[Pvgreens-discussion] Washington funds false sex lessons

[Tyler Kinkade]

Washington funds false sex lessons

The Guardian
Gary Younge in New York
Friday December 3, 2004

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1365262,00.html

The Bush administration is funding sexual health projects that teach
children that HIV can be contracted through sweat and tears, touching
genitals can result in pregnancy, and that a 43-day-old foetus is a
thinking person.

A congressional analysis of more than a dozen federally funded
"abstinence-only programmes" unveiled a litany of "false, misleading and
distorted information" in teaching materials after reviewing curriculums
designed to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

There are more than 100 abstinence programmes, involving several million
children aged nine to 18, and running in 25 states since 1999. They are
funded by the federal government to the tune of $170m (£88.5m), twice
the amount when George Bush came to power.

The money goes to religious, civic and medical organisations as grants.
To qualify they may only talk about types of contraception in terms of
their failure rates, not about how to use them, or the possible benefits.

The survey was conducted by the staff of congressman Henry Waxman of
California, a longstanding Democratic critic of the Republican
administration's approach to sex education. His team concentrated on the
13 programmes that are most widely used, and found only two of them were
accurate.

"It is absolutely vital that the health education provided to America's
youth be scientifically and medically accurate," Mr Waxman said. "The
abstinence-only programmes reviewed in this report fail to meet this
standard."

Other "facts" include that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide,
half the gay male teenagers in the US have tested positive for HIV, and
condoms fail to prevent transmission of HIV in 31% of incidences of
heterosexual intercourse. US government figures contradict all of these
assertions.

AC Green's Game Plan - a programme named after a basketball player who
said he would not have sex before marriage - teaches: "The popular claim
that condoms help prevent the spread of STDs, is not supported by the data."

Mr Waxman told the Washington Post: "I don't think we ought to lie to
our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal
tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."

But government officials said Mr Waxman's report rehashed old
anti-abstinence prejudices for political purposes. Alma Golden, the
deputy assistant health and human services secretary for population
affairs, said it took statements out of context to present programmes in
the worst possible light.

"These issues have been raised before and discredited," Ms Golden said.
"One thing is very clear for our children: abstaining from sex is the
most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs,
and preventing pregnancy."

Mr Waxman also criticised some programmes for reinforcing sexist
stereotypes to children. One - Why Know - says: "Women gauge their
happiness and judge their success by their relationships. Men's
happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments."

Another programme, Wait Training, says: "Just as a woman needs to feel a
man's devotion to her, a man has a primary need to feel a woman's
admiration. To admire a man is to regard him with wonder, delight, and
approval. A man feels admired when his unique characteristics and
talents happily amaze her."