Fucking Ignorance

Via Jo Miller, a story about Rep. Henry Waxman's criticism of federally-funded abstinence education:

Many youngsters participating in federally financed, abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half of gay male teenagers have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional analysis found...

Supporters of the abstinence approach, also called abstinence until marriage, say teaching young people about "safer sex" is an invitation to have sex.

I like the part about how it's called "abstinence until marriage." That fits in nicely with administration efforts to "defend" marriage. So get it straight! (pun intended): marriage is for one man and one woman, and it's for frenzied, frantic, nonstop oh-thank-God-we-finally-made-it wild jungle sex (missionary position only).

Nonpartisan researchers, however, have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that, although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.

Well, hell, 12 out of 100 ain't bad, right? And those 12 for sure won't get pregnant, so that's good. The other 88, however, well, they're fucked in more ways than just the fun way.