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In recent years there has been a proliferation of curricula used in abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. Many of these curricula are designed to control young people’s
sexual behavior by instilling fear, shame, and guilt. They are often rooted in specific
religious beliefs and portray premarital sexual activity as immoral and universally harmful.
Fear-based curricula typically rely on negative messages, distort information, and promote
stereotypes and biases. The following are examples from some of the curricula
available to schools and programs across the country. The quotes are taken directly from
the curricula and are representative of both the tone and content of these materials. (For
more information and detailed reviews of many of these curricula, please visit SIECUS’
curricula reviews at http://www.siecus.org/reviews.html)
RELY ON NEGATIVE MESSAGES
Use fear to keep teens from engaging in sexual activity
- “Teenagers who are sexually active in high school will find that their
schoolwork suffers.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 41)
- Question: “What are the risks of being sexually active?”
Answer: “Teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, low self-esteem,
loss of reputation, feelings of being used.”
Choosing the Best PATH (Teacher’s Guide, p. 6)
- “Illustrate how repeated sexual encounters make it difficult to begin and
maintain lasting relationships because the ability to bond emotionally is
destroyed.”
Choosing the Best PATH (Teacher’s Guide, p. 6)
- “These are simply natural consequences. For example, if you eat spoiled
food, you will get sick. If you jump from a tall building, you will be hurt
or killed. If you spend more money than you make, your enslavement to
debt affects you and those whom you love. If you have sex outside of
marriage, there are consequences for you, your partner and society.”
Sex Respect (Student Workbook, p. 11)
- “How do you think you would feel watching someone you love get AIDS
and die?”
Heritage Keepers (Student Manual, p. 97)
This focus on consequences is clearly designed to scare students rather than educate them.
There is no scientific evidence to support the assertion that premarital sexual intercourse
leads to everything from a loss of reputation to an inability to bond emotionally.
Instill shame to motivate behavior
- QUESTION: “Why could a sexually active teen tend to have lower
self-esteem?”
POSSIBLE ANSWER: “May feel dehumanized or worthless, weak or powerless
if partner is selfish or controlling.”
Choosing the Best LIFE (Teacher’s Guide, p. 8)
- “Why is it hard to have self-respect if you’re sexually active, especially if
the relationship ends?”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 103)
- “Each time a sexually active person gives that most personal part of himself
or herself away, that person can lose a sense of personal value and
worth. It all comes down to self-respect.”
Choosing the Best PATH (Teacher’s Guide, p. 7)
- “Many young teens who have been brought up with principles and values
may have already decided they want to save sex for marriage.”
Sex Respect (Student Workbook, p. 36)
- “Why is it likely that weak people would choose risky behaviors, like
drugs, alcohol, sex outside of marriage, or violence?”
Heritage Keepers (Student Manual, p. 98)
- The emotional consequence of premarital sex: “You know people talk
about you behind your back because you’ve had sex with so many people.
It so empty too (sic). Finally you get sick of it all and attempt suicide.”
FACTS (Middle School, Teacher’s Edition, Appendix, p. 98)
- “Even if you’ve been sexually active, it’s never too late to say no. You
can’t go back, but you can go forward. You might feel guilty or untrustworthy,
but you can start over again.”
Game Plan (Student Workbook, p. 45)
Forty-seven percent of all high school students have had sexual intercourse.1 It is inappropriate
and potentially harmful for education programs to imply that these teens
lack values and self-respect. It is equally wrong for programs to tell parents, teachers,
or teens that sexually active students are less worthy of love, trust, and respect.
DISTORT INFORMATION
Contain inaccurate and biased information about STDs
- “AIDS can be transmitted by skin-to-skin contact.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Teacher’s Guide, Unit 5, p. 19)
{In truth: HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be transmitted only through direct
exchange of bodily fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal secretions, or breast milk.2}
- “That means the virus [HIV] may be in your body a long time (from a few
months to as long as 10 years or more) before it can be detected, either
by a test or by physical symptoms.”
Sex Respect, (Student Workbook, p. 60)
{In truth, according to the CDC hotline in most instances HIV is detectable by a test
within a few weeks of infection. It cannot live undetectable in your body for 10 years.3}
- “Cervical cancer is positively correlated with promiscuous behavior ….”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 119)
- “One psychiatrist has said, ‘The number of herpes patients has decreased
since 1982. However, the herpes patients I see in 1991 suffer intense guilt
feelings, and feelings that they are unclean and dirty. Herpes patients fear
the most that they will not find a partner or someone who wants them.’”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 134)
This information on STDs seems to be based more on judgment than scientific fact.
