The Dallas Morning News
October 6, 2005
Article by David Tarrant

Virgin Territory 

 Can abstinence –oriented education really work in a sex-drenched society?

                Lauren Lowery holds up two aluminum foil hearts. They represent the best-looking girl and boy in high school. Naturally, they fall in love.

            “So these two kids wonder what they could do to make their love last forever,” she says.

            She squeezes the two hearts together into a ball. “You’ve probably never seen foil having sex before,” she wisecracks, and her high school audience breaks into laughter.

            But will having sex make this feeling last forever?

            Even if the young lovers don’t get a sexually transmitted disease or an unwanted pregnancy, they will probably be left with emotional scars.

            She unfolds one of the crumpled hearts and compares it with a shiny new one.

            “What kind of heart do you want to give?”

                Ms. Lowery, a speaker for Aim For Success, is one soldier in an abstinence army battling for the hearts and minds of today’s youth. Today she is speaking to sophomores at Wylie High School, northeast of Dallas in Collin county.

                The national program based in Plano is one of many targeting teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. With strong support from President Bush and millions of dollars in funding, abstinence-only sex ed has become the government’s preferred strategy in the war on teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

                Texas is on the front lines of that war.

                The state’s teen birth rate, though on the decline, was the second-highest in the nation – 64 births per 1000 teens (ages 15 to 19) in 2002, according to the Kids Count Data Book, released in July by the Baltimore-based Anne E. Casey Foundation.

                Meanwhile, STDs are rising among teenagers, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 19 million STD infections occur annually, with almost half of them among youths ages 15 to 24. Compared with older adults, adolescents are at higher risk for acquiring STDs for physiological reasons and because they make less use of prevention services, according to CDC analysts.

                Enter Aim For Success and similar programs geared toward stemming the tide of teenage sex.

                The country’s largest program of its kind, Aim For Success makes 2,500 presentations a year for grades six through 12, says Marilyn Morris, who founded the group in 1993.

                The message is that young people’s goals and dreams can be derailed by premarital sex, says Ms. Morris, who speaks from personal experience. As a high school senior in Lubbock, she abandoned her dream of tennis stardom after becoming pregnant.

                “Abstinence is a very positive, upbeat message,” she says, “It’s not a fear message, it’s a free message.”

Abstinence only?

                Nationally, teenage births have dropped by nearly one-third since 1990, and supporters of abstinence-only education claim responsibility for the drop.

                “The only change is that abstinence-only education has been introduced,” says Ms. Morris. “Why would we want to change something that’s obviously working?”

                But that ignores other factors, according to supporters of more comprehensive sex education. Use of birth control and protection against disease by high-schoolers has increased during the last decade, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

                In 2003, 63 percent of 15 to 19 year olds reported using a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse, compared with 53 percent 10 years earlier. And nearly all (98 percent) teens 15 to 19 years old who have had sex report using at least one method of birth control.

                Abstinence-only advocates say that not having sex is the only 100 percent effective way to avoid an STD. “We tell kids that even if you use condoms, you could still become pregnant or get a sexually transmitted disease,”Ms. Morris says.

                The State Board of Education agrees. It favors the abstinence-only approach, and the board adopted new health textbooks this year that promote traditional marriage and sexual abstinence while providing limited information about condoms, contraception and other sensitive sex-related topics.

Risky Behavior

                “Have you seen that commercial for that shampoo… what’s it called?” Ms. Lowry asks her teen assembly, who immediately shout: “Herbal Essence!”

                The ad, which shows a woman moaning with ecstasy as she lathers her hair, is another example of sex permeating advertising and pop culture.

                To says teens are overstimulated these days is a little like saying Texas is hot in August. They swim in an ocean of electronic media such as TV and videos, music, video games and computers. And the message is hard to miss: Sex surrounds them. It’s easy, fun and everybody seems to be doing it.

                Now some hard data is replacing speculation about trends in teen sex.

                A new federal study shows that many teenagers are substituting oral sex for sexual intercourse. The Sept. 15 report, the most comprehensive national survey of sexual behaviors ever undertaken by the federal government, included these finding:

                Slightly more than half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex, with females and males reporting similar levels of experience.

