STDs and Statistics

BrideToBeBecauseHeLovesMe · March 2011

Teens today have a four times greater risk of getting an STD than getting pregnant; Pregnant teen girls in their state today are carrying on average 2.3 STDs; One in two sexually active youth will contract an STD by age 25.

Good gravy. Thank the Lord I am STD free and won't ever have that worry.

What are your thoughts, ladies? I'm completely blown away.

loves2shop4shoes · March 2011

I'm not surprised. This is why I strongly believe that abstinence only education is detrimental to society. A lot of young people know to be careful of pregnancy, so they go on birth control. But many of them don't know to be careful for STDs...and most don't know that you can get ALL of the same STDs from oral sex that you can from intercourse.

IMHO, children should be taught about STDs, pregnancy, and how to use a condom beginning in 6th grade. I think there's a big diffrence between encouraging kids and telling kids, "You should wait until you're older, but if you're going to do it anyway, here's how to be safe."

SuMmErKuTiE · March 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_stds-statistics?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural Wedding BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:cef57a3d-297d-4c2b-aa4b-d97d7297a6ecPost:c09c9729-b39c-4564-84e4-224000cebbcd">Re: STDs and Statistics</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm not surprised. This is why I strongly believe that abstinence only education is detrimental to society. A lot of young people know to be careful of pregnancy, so they go on birth control. But many of them don't know to be careful for STDs...and most don't know that you can get ALL of the same STDs from oral sex that you can from intercourse. IMHO, children should be taught about STDs, pregnancy, and how to use a condom beginning in 6th grade. I think there's a big diffrence between encouraging kids and telling kids, "You should wait until you're older, but if you're going to do it anyway, here's how to be safe."
Posted by loves2shop4shoes[/QUOTE]

Ditto this 100% I'm against abstinence only education as well, and how about absolutely NO sex education in the Christian high school I went to. It was just known that you should wait until marriage. But we were still teenagers with raging hormones so as most kids do.... not everyone listened of course. Most of the people I know who have had unplanned pregnancies outside of marriage all grew up in good Christian homes. The difference is that Christian kids are usually told to just not do it, and are never taught about condoms or how to use one. While kids in public schools are taught about all these things and are usually smarter when it comes to having protected sex. Most kids are going to do it anyway, so they need to be properly protected. It sickens me to think how many kids out there are too young to be having sex in the first place, but are also unprotected and could be messing up their entire futures.

I'm not surprised by those statistics at all, and unfortunately it's just going to keep getting worse unless we teach the next generation to be much smarter when it comes to sex. You can't be naive and assume your kids won't have sex, you need to teach them that they shouldn't but if they do to please oh please use protection. That's an awkward conversation I'm not looking forward to having with my future children. Oy!

When I was in middle school I was scared of holding hands with a boy I liked, then my brother who is 6 years younger than me has all kinds of stories of what kids were doing when he was in middle school and early high school. It's crazy!

iamjoesgurl · March 2011

I thought this was about Save The Dates! (oops)

Those statistics are really sad. I am also an abstinence proponent but not just because of STDs and pregnancy; I think that being that intimate with someone should not be entered into lightly and it is very important to educate children/teens about the benefits of abstaining. A lot of people say that teens can be taught to abstain but it is not reasonable to expect them to abstain. I call BS on that and think that if you show true love to your daughter/son and teach them to respect the opposite sex, it is reasonable to think that they can abstain.

musicalsunlight · March 2011

I totally thought this was going to be about the statistics regarding Save the Dates. Haha I hang out at TK too much.

drama1308 · March 2011

I thought this was about Save the Dates too! oooops!!

I am so glad I don't have to worry about STDs or teen pregnancy!! Those are some of the saddest statistics!! I agree with you guys, abstinence only isn't really the best form of education for children/teens.

Christine&Joshua · March 2011

That statistic really makes me wonder wtf parents are letting their kids do.

Maybe that's the wrong attitude to have.

I think that abstinence-only education is a bad idea. I had my first sex ed talk in the 5th grade and I think that any earlier is inappropriate, but much later is a bad idea.

Jesus Christ. 2.3???

Purple&7 · March 2011

I find the statistics to be very sad. I agree with everything everyone else has said.

sister2groom · March 2011

I agree with JoesGurl. I think parents should really start taking responsibility for educating their own kids about sex. Maybe instead of worrying about sex ed classes for kids, we should worry about parents learning to have "the talk" with their kids. Except it shouldn't be the talk, it should be a continual dialog that gets more in-depth as the kid gets mature enough to handle it and wants to understand the dangers of what his/her peers are doing.

GJones27 · March 2011

I think STDs are becoming prevalent among teens because they're prevalent generally speaking, as well. I don't get the abstinence-only education programs, even though I believe in waiting until marriage. I went to Jesuit high school, and we learned about birth control and protection, even though they taught us not to have sex lightly. You need to get education, and if you don't learn in school, you won't get accurate info anywhere, except for maybe a doctor or some type of educational-like resource.

fpaemp2011 · March 2011

I went to a public school K-12, but 4-12 was in a very small, very rural, very conservative county. We had (and they still have) abstinence only "Family Life" starting in 6th grade and learned our anatomy, basic male anatomy, how babies are made and not to have sex with anyone but your husband. I'm not sure what the boys' class covered...we were told not to talk about it outside of class with anyone besides our parents. I only remember 3 girls in the entire high school being pregnant my 4 years there, and many of the students were abstaining, although I know it wasn't nearly all.

