Results tagged “sexuality education” from Pregnant Pause
Jul 20 2009
Sex-positive Sex Ed Across the Pond
Well, you can't say the Brits aren't trying. Between a pilot program for low-income youth and a new pamphlet providing guidance to educators and adults on how to emphasize the potential positive aspects of sex, Britain has been making headlines for trying new approaches to reduce their high rates of teen pregnancy. Since our brilliant Senior Director of Research, Kelleen Kaye, already wrote a thoughtful post on the former strategy, I will stick to the latter.
The already-infamous "Pleasure" pamphlet apparently encourages discussion of the health benefits of masturbation and orgasms, among other things. And indeed many public health experts agree that masturbation is healthy and natural, though that perspective is not always presented in adolescent sex ed programs. In December 1994, then Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders commented that masturbation "is a part of human sexuality and it's a part of something that perhaps should be taught" in comprehensive sex education programs. This philosophy didn't serve Dr. Elders well in her career (she was eventually fired for the comment), but it has been espoused by advocacy organizations and many online sex education resources.
May 06 2009
After Years of Decline, Teen Pregnancy and Births Back on the Rise
This piece is cross-posted on RH Reality Check.
There is reason to be concerned on this 8th National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The extraordinary decline in teen pregnancy and childbearing - one of the nation's preeminent success stories of the past two decades - is in danger of being reversed. Cue sober music.
From the early 1990s, until 2007, the teen pregnancy rate in the United States plummeted 38 percent and the teen birth rate declined by about one-third. State and local level trends mirrored national trends almost everywhere: Over the past decade, we've seen declining rates of teen pregnancy in all 50 states and among all racial and ethnic groups - extraordinary progress on an issue many once considered intractable.
However, the most recent news on this front has not been as positive. After 14 straight years of declines, the national teen birth rate increased 5 percent between 2005 and 2007 and many states are reporting statistically significant increases in their respective rates of early childbearing as well.
