Changes Urged to Sex Education

Last week, a group of doctors, scientists and researchers unveiled a new science-based sex-education program that encompasses more than disease prevention or risk-reduction techniques. Joe Webb, president and CEO of the Austin-based nonprofit Medical Institute for Sexual Health, said "integrated sexuality education" is about getting people, communities and societies to live free of STDs, unwanted sex and the costly health problems associated with risky behavior. He envisages a norm of intimacy fulfilled through life-long, mutually monogamous relationships.

"Condoms are discussed factually as to the amount of risk reduction they provide against various STDs," Webb told a conference audience last week. However, "Because sexual restraint is an aspect of emotional health and maturity, it must be the foundation of sexual public-health policy," said Webb.

"In many cases, the same teens who are struggling with sexuality and sexual decisions are also struggling with issues" like obesity, tobacco or alcohol use, noted CDC Director Julie Gerberding. CDC supports youth programs that understand the connectivity between these issues and work with youth "in a holistic manner," she said.

According to Gerberding, it is time to "get over the dichotomization" of sex education -- "that you're either for abstinence of you're against it, either you're for condoms or you're against it." "We need a comprehensive, integrated approach, and it starts with abstinence in our kids. And it may have to move forward into other forms of prevention, depending on the target population," Gerberding said, noting Uganda's "ABC" message of "abstain, be faithful and use condoms consistently and correctly." "My own personal bias is to add 'D' for diagnosis," as two-thirds of new US HIV/AIDS cases occur among people who had sex with people that did not know they were infected, she added.

Today, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States will release a state-by-state report detailing "the amount, type and use of federal abstinence-only-until-marriage funds in every state" and "relevant controversies" surrounding sex education, said a spokesperson for the agency, which supports comprehensive sex education.

Back to other news for June 21, 2004