Mutual Masterbation and Babies... (This will eventually relate to media, just wait)

Recently, while looking at my Health by Correspondence homework, I came to an assignment on HIV and AIDS. Seemingly legitimate, until I get the to the second part, asking me to write a "Public Service Announcement" on AIDS.

And I quote:
"Write a PSA for TV or radio aimed at teens that warns about the dangers of contracting AIDS and PROMOTES ABSTINENCE." (Mind you, this is in bold, AND underlined.)
Continuing,
"Content: The announcement should:
-->Demonstrate your overall knowledge on the facts concerning AIDS.
--> PROMOTE ABSTINENCE"

Hmm...

And here's where the media only starts to come in. When did my health book come out? The 90's. And what year was abstinence-only education first written into our welfare reform bill? 1996. And who was it that oh-so willingly wrote it in? BILL-FUCKING-CLINTON.

This law included, among other things, a stipulation that teenagers must be taught that abstinence is the only acceptable behavior outside of marriage AT ANY AGE, that premarital sex can have harmful physical and psychological consequences, and that birth control can only be mentioned in relation to its failure rates.

And so, with the fuel of millions of dollars, George Bush has continued this legacy by funding faith-based community organizations that are led by the Christian Right, to produce tons of media through advertisements as well as educational programs and curriculum materials that are aimed at "scaring and bullying teens into abstinence." (Jen Roesch, "The Abstinence-Only Lie")

Here is some of what Rep. Henry Waxman found in reviewing 13 curriculum materials used in states across the country as far was what is being taught to students under this new curriculums:

-Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.

-Touching a person's genitals can result in pregnancy; mutual masturbation can cause pregnancy.

-HIV can be transmitted by tears and sweat, and 50 percent of gay teens have AIDS.

-A pregnancy occurs one out of every seven times that couples use condoms.

-A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."

-Five to 10 percent of women will never again be pregnant after having a legal abortion.

-Suicide is a consequence of pre-marital sex.

I can't figure out which of these is the most rediculous. They're all nearly laughable- until you realize that somewhere, kids are being taught, and most likely believing some of it.

Just from reading this, it seems clear that the recent rise in teen pregnancy (for the first time in 14 years) it probably due to a "manufactured ignorance about sex and brith control that is being forced on American teenagers," and to a "likely result of an unprecedented expansion of anstinence-only programs in schools," rather than becuase "U.S. society has become too accepting of teenage sexuality," as constantly argued by the Christian Right. (Roesch, Jen)

Although the latter argument seems to fit with Brave New World and sex being nothing, see current Hip Hop/music videos/song lyrics, and Postman's comment on how "serious discourse [--or INTERcourse-- hahahah] has dissolved into giggles," this is one time where the media is actually coming at this visciously from both sides.

Because "numerous studies show that abstinence-only education is ineffectice and sometimes harmful," (Roesch, Jen). Although when teen pregnancy rates were still declining, the right argued (and mind you, was PAID to argue,) that this was because of their spiffy new abstaining tactics, a Columbia University and Guttmacher Institue study found that "86 percent of the decline was atributable to increased use and effectiveness of birth control, while only 14 percent could be attributed to teens delaying sex." (Roesch, Jen). The study also found that "teens in abstinence-only programs were JUST AS LIKELY TO HAVE SEX, initiated sex at the same age, and had a similar number of sexual partners" as kids who hadn't been suckered by the Right-Wing media. (Roesch, Jen).

My favorite part of the study, and what's utterly terrifying when you think of all that's going into this education, is that "of one in six girls who took [chastity pledges], 88 percent broke their vow before marriage, many within a few eyars. And girls who had taken chastity pledges were LESS LIKELY TO USE CONDOMS, and LESS LIKELY TO SEEK TESTING AND TREATMENT FOR SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES."

Moral of story: don't trust what the media throws at you.

This whole abstinence-only approach is rooted in a denial of facing the reality of teenage sexuality. And so "state-mandated pre-abortion counseling exaggerates the physical and mental health risks of abortion-- for example, ASSERTING A LINK BETWEEN ABORTION AND BREAST CANCER, or claiming that WOMEN WHO HAVE ABORTIONS MAY HAVE SUICIDAL THOUGHTS." Jesus.

And now for more media:

This has all come hand in hand with a cultural backlash where abortion has been portrayed almost unilaterally in a negative spot-light, and almost never as a viable choice. (See several recent movies and TV shows.)

Conclusion: The media gets paid to promote its agenda to you, and it will twist whatever facts that come out to fit with the message it wants to get across, no matter the actual accuracy. So don't just accept what it tell you. Even if it's nonchalantly through a Health assignment.