The Christian Right's slick campaign to make abstinence seem trendy

I think that if you're all primed up and ready to go, condoms are the last thing on your mind.

Why even use condoms? Isn't the idea to do whatever you feel is right?

I just love that this is competing with the acne-curing condoms. Who will win the hearts of adolescents? The religious right, or the condom that will make you more attractive to the opposite sex, thereby causing you to need to use more condoms?

Here's the funny (not ha-ha) thing about the abstinence issue...

Conservatives & the Religous Right think teens are having more sex now, and everyone calls them whores for doing so.

Back in the days of lower life-expectancy, it wasn't uncommon to have children and be married by your late teens and die in your thirties.

With advances in medicine, we not only extended our life expectancies - but we also seem to have invented this fanciful concept that our instinct and nature as human beings should push our urge to fuck well into our twenties... and only with one partner.

So - calling teens who have sex whores, is really just pushing artificial values on someone who is biologically inclined to do what we've always done.

What's so wrong with it, as long as they do it safely?

Are members of native tribes in undeveloped countries whores because they procreate before 18 in order to continue their civilization whores?

No - but I'm sure a right-winger sees them as trash because they don't know our "more sophisticated" ways of doing things here in the U.S.

Screw it all - I'm pitching a tent in the woods & living out my days in peace ;-) Oh wait - I can't. I have student loans to pay off.

I believe condoms are the safest form of birth control. You don't have to worry about any side-effects from using them as you do with the pills. Any percentage of getting breast cancer or any of the other problems associated with taking birth control pills is not worth it to me.

If the abstinence thing had worked on my parents I wouldn't be here.....thank god hormones are more powerful than the pulpit. Teach respect for ourselves and others not supression of thoughts and emotions.

BORING.

Same arguments...same stupidity.

This is far better than those magazines that promote whores.

But who cares as long as you're a whore on your own time and don't include anyone else...however you go about doing that, do tell.

In regards to the misinformation, it bothers me that they will tell the kids anything they want to persuade them to the right wing point of view. It's good to know that those good ole christian folk arnt above telling a good lie to get someone to do what they want them to.

Misinformation is just as bad as no information. I think it's disgusting that these people would promote false information just to get kids and teens to do what they *think* is right. Abstinence is absolutely not the only answer to educating teens about sex. I don't have any problem with people being abstinent as long as it is their choice and not a choice that is put on them through their religious organization.

And I don't get where these groups think that birth control is abortion. If that's the case, menstruation and male ejaculation should be put on the list because they are just as much "abortion" as birth control. Birth control prevents the sperm from fertilizing the egg. If we go back to basic biology and remember that the egg holds one HALF of the genetic material to make a living thing while the sperm holds the other. Since when was half the genetic material a person? It's not. It's just a mess of genes that have the potential to become something living. It is not alive in the same sense that we are alive.

What's the scariest about this magazine is all the propaganda about condoms not working, or not preventing HIV. This abstinence thing might work for a little while, but what happens when the kid finally breaks down?
"Oh no baby, we don't need a condom, they don't work anyway"
Then the girl gets pregnant, and definitely can't have an abortion. Or she gets a disease and is ostracized by her friends and family because she's a dirty whore.
These christian conservatives really look out for their own!

To be honest there is no "good reason" to be having sex before the age of 18. And if kids younger than 18 are having unprotected sex with multiple partners etc. than I blame the parents, not the right, not religion, not the Government. I believe a parent is responsible for children until they reach the age of 18. So why do people care what the government tries to teach your kids. As a parent if you are not communicating louder than sex-ed it's your own damn fault.

One of the biggest problems with our society is that people now rely on the government, public schools, television, and internet to raise our kids. No personal responsibility.

What a stupid Post.

YOU talk to your Kids about Sex and real Life.

Talk to your kids about sex. Don't let the TV, a magazine, or the Government do it for you.

America is a giant childish nation. Let's grow up and talk to our kids about what's really going on in this world. People have sex, drink, smoke, do drugs and all kind of other shit.

You think you're protecting them but you're really making them a victim for big bad wolves like myself.

I was a vegetarian until I had my first steak. I was a teetotaler until I had my first drink. I just said 'No' until I had my first puff. And I was abstinent until I first got laid.

Doing what one thinks is cool only lasts for so long.

It's not pre-marital sex if you don't get married!

I love that it comes out once a year- the '2008/2009 edition!' I guess the number of articles can you write about how hot it is not to have sex or how to dress modestly is numbered. On the other hand, I'm fascinated by the idea of people correlating status with abstinence in a modern pop culture sort of setting. -It's like something out of a Gibson novel.

I honestly applaud their persistence to keep doing what they think works. But in my opinion it's a waste of time and money on their part.

By the looks of this magazine it is targeting the young categories of girls who already have parents teaching them abstinence... I don't think I have ever even heard of this publication. I feel sexual advertisements and publications are much more prevalent as it is, this seems to reach a small group of individuals

They're scared because 50% of young people are not affiliated with their cult.

