No Joke

I've stayed away from the Anthony Weiner story because, to be honest, it really is kind of dopey.  Here's a guy who resigned his House seat after he was busted for sexting his, well, wiener and who apologized for his transgression.  Now he's running for mayor of NYC, and it turns out he continues to send "selfies" of his private parts.

Meh.

I think that's been David Horsey's take as well, but now he expresses it with grand Horsey Snarkitude, and I couldn't resist.

Obviously, Weiner knows how effective humor can be. He is a friend of The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, after all. What would have happened in 2011 when his sexting activities came to light if, instead of trying to deny it and spin an elaborate lie, he had made himself the butt of jokes? “What do you expect from a guy named Weiner?” he could have asked. “I was just trying to keep up with the cool kids with all this social media and I got way too social.”

Of course he would have had to be serious about taking responsibility and making amends with his wife. He could have flown to L.A. to enroll in a sex therapy program with a few Hollywood stars. ...

Yes, a joke instead of a lie would have helped Weiner back then – but probably not now that we have found out he continued to engage in sexting after he quit Congress and after both he and his wife had gone very public with the story that all that kind of stuff was in the past. It turns out the photos he sent of his private parts got even more explicit, the sexting evolved to phone sex and he adopted the online moniker “Carlos Danger.” (Actually, picking that alias does prove he has a sense of humor.)

The New York Times editorial board and a string of Democratic politicians are now insisting that Weiner drop out of the race for mayor, but nothing he did was against the law and, if hypocrites like David Vitter still have their jobs, why should Weiner have to quit just because he is an embarrassment to the city?

Let the voters decide his fate. The best thing would be for Weiner to be rejected by New Yorkers; not because of his sexting addiction, but because he has proven himself to be a hyper-ambitious, narcissistic, mendacious weasel. The people need a chance to tell him to find another career. The comedy clubs await.   [Emphasis added] 

I think that captures my sentiments exactly.

More Money Down The Drain

That a program simply doesn't work never stopped the 109th Congress from adding more money to fund it. Apparently the same principle is operative in the 110th Congress as well. This time the program has to do with educating our teens about sex and the program, one that only talks about abstinence, has been been proven once again not to be effective. From an AP article:

Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.

"At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers, the study concluded.

The report, which was based on a review of research into teenager sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. ...

A spending bill before Congress for the Department of Health and Human Services would provide $141 million in assistance for community-based, abstinence-only sex education programs, $4 million more than what President Bush had requested. [Emphasis added]

Abstinence only programs simply don't work, according to this study, and several studies which have preceded it. Teenagers continue to have sex, but are doing so without any real-world information which would prevent pregnancies and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Why Congress continues to throw money down this rathole is a mystery, especially when there are more comprensive programs which have been proven (again in this study) to be more effective.

The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiative of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.

None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.

Instead, he wrote, such programs improved teens' knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and gave them greater "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."

The whole point of education is to give students information and the tools to use that information wisely. Most teenagers have enough smarts to know when they are being conned and when the data is relevant and can affect them directly. Abstinence only programs don't work because the students can see through the glibness, just as they could see through the "Just Say No" mantra of the Reagan anti-drug war.

Oh, and a final note about the conclusion of the article: Mr. Kirby's employer, ETR Associates, develops and markets sex education curricula, some of which were reviewed by Mr. Kirby in this study. That is important to know, but the group which sponsored the study also acknowledged that Mr. Kirby was both thorough and even-handed in the preparation of the report. That's good enough for me. It should also be good enough for Congress.

Sex: Some Common Sense, Please

I imagine there are huge swaths of people absolutely outraged by this news, as reported in the NY Times and most of the other media outlets in this country.

The Portland school board on Wednesday approved a measure allowing middle-school students to gain access to prescription birth control medications without notifying parents.

The proposal, from the Portland Division of Public Health, calls for the independently operated health care center at King Middle School to provide a variety of services to students, including immunizations and physical checkups in addition to birth-control medications and counseling for sexually transmitted diseases, said Lisa Belanger, an administrator for Portland’s student health centers.

Oh. My. God.

Middle school. That means 12-,13-, 14-year olds.

What is happening to this country?

Well, one of the things that is happening is that some, although certainly not all, kids at that age are sexually active, and most of them are at least thinking about "it", however they define "it". And they are all right on schedual, given the nature of, well, nature.

I had my first menstrual period when I was twelve (nearly 50 years ago), and I was certainly not the first girl in my seventh-grade class to hit that milestone. A younger friend of mine tells me that the average age of menarche among American girls is now earlier, and she thinks it's about nine or ten. I don't know how accurate that is, but I do know that when I was ten I was already curious about such things. At any rate, I was in middle school (although it was called "Junior High" back then) when I officially was capable of becoming pregnant. And I certainly was of an age to contract a sexually transmitted disease. The first "health" class I had which discussed such issues came three years later, which, if you think about it, wasn't real timely.

And that, I believe, is the point that the Portland School Board was trying address. It got a lot of flack from the audience at the meeting, but one father clearly got it:

“Not every child is getting the guidance needed to keep them safe,” said Richard Veilleux, who said his child attends King Middle School. “This is about giving kids who are sexually active the tools that they need.”

Exactly.

But it's not just about access to condoms and birth control pills, it's about sane and complete education, which is certainly more than a "just don't do it" abstinence only program can provide.

Kids need to be given practical information about those condoms, including what they are used for, how they are used, when they are used, and all the things they can prevent.

Kids, especially girls, need to be given complete information about birth control pills, including the regimen for taking them and the possible side-effects. They have to understand that if they stop taking them, they can become pregnant.

Kids have to be made to understand that getting pregnant is not the only danger to unprotected sex, and they have to be shown just what SDTs can do to the body now, and in the future. And they need to hear that information early and from responsible adults. Since most parents really can't or won't give that information, then the schools must.

And a lot of that information has to be delivered before the tenth grade. The friend I mentioned earlier told me her eight-year-old daughter started asking "those kind of questions" this past summer. "What are tampons?" What are they used for?" "Why does that happen?" "Will I have to use them?" "Should we get some now, just in case?"

Her mother is a lawyer and her father an engineer. They've started talking frankly with her, and with the principal of her grade school to find out when the system for this kind of education kicks in at the schools. I think the news from Portland, Maine will cheer them both up and will give them some ammunition when they speak to the principal again.

And I hope they keep hammering at that principal, because these are kids' lives at stake.