In classrooms everywhere around the United States, there are talks given on the topic of "safe sex" and "sex education". The subject is usually presented, in the beginning, as strictly anatomical and goes something like this: Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina, and when the boy inserts his penis into the vagina, his body becomes excited and releases a substance known as semen. The semen contains sperm which, when united with the egg or eggs that a girl releases each month during ovulation, causes a pregnancy to occur. That boys and girls will naturally want to have sex is also made clear, and that sex is good and nothing to be ashamed of is stated. All of this, of course, is true - but it isn't the whole picture.
Never covered in the sex education talk is the bio-chemistry behind attraction and human attachment. You see, human beings are not built for multiple partners. Bio-chemically, our brains are built to be monogamous. Every time we have sex with someone, there are chemicals released into our brains that cause us to bond with them. The more partners we have, the more confused the brain becomes and the weaker the bonds are that we form. In the short of it, the more partners we have the more difficult it becomes for us to attach to one partner, and the harder time we will have in being faithful for a lifetime to a single partner. In addition, when we are rejected by someone to whom our brains have bonded, the effect is devastating. Teenagers who are sexually active are far more likely to become depressed and even suicidal.
The safe sex part comes in next. Here they tell the boys and girls that if they decide to have sex with someone they should take steps to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, either by using a condom or by taking birth control pills or by having some device such as an IUD implanted in them in order to prevent such a tragedy as a baby born out of wedlock or born before the sexually active are ready to be parents. They also tell the boys and girls that there are diseases which can only be passed on to someone during sexual activities when bodily fluids like blood, saliva, and semen are exchanged and so in order to prevent that outcome from happening to them they need to be sure and use some kind of barrier such as a condom when having sex.
Our current administration has defunded programs which teach children that the only kind of safe sex is no sex at all, stating that it is not "scientifically proven" to work. I know of only one example in the entirety of human history in which a virgin was known to become pregnant, and since I seriously doubt that any of the children in that classroom are likely to be the Virgin Mary, I do not see how they can possibly say that abstinence is not scientifically proven to work.
Furthermore, this same administration which is so thoroughly unconvinced that children can be taught to say no and mean it, spends millions of dollars teaching children to "Just say no" to drugs. I find this to be insane. If a child has the will power to say no to drugs, why can they not be expected to say no to sex? Going even further on the insanity list are parents who, on the one hand, take their young daughters to clinics to get them birth control before they have even gotten out of a training bra because "kids are going to do what kids are going to do" but do not hesitate to tell those same children that they are to say no to cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs.
For those who support safe sex, I offer this food for thought: Imagine that a person walked into your child's classroom purporting to offer a "safe drug" talk. This person explained that while it's best for them to "just say no", it wasn't realistic to actually EXPECT them to say no and so proceeded to teach your children how to correctly insert a needle in their veins to insure that they don't blow a vein, distributed clean needles so they wouldn't feel the need to share them, gave them a pamphlet listing all of the "reputable" drug dealers - the ones who won't cut their goods with rat poison or other guaranteed-to-kill fillers, and gave them a list of crack houses where they could be sure of finding welcome and refuge while they were tripping out of their minds. All in the interest, of course, in a child's safety and best interest.
If you're any kind of parent at all, you would be outraged if a school allowed this kind of thing to go on, and rightly so. You understand that although there are appropriate times and circumstances in which drug use is okay and even good, every drug has side effects and should not ever be used in a recreational fashion. You also know that the consequences of recreational drug use can be life-long and devastating to the future of those who use them incorrectly. Sex is no different. Under the right circumstances, sex is not only okay but it is a very good thing, but it is never something that should be used in a recreational fashion. The consequences of recreational sex can be life-long and devastating to the future of those who in engage in it irresponsibly. Teaching about safe sex is insane. The only truly safe sex is either no sex at all, or sex with a spouse who is monogamous. Anything else is just dangerous.
