Wisconsin Opting For 'No-Sex' Sex Ed

Madison, Wis. A bill that received Senate approval last year passed through the Wisconsin state House earlier this month. Senate Bill 286 mandates that schools that provide sex education must promote abstinence as the best (we know they really mean only) option for preventing unwanted teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

The bill is currently awaiting approval from Democratic Governor Jim Doyle.

"I think it's very , very important that young people hear that message and hear it loud and clear: if you want to be healthy and you want to be 100 percent healthy, the only way is abstinence," Republican Sen. Mary Lazich told the Wisconsin Badger Herald newspaper.

That's a dangerously naive position for a United States Senator to take.

According to the Centers For Disease Control, 70% of boys and 60% of girls have had sexual intercourse by age 16. What Ms. Lazich fails to realize is that even though the Bush Administration has already spent millions of dollars on abstinence "education" programs, teenagers are always going to have sex.

In fact, one controversial study has even suggested that the "abstinence only" message may even contribute to higher levels of sexual activity among teenagers. Although those results were inconclusive, the Texas study revealed no indication that abstinence education prevented kids from acting on their sexual curiosity.

There's no question that teen pregnancy and the spread of STDs are real issues that need to be addressed. Abstinence might even be a really good idea for young people to consider. Still, the fact remains that for sexually active teens there is only one safe choice: Always, always, always use a condom.

So, like it or not Sen. Lazich and company, teenagers fuck. And if we don't keep open a real life dialog about sex with our kids, then they might just end up becoming sex obsessed sex maniacs who spend the better part of their lives thinking and writing about sex.