To the editor,
The staff editorial on sex education was quite inconclusive ("Sex education in schools needs overhaul," March 4). I don’t think the question here is about abstinence vs. safe sex education.
First of all, effectiveness of either method isn’t dependant on a specific case, but on statistical trends of a larger sample. The author is clearly misleading readers with bias.
The issue, however, seems to be geared specifically to what is being taught at home. How did these girls (barely teens) not know they were pregnant? This means they must have not been menstruating for long and didn’t understand its regularity.
I don’t think it’s about "people foolishly thinking that abstinence is being practiced," but that its importance is not being emphasized. This argument can’t even be made by only using two hyped-up stories about children who didn’t know the signs of pregnancy. How do we expect them to learn anything at all in such conditions?
Our culture teaches us to regard our bodies as tools and objects of pleasure, and portrays sex for children to gain curiosity. It is not seen as a sacred act between two loving individuals, but instead as a wonderful means to pleasure with an unwanted "side-effect." Pregnancy is NOT a side effect, people, but a DIRECT effect!
Yesenia N. Flores
biochemistry senior
