the sexual revolution of the 60s.
All those chickens that came home to roost and they just don't know what caused it...hum.
most of the under 35 crowd here haven't a clue as to where you are coming from
....but I do and you are so right but I fear the worm turned some time back and we are still a ways from folks getting back to "normal"
...it's like we've been on an ergot binge for about 4 decades now with sexual mores
They are just finding another way to promote liberal European morality and they need to justify their true goal.
It isn't the conservatives that is causing the problems. One of the studies linked on another thread said that average age of losing virginity in the US is 17.4 years (and France and Holland were even older 17.7 and 18). In America you are made to feel an outcast, loser, prude, or nerd if you haven't done it by 14.
Well said.
The liberals create the problem with their sexual liberalism and their solution is....(drumroll)...MORE SEXUAL LIBERALISM.
This means they are demented.
Who would you trust:
Person A: It's a very bad idea to keep a bar of plutonium in
your bedroom closet.
Person B: Keep your bar of plutonium inside a lead case.
I question the sincerity of the statistics. America is a much more open society, than most others. They are not comparing apples to apples, and every recent study that I have seen shows teen pregnacy in the US going down. This is a big sales pitch for socialized medicine. They are selling it while trying to appeal to our noble conservative motives. They are good at it. I hope those guys are not publicly funded.
While everything you state is true, the major difference between European societies and ours is one of homogenity. It is much simpler to instill a "value" in a small like minded community than in a community wwith a diverse cultural heritage.
In 1965 23.6% of black babies were born out of wedlock compared to 3.07% for whites. The government chose to ignore the moral component. Now illegitimate births are up to 69% in the black community and the white community is up to 22%. Among American born Latino mothers, the illegitimate birth rate is 48%. It's obvious that sex education in public schools hasn't solved the problem.
"Don't drink the kool-aid."
I ain't drinkin' nuthin'.
"To begin with, those socialist countries are not having children period. They don't have enough children to keep up with their aging populations."
True, but what would our growth rate be like without all the teen pregnancy? We aren't that far above 'replacement' either.
"Secondly, all of those sources are questionable. Remember that France is the country where hardly are whimper was heard about the Oil for Food scandal or anything else that didn't agree with the Chirac party line. Can you say media control and cover up?"
Please, I despise the eurosocialists as much as anybody, but that doesn't mean that everything from there is a government coverup. I don't agree that the sources are questionable just because they reference France. Statistics like this are too easy to verify.
"I question the sincerity of the statistics."
Why?
"America is a much more open society, than most others."
Yes, in many ways. Explaining sex to our kids, by and large, is not one of them.
"They are not comparing apples to apples, and every recent study that I have seen shows teen pregnacy in the US going down."
How is their comparison invalid? They present statistics about the same things in each society. As far as teen pregnancy trends, how is it trending in the other countries in the study? Even if it is declining in the US (and I agree that it is) why is it still so much higher here? The same questions apply to STDs which were also covered in the study.
"This is a big sales pitch for socialized medicine. They are selling it while trying to appeal to our noble conservative motives. They are good at it. I hope those guys are not publicly funded."
Perhaps, but I don't see it that way.
We need to be honest with ourselves. The Europeans are more successful with their children in this regard because they are open and honest with them. They have a relatively successful abstinence/safe sex program. This is one area where they do something better than us. If you can refute the study, then by all means do so. But denial accomplishes nothing.
"While everything you state is true, the major difference between European societies and ours is one of homogenity. It is much simpler to instill a "value" in a small like minded community than in a community wwith a diverse cultural heritage."
I agree. But where do those values come from? They come from society at large, and from the home. They are not taught in school. Our mistake is, I think, letting the schools parent our children. That should be our job.
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