Why do abstinence programs fail in practice?

Question

Yogi:
well said.

Answer 1

because they try to tell you to do something that is against what your body is telling you to do. and they offer no really good reasons not to do it.

we should focus on teaching people how to use protection and contraception, if we ever want to get a hold on STD's and unplanned pregenancy.

Answer 2

Yes, abstinence programs do fail. It's been demonstrated in multiple studies that abstinence programs do not reduce unwanted pregnancies or STDs. It is especially appalling that people who promote abstinence programs and reject broader sex education are also the ones that are so rabidly anti-choice. They are partly responsible for the unnecessarily high abortion rate. You would think that if preventing abortions is a real concern they would wise up and allow proven sex education programs to be used in schools, instead of abstinence only.

Answer 3

Abstinence programs fail because having sex is a perfectly normal instinctive behavior. Ask yourself, how does nature insure that all organisms will successfully reproduce? ...by providing all organisms with a compelling set of instinctive behaviors which guarantee reproductive success. People who believe human beings are not animals are the only ones who naively imagine religious and/or cultural values are able overcome the need to obey our natural instincts. Genuine sex education is a far better option.

Answer 4

Abstinence programs are usually supported by the conservative side...for example, George W. Bush supported it. I wonder if W engaged in premaritial sex? By his own admission, he was having drug and alcohol problems...think he may have been having sex too?

What about his daughters? I bet they were given discrection talks and birth control information instead. Wanna bet a fiver?

Abstinence programs taught without basic sexual education including birth control and maintaining sexual health, (avoiding STDs) doesn't bring individual empowerment. Some prefer repression all the way around, especially when they are teaching "Do as I say, Not as I do."

Answer 5

They don't all fall in practice, I know some friends whose children signed pledges through their Church to be abstinent and the children encourage others in their family to keep this pledge. Also since the start of these program more children have remained abstinent and the teenage birth rate is down.

Answer 6

For starters, it's not very realistic to expect hormone-ridden teens and young adults to stay completely abstainent.

Also, most programs offer little in the way of anything besides "don't do it". They tend not to offer comprehensive or accurate information, if any, about STDs, the proper use of contraceptives, masturbation, homosexuality, or oral sex. This leads people either to think that they're not really doing anything harmful because they aren't aware of the risks, or that they're technically being chaste because they haven't had penetrative sexual contact, or feel extremely guilty for doing perfectly normal things like masturbation or being gay. This leads to people getting hurt both physically and emotionally,and if there is a religious aspect of the program as there so often is, the people might distance themselves from the church, which makes them all the less inclined to abstain because they (hopefully) start to learn about sex.

Answer 7

Do you mean abstinence from intercourse? Alcohol? drugs? i think of all of them fail in prepare by using fact they're unrealistic. they tend to be prescribed by ability of human beings with little wisdom or sympathy for the draw to the substance in question. they even tend to be absoluteist. this is, maximum sexual abstinence discussions do no longer contain communicate approximately different the thank you to...er..."relieve your self." to no longer be crude. Alcohol abstinence takes on a ethical tone condemning every person who ever has a drink to "jails, establishments, or dying." certainty contains dumb errors and destructive alternatives. It contains circumstances once you are able to cope with a substance or interest and circumstances once you're no longer so good at it. Abstinence classes have one answer for ONE situation taht behaves in basically one way even although problems with a substance or habit come from a myriad of guidelines and are solved in a diverse way for each individual. they additionally anticipate that a) abstinence is appropriate, b) based on a ethical crucial. Who says intercourse outdoors of marriage is "undesirable"? in case you do not have self belief that, and don't adhere to it wholeheartedly an abstinance software based on those concepts is for specific to fail. Who says you will never have the capacity to savour a tumbler of wine back after having a era of situation ingesting? comparable answer. the end results of "failure" as defined by ability of such classes is often extra indulgence in despite made you experience responsible interior the 1st place, this is unquestionably pathological.

Answer 8

Because they fail to fully inform people about the safest, wisest choices in respect to the sex that they have the right to have and may very well choose to have in the future.

Yes, abstinence is the safest and wisest when it comes to preventing STD's, of course, but people have the right to have sex if they so choose, and teaching them what to do to make themselves protected in the event that they choose to act within their rights is much more responsible than leaving them in the dark about it and simply saying "no sex is the best, that's all you need to know".

Answer 9

Because they require that a person abstain from something fun. They would probably have a much higher success rate if it was a say, "Abstain from hitting yourself in the head with a hammer" program.

Answer 10

That's simple; when abstinence is taught apart from the gospel it ends up being a "works" based, legalistic lifestyle. Only the Holy Spirit can empower you to have victory over sin.

That being said, abstinece programs should not be taught because they are effective, they should be taught because they set the bar high and schools (governments) shouldn't encourage immorality.

Answer 11

because abstinence programs can never extinguish the flames of curiosity