                Almost one in four teens who had not had sexual intercourse reported they had taken part in oral sex: 24 percent of males and 22 percent of females. The rate was higher for older virgins (18 and 19 year olds): 31 percent of males and 35 percent of females.

                The figures come from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, a survey of 12,571 men and women ages 15 to 44, under a contract with the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. To ensure privacy, participants answered questions on a laptop computer, without revealing the answers to the interviewers.

                The data show the need for “honest, accurate sex education,” says James Wagoner, president of Advocated for Youth, a national organization against abstinence-only education policies.

                “The emphasis on abstinence only education precludes discussion about safer sex practices, putting young people at risk,” he says, “especially those who are technical virgins and who, while trying to keep their virginity intact, engage in other risky sexual behavior.”

                The data show that teens may not realize that oral sex carries health risks, says Dr. Jennifer Manlove, who directs studies on fertility and family structure at Child Trends, a research center.

                “What’s disturbing about these findings is that many teens seem unaware of the health risks associated with oral sex, such as the possibility of contracting sexually transmitted infections, including HIV,” Dr. Manlove says. “Parents, health educators and designers of pregnancy-prevention programs need to address these risks.”

Taking the pledge

                 In a segment called “Mastering the Media,” Ms. Lowry presents the PowerPoint equivalent of those nasty driver’s education films about car wrecks. “Ted’s Story,” which is about a man who becomes addicted to porn from an early age, turns out to the tale of serial killer Ted Bundy.

                “I’m not here to say that if you happen to see porn you’ll go out an rape,” she says. “But porn will not leave you satisfied. Successful people learn to avoid it.”

                Her abstinence message extends to more than sex. “Jill,” a high school transfer, went to a party to make friends. After only one beer, she started flirting with a guy. They drove off together and he sexually assaulted her. “I would encourage you to avoid drugs and drinking altogether,” Ms. Lowry says.

                Some groups recognize that teens need more than just a recitation of dire statistics and verbal admonishments to just say no.

                One national organization, called Silver Ring Thing, is gaining popularity because it offers teens support and encouragement for abstinence. It uses personal emails and rock-concert-type shows where teens take public virginity pledges.

                Based in Pittsburgh, Pa., Silver Ring Thing got its name from encouraging teens to wear a silver ring as an outward display of their commitment to abstinence, says Denny Pattyn, a Christian youth minister who founded the organization in 1996 and now receives about $1 million annually in federal funding.

                Those who take the Silver Ring Thing pledge receive e-mails offering advice, tips and support twice a week for four months. Teens can also join a leadership program, organize Silver Ring Thing chapters and join the crew working on shows.

                “It’s legitimately cool,” says Mr. Pattyn.

                He believes he is helping to build a movement among teens. “If we can reach 20 percent of America’s youth, we can create a culture shift.”

Joining the club

                Locally, students at Vines High School, which serves ninth-and 10^th-graders in Plano, started the Vines Abstinence Club to support one another and promote abstinence. The club’s two dozen members get together once a week before school. They talk about issues in their lives and how to deal with peer pressure and other problems, says Vines sophomore Jackie Guerra, 15.

                Club members say they know sexually active peers. “Many of the girls I know either end up heart-broken and depressed or pregnant,” Ms. Guerra says.

                Chase Jones, 15, says he joined the club because a lifestyle of abstinence helps keep him focused on his long-term goal of going to college as a student athlete. A sexual relationship could cause emotional problems or a pregnancy and “mess up your goals,” he says.

                An abstinent lifestyle doesn’t have to inhibit your social life, says 15-year-old Emily Letzelter. “You can have fun in ways that won’t threaten your future. We’re all friends. We hang out.”

                She says a sexual relationship should never be casual.

                “I don’t want to take the biggest risk of my life with someone who’s not worth it. I don’t want to get pregnant with the wrong man. It’s worth it to wait for me.”

                Ms. Lowery offers herself as proof that sex can wait. “I’m 28 and I just got married,” she tells her audience of Wylie High School sophomores. “I gave the gift of virginity to my husband and he gave it to me.”

                Both she and her husband made this decision as teenagers, she says, adding: “It’s worth the wait.”

Reprinted with permission from the Dallas Morning News.