I had "the talk" the summer between 4th and 5th grade. I remember that day vividly. Mom is a nurse, and it was a very clinical "lecture" almost about development, cycles, babies, and not to ever, ever, smoke or drink, or have any form of sex before I was married, and not allow my friends to do any of that in our home, but to call if I was in a tempting situation. Yep...I was 10. The first birth control conversation I ever had with my mother was a few weeks ago when she asked me when I was making a doctors appointment to go on the pill, and I told her we're doing NFP/FAM. I'm still planning on seeing a GYN before June, though, just to make sure everything's ok.

That being said, I have still never seen a condom and have no idea what to with one. From what I've heard, my bridesmaids are planning on fixing this the night before the wedding. I don't know what FI's knowledge is of them...we've talked about everything but that, it seems.

GJones27 · March 2011

Yeah, teenage pregnancy is a different issue, too, but so unspoken of. My Jesuit high school said that if anyone gets pregnant, they would do everything possible to help the girl keep the baby. Every year, someone gets pregnant, but not one girl has ever kept her baby. It's quite shocking for a Catholic school.

mrandmrsbrist · March 2011

Looking back on my sex education in middle and high school, I don't remember it being abstinence-based. Maybe it was. I grew up in a conservative area, so if it was, I wouldn't be surprised.

I remember the anatomy discussions, how sex happens, puberty, etc in fifth grade. And then in sixth grade we had talks about condoms, why they're important, etc. But it was always talked about as, "You know you should always wear a condom...right?" Nothing was ever blatantly explained.

But my parents made up for that. They explained everything thoroughly and made sure I had access to condoms and birth control if I chose to have sex. I chose instead to abstain, something that was really pushed on me throughout my youth group years.

BrideToBeBecauseHeLovesMe · March 2011

I just heard another one:

You have a better chance of getting throat cancer through oral sex than chewing tobacco.

Really?

My sex talk was from my dad and he said, "All guys want is to get in your britches. Stay away from them." Thanks dad. However I agree, it needs to be an ongoing discussion as the child matures.

jenn.daniel · March 2011

Neither of my parents ever gave me "the talk".

What they taught in my school was not abstinence only. The 9th grade health teacher brought in a shoebox full of different kinds of contraceptives to show us. She also showed us slides of STDs that we would rather not have seen.

fpaemp2011 · March 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_stds-statistics?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:cef57a3d-297d-4c2b-aa4b-d97d7297a6ecPost:7ca3ea77-98f0-49eb-b176-b4c3450d0686">Re: STDs and Statistics</a>:
[QUOTE]She also showed us slides of STDs that we would rather not have seen.
Posted by jenn.daniel[/QUOTE]

ohmystars, the slides. I didn't even want to sit near a guy for a while after that.

sessionswedding · March 2011

I think everyone places waaay too much emphasis on schools and classrooms when it comes to sex ed.

First off, WHERE ARE THE PARENTS? No matter what kids learn (or sleep through class during) in school, the parents are going to be their primary source for sex ed. Everything - and I mean everything - that the sex ed classes at my PUBLIC high school taught me, I already knew. And in fact I knew more than they "taught" me. It is the responsibility of parents to raise their children, not the schools.

Second, there's a point in your life where you're old enough to take responsibility for yourself. Emily, I am going to use you as a guinea pig (sorry, lol). You mentioned that you know nothing of condoms. Well...educate yourself! Ask your parents or a married friend to explain it to you, pick up a pack of condoms in the drug store and read the back of thebox, heck GOOGLE it, lol. (Though I would be a bit cautious of Googling THAT lol.)

DramaGeek · March 2011

I am torn on the whole "parents need to do it" thing. On the one hand, yeah, they do. Some parents don't because they don't know what to do (that would be my ILs). They are ultra conservative and/or too embarassed to talk about it with their kids, so they rely on school and church to do it for them. For people like that, a "how to have the talk" class would be awesome.

On the other hand, you have parents who just don't care and no amount of prodding will get them to take care of things. For those kids, we really do need to educate them through school or they just won't get it anywhere else.

I am a big proponent of abstinence for a lot of reasons, but I don't agree with abstinence only education. I think we need to educate kids on their options and the possible consequences of every option, both physical (in the form of STDs and pregnancies) and emotional/mental.

eleanorlives · April 2013

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_christian-weddings_stds-statistics?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:464687ae-7bc1-4360-9aea-999e11f1e1adDiscussion:cef57a3d-297d-4c2b-aa4b-d97d7297a6ecPost:1c2df381-bd56-4fdd-9c2c-d94432283b1f">STDs and Statistics</a>:
[QUOTE]Teens today have a four times greater risk of getting an STD than getting pregnant; Pregnant teen girls in their state today are carrying on average 2.3 STDs; One in two sexually active youth will contract an STD by age 25. Good gravy. Thank the Lord I am STD free and won't ever have that worry. What are your thoughts, ladies? I'm completely blown away.
Posted by BrideToBeBecauseHeLovesMe[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>Where are these stats originating? I can find no valid and verifiable source that has been peer reviewed for the pregnant girls statistic. </div>

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