Hatrack River Forum: This is exactly what I'm talking about

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Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

Link to a LA Times article.

I was looking through Google news and saw this article on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of pledges to remain sexually inactive until marriage. Which was fine, a good article really, and then for some reason the writer felt the need to stick this last sentence on:

quote:
Sex education programs that teach only about abstinence are "outside the reality of most adolescents and young adults," Bruckner said.

What the heck does that have to do with anything? The paragraph before it certainly didn't lead right into it:

quote:
Some teenagers and young adults may engage in other intimate activities besides vaginal sex in order to preserve their virginity, the study found.

Nor is it related in any way to the rest of the article, in the sense that there's no talk of teaching classes, abstinence or no, no reference to results of abstinence only sex-ed, it's just stuck there.

I strongly favor non abstinence only sex-ed, but I still got pretty ticked when I read this, it felt as if the reporter just has an axe to grind, and decided to just stick on a parting shot because he (she) thought he (she) could get away with it. It seems about the same as in a report on the ineffectiveness of Medicare to ensure the health retired citizens the end sentence was: "social security doesn't seem to help middle class America says expert".

OK, so I'm not so sure why this got to me the way it did but... it did. :-/ Anyways, there it is, thanks for listening.

Hobbes [Smile]

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

But some teenagers DO engage in other acts, thinking they are safe when they can also spread disease.
It absolutely never seems to work 9 out of 10 telling someone (most teenagers) NOT to do anything.

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :

Yah Syn, that's true, or at least I think it is. That's why I'm a proponent of a much broader perspective for sex-education. My point is though, that it has nothing to do with the rest of the article.

Imagine an article about how industry is doing a surprisingly good job conforming to the current emission standards, and then suddenly, at the end: "Dr. Lowbatwitz tells us that in general, industrial emission of so called greenhouse gases has little effect on environmental warming."

Hobbes [Smile]

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

Could just be a filler...
They might not have had enough words to fill the article.