Fear-based abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula would better serve students by
explaining the true nature of STDs as well as ways in which young people can protect
themselves and access testing and treatment services when needed.
Discourage the use of condoms
- “Common sense indicated that the condom is inadequate and that
abstinence prior to marriage and faithfulness within marriage are the best
means of STD prevention.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Teacher’s Guide, Unit 5, p. 10)
- QUESTION: “Emotional effects of premarital sex that condoms can NEVER
protect.”
ANSWER: “What is guilt; rejection; or a broken heart.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Teacher’s Guide, Unit 5, p. 32)
- INSTRUCTION: “Circle the item(s) that can be totally eliminated through
the use of a condom?”
“Infertility, isolation, jealousy, poverty, heartbreak, substance abuse, AIDS,
pregnancy, cervical cancer, genital herpes, unstable long-term commitments,
depression, embarrassment, meaningless wedding, sexual violence,
personal disappointment, suicide, feelings of being used, loss of honesty,
loneliness, loss of personal goals, distrust of others, pelvic inflammatory
disease, loss of reputation, fear of pregnancy, disappointed parents, loss
of self-esteem, leaving high school before graduation”
ANSWER: NONE.
INSTRUCTION: “Cross out the item(s) that can be eliminated by being
abstinent until marriage.”
ANSWER: ALL.
Choosing the Best PATH (Teacher’s Guide, p. 19)
When used consistently and correctly, condoms are 98 percent effective in preventing
pregnancy and research has shown that using a condom for HIV prevention is 10,000
times safer than not using a condom.4 Telling students that condoms don’t work will
not stop them from having sexual intercourse. It may, however, stop them from using
condoms when they do become sexually active. In addition, condoms were never
intended to prevent everything from poverty to personal disappointment. The focus
on these unrelated issues is clearly designed to discourage condom use rather than
inform students.
PROMOTE STEREOTYPES AND BIASES
Present gender stereotypes as fact
- “Girls need to be aware they may be able to tell when a kiss is leading to
something else. The girl may need to put the brakes on first in order to
help the boy.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 96)
- “Boys can experience sexual feelings without physical intimacy ever occurring.
A girl’s attire can rouse sexual feelings in boys. It is very important that
teenage girls and boys dress appropriately, whether they are on a date or out
in public. A boy can get the wrong message from what a girl might wear.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 96)
- “A guy who wants to respect girls is distracted by sexy clothes and
remembers her for one thing. Is it fair that guys are turned on by their
senses and women by their hearts?”
Sex Respect (Student Workbook, p. 94)
- “For a girl it may mean moving a boy’s hand. For a boy it may mean
resisting a lonely girl’s need for affection.”
>Heritage Keepers (Student Manual, p. 107)
- “A young man’s natural desire for sex is already strong due to testosterone,
the powerful male growth hormone. Females are becoming culturally
conditioned to fantasize about sex as well.”
Sex Respect (Student Workbook, p. 11)
- “Will the wife work after marriage or will the husband be the
sole breadwinner?”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Student Workbook, p. 185)
The curricula present stereotypes about gender roles as truth, including the view that
men desire casual sexual activity from any and all women while women only agree to
sexual activity to get love. In so doing, they place responsibility for setting limits on
young women, who are told to watch what they wear and how they behave. Instead,
students need to learn that both men and women are sexual beings and that both are
equally responsible for making decisions regarding sexual activity.
Depict non-traditional families as troubled
- “Compared to those from intact families, children from divorced families
are more likely to be depressed, withdrawn and do poorly in school.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Teacher’s Guide, Unit 6, p. 6)
- “A divorced male is 3.4 times more likely to die from any cause than a
married male, and a divorced female is twice as likely to die from any
cause than her married counterpart.”
Heritage Keepers (Student Manual, p. 92)
- “Sociologists even studied the myth that children would do just as well in
divorced, single-parent and step families as they do in intact first marriage.
That also proved false.”
Sex Respect (Student Workbook, p. 121)
- “The net impact of divorce on the partners affects not only them, but
their children and society as a whole. There has been a tremendous overall
negative effect on vast numbers of people because of divorce.