When the baby boomers pass away, they're going to be gone. All that will be left of the religious right will be those poor few kids who never outgrew their jesus camp brainwashing.

I'm not worried, our generation is smarter than these pricks.

the conservative pigs will never get away with this. i will not work. Americans have grown smarter than them (hopefully).

Infiltration is an effective means of spreading propaganda, but there is no spy ring, secret agency, or terrorist network as difficult to infiltrate as contemporary teen "culture". It will immediately be seen as what it is, then promptly and mercilessly ignored.

You don't have to be against waiting until marriage in order to be pro-choice. Think about that term, pro-CHOICE. Give it up before you wed or wait until after, it's all about protecting EVERYONE'S choice.

I don't care what your resources are. I don't care what savvy market research you purchase. I don't care what impressive team of market psychologists you have writing copy for your ads.

You don't stand a chance against how good sex is.

Let them try. And fail.

God doesn't hate sex. Seriously. Check your sources on that. He made it feel this great for a reason.

You gotta admire effort though.

Yeah conservatives, maybe magazines will keep the kids' pants on. I suppose if religious indoctrination and school-based programs couldn't get the job done, then why not give mass-media propaganda a try?

here's a copy of the magazine

http://www.humanlife.org/publications/J4G_2008.pdf

In my opinion they're playing the old phycological trick on the teens!

@Setsfilla:

You're implying that knowledge will somehow free us of bad choices. . . Does it? Can knowledge, as I read once, control the horses of passion? (and boy, do them horses gallop. Belive you me, them. horses. gallop.)

It's one decision for a person to stay abstinent. But it should not be forced onto them, whether for abstinence or for sex.

Abstinence ONLY education doesn't work; it hasn't worked; it isn't going to work. If someone wants to be abstinent, bully for them. But teens should be provided with all the information available to make an informed choice, not a choice based on hormones and fear.

I do not think that this ideology is necessarily bad. Proposing that young women not have multiple sexual partners is not a bad thing. However, I do not believe the government should spend tax dollars doing it. I would much rather condemns be accessible in conjunction with these ads. I think teenagers should be allowed to protect themselves. Let us face the facts, they are going to experiment.
Yes, even those young christian girls are going to have sex. Why not prevent them from getting pregnant in the process of being a human being.

EVERY position is entitled to their own propaganda. Christians and sex-a-holics can spin every little detail however they want. That is what makes this country great.

Freedom.

Hmmm, fight my natural urges to get it on...or buy a box of condoms and find out how many g-spots I have........
G-spot!

let's put that taxpayer money into condom dispensers instead.

I kinda fell for the abstinance trap. Now all I can say is that I've wasted a good couple years sitting on the bench instead of playing in the game. They should teach not to be a slut, just to make love once youre in love and also that when a guy says he's in love it doesn't necessarily mean he it. Really the sad thing about sex education is that they're pushing an agenda, trying to sell me on abstinance, instead of giving me the facts and letting me decide what to do with my life, but what else can you expect when you let someone talk to your kids about sex instead of talking to them yourself?

JUST LET ME DO IT AND FIND OUT BY MYSELF !

Brainwashing ahoy! I'm trying to find a cross in the picture...

I love the blatant bias in this article. Very credible.

Oh, and just a reminder, "Christian" thought, whether it be biblical or not, does not automatically mean stupid or naive or ignorant.

Try using that open mind that's so popular with the kids these days.

God, save us all from your followers!

just because it's a christian outlook doesn't mean it's conservative. those are the stupid christians. i think a progressive christian outlook makes the religion a lot more credible.

Haha, they have no chance against Cosmopolitan, I'll keep on reading "100 ways to make him moan" thank you very much.

great idea, just not sure if it'll work.

I'm all for the right to choose who you sleep with and when you sleep with them, but that girl REALLY looks like she could use a good lay to get that constipated look off her face...

I dont see the problem with it. if some people choose to be abstinent, then it's thier personal choice.

I'm all for people making abstinence look like a good idea. I'm not so keen on twisting facts, though.

That girl looks like the daughter of a Stepford wife.

My response to abstinence: You should test-drive a used car before you buy it.

Especially since their bodies are going through ch-ch-ch-changes that produce raging hormones there is going to have to be a lot more than "the cool factor" to counteract that.

"But behind the trendy talk are the same shame-inducing tactics and medical misinformation that could potentially put teens' self-esteem, health and lives in danger."

Even if they did fall for those tactics wouldn't they still have to go through a lot of therapy later to get over the psychological damage from it?

So let me see if I get this straight: the conservatives are replacing a plan that has been proven not to work against the spread of STD's among teens, does nothing for the prevention of teen pregnancies, and suppresses the knowledge of safe, effective birth control for teens, with essentially the same plan, except with a bit of glitter thrown on top to make it seem a little less stupid to those who aren't looking too closely?

I think David Bowie provides the perfect counter-point to this:

"And these children that you spit on,
as they try and change their worlds,
are immune to your consultations.
They're quite aware, what they're going through."