FACTS (Senior High, Teacher’s Edition, p. 163)
There are many reasons, including divorce, death, or desertion, that students may live
in a family that does not match the “ideal” model espoused by these programs.
Suggesting that their families are inferior and that these students will face a lifetime
of difficulty will likely cause feelings of hurt, anger, shame, and embarrassment. It is
unfair to put the burden of family structure on students who, as children, have no
control over their current family situation.
Present biased information about homosexuality
- “STDs are usually contracted by those who participate in premarital sex,
extramarital sex, or homosexual acts.”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Teacher’s Guide, Unit 5, p. 10)
- “Due to the specific nature of this prevention effort, it is designed to
meet the needs of heterosexual relationships.”
WAIT Training (Workshop Manual, p. 6).
- “Homosexual activity involves an especially high risk for HIV transmission.”
Sex Respect (Teacher Manual, p. 68)
- “Homosexual: a persistent and predominant attraction of a sexual-genital
nature to persons of one’s own sex.”
FACTS (Middle School, Teacher’s Edition, p. 72)
Curricula that show clear biases against homosexuality or those that are written exclusively
for heterosexual students are not appropriate for a classroom setting in which
there are likely students who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning their sexual
orientation or those who have gay or lesbian parents or other family members. Such
curricula will only further marginalize and alienate these students.
Use biased language about pregnancy options and abortion
- “… the unborn infant is a unique never to be repeated human…”
Reasonable Reasons to Wait (Teacher’s guide, Unit 9, p. 35)
- “Abortion is not the best choice … because it unfairly penalizes the baby
for the bad decision the baby’s parents made.”
Sex Respect (Teacher Manual, p. 7)
- “Conception, also known as fertilization, occurs when one sperm unites with
one egg in the upper third of the fallopian tube. This is when life begins.”
FACTS (Senior High, Student Handbook, p. 11)
- “When we consider these realities, adoption appears to be a better all
around decision for both mother and child.”
FACTS (Middle School, Teacher’s Edition, p. 139)
It is not the place of sexuality education curricula to mandate choices for students. By
presenting clearly biased and often inaccurate information about pregnancy and abortion,
these programs do not allow individuals to make informed, personal decisions that are
consistent with their own values and the values of their families and communities.
References
- Jo Anne Grunbaum, et. al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance — United States, 2003,”
Surveillance Summaries, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 53.SS-2 (21May 2004): 1-
95. Available online at: <http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/yrbs/>.
- “Frequently Asked Questions: What is HIV?” (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control &
Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, February 2002.) Available
online at: <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pubs/faq/faq1.htm>.
- “Fact Sheet: Some Facts About Syphilis,” (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control &
Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention,Division of Sexually
Transmitted Diseases, May 2001.) Available online at:
<http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/Fact_Sheets/Syphilis_Facts.htm>.
- Fact Sheet: The Truth About Condoms, (New York: SIECUS, 2003) Available online at:
<http://www.siecus.org/pubs/fact/fact0011.html>.
Curricula
The curricula referenced include:
Choosing the Best PATH (2001) and Choosing the Best LIFE (2003, 2000), written by
Bruce Cook, distributed by Choosing the Best, Inc., Atlanta, GA.
FACTS—Family Accountability Communicating Teen Sexuality (Middle School and Senior
High School Editions, 2000), written by Rose Fuller, Janet McLaughlin, and Andrew
Asato, distributed by Northwest Family Services, Portland, OR.
A.C. Green’s Game Plan, written by Scott Phelps and Libby Gray, distributed by Project
Reality, Glenview, IL.
Heritage Keepers (1997,98,99), written by Anne Badgley, MEd and Carrie Musselman,
distributed by Heritage Community Services, Charleston, SC.
Reasonable Reasons to Wait, (revised 2002-03), written by Maureen Gallagher Duran,
distributed by A Choice in Education, Chantilly, VA.
Sex Respect, The Option of True Sexual Freedom (2001 edition), written by Coleen Kelly
Mast, distributed by Respect, Inc., Homer Glen, IL.
WAIT (Why AM I Tempted) Training (1998), produced by Friends First, Longmont, CO,
distributed by Choosing the Best, Inc., Atlanta, GA and by WAIT Training, Smyrna, GA.
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