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Abstinence education in FL leads teens to think smoking pot will prevent pregnancy.»

The state of Florida has a strict policy of abstinence-only sex education. A recent survey, however, shows that this program may be failing, leading teens to believe dangerous myths about pregnancy and and sexually-transmitted diseases:

A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state.

The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

On Tuesday, a bill that would “require a more comprehensive approach” to sex education narrowly won approval from a state Senate committee.

(HT: Feministing)

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52 Responses to “Abstinence education in FL leads teens to think smoking pot will prevent pregnancy.”


  1. specialist f Says:

    Also pray to jebus when you get them impure thoughts!


  2. Deep Thinker Says:

    I am all for comprehensive sex education, but I believe there is very little you can do to help someone who is stupid enough to drink bleach or thinks that Mountain Dew will also work as a contaceptive.


  3. RUCerious Says:

    And keep your arms crossed over your chest when you go to bed at night.


  4. Zooey Says:

    Kids can be so stupid sometimes, that’s why parents are supposed to smarter than them.

    Teaching abstinence only is not smart.


  5. MCMetal Says:

    A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state.

    The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.

    Didn’t this state embarrass itself and the rest of the nation enough during the 2000 presidential election ?

    Apparently not………..

    BTW

    If any of the above nonsense really worked , why would they still make condoms and spermicides and other contraceptives ?


  6. Fred Says:

    Deep Thinker Says:
    I am all for comprehensive sex education, but I believe there is very little you can do to help someone who is stupid enough to drink bleach or thinks that Mountain Dew will also work as a contaceptive.

    funny, people like you are why they believe it…..


  7. misshusseinmolly Says:

    RUCerious Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
    And keep your arms crossed over your chest when you go to bed at night.
    ___________________________________________

    Actually, I think keeping the LEGS crossed would be more effective. However, the “abstinence only” crowd teach that this is the ONLY way.

    When we have teens believing that drinking bleach, Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola, or smoking pot will prevent pregnancy and/or STDs, we’ve just taken a giant leap back into the 1950’s when there was no formal sex education of any kind. Actually, it’s worse today, because we have authority figures telling kids that condoms are worthless.


  8. Ms_Joanne Says:

    I saw a show on FreeSpeechTV the other day about a community taking on the school board in Broward County (a very conservative community). The parents, along with some very smart and brave children, brought to the school board’s attention some of the things that were grossly misinforming their children. I believe the school board did indeed change how it would approach sex education.

    Grass roots efforts pay off. That said, it is s shame that we have to have grass roots for scientifically accurate and obvious information to be disseminated to our children,


  9. Ms_Joanne Says:

    MissMolly, exactly! They say condoms are not effective, sex is bad unless within the arena of marriage (and submission). The sex eduction books do not even say what sex is…there is no definition. Jeez, you can’t explain how to stop it if you don’t know what IT is!

    Kids don’t think oral or anal sex is sex. Nor do they think it’s dangerous. Abstainance education isn’t just going to make kids pregnant, it is going to make them sick - or worse. (Bleach? OY!)


  10. raynman Says:

    “Only two thing are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
    ~Albert Einstein


  11. DRxJ Says:

    THC inhalation prevents pregnancy?
    Really?
    Whew, that’s a relief!
    I guess I no longer have to worry about all those possible paternity suits from the mid to late eighties whilst I was college.
    I can safely say, tho, doing body shots of bleach post coital was not particularly my cup of tea.
    Sleeping? Yes.
    Bleach? No.


  12. j swift Says:

    Abstinence education is not really about abstinence but about Christian proselytizing.


  13. dim wit Says:

    I went to high school in Miami (in the ’90’s) and they tought us the “normal” type sex ed stuff. Condoms and such. I wonder when they changed it to be abstinence only?

    BTW, Deep Thinker, kids are pretty stupid and will believe nearly anything in a certain context. Hence the reason we have Christianity.


  14. Zooey Says:

    A great comment from Feministing:

    Posted by: JaviitaVi
    Honestly conservatives, is this what you want?? Bleach-drinking and soda-douching teenagers procreating?


  15. McWars Says:

    My God, DRINKING BLEACH?

    I don’t think we could feel sorry enough for these kids, having such inattentive parents.

    Having sex in a pool is another pregnancy prevention myth.


  16. Buckie Boy Says:

    “Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.”

    Well maybe, if they get stoned and forget to have sex that is.

    Legalize Pot, regulate it, so adults have access and kids (who should be studying) won’t.


  17. Frosty Cupcake Says:

    Ahh, my state of Florida: Is there nothing you won’t do to embarrass me?


  18. dim wit Says:

    Ms_Joanne Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    while i don’t doubt the sincerity of your comment, Broward county is one county north of Miami-Dade and is the location of the city of Ft. Lauderdale. In no way, shape or form is Broward a “very conservative community”


  19. liberalinaredstate Says:

    Why am I not surprised to hear this. The State of Florida needs to come into the 21st century. It tries very hard to compete in the modern world, drawing in a somewhat diverse population and then this happens and it 10 steps backwards I can only hope parents are working hard to discount this absurdity, not to mention calling their state legislators…..like yesterday


  20. robbez_92107 Says:

    Isn’t it what they deserve for succumbing to the temptations of Satan? A shot of bleach for repentance? In the Middle Ages, the church sold indulgences - maybe that’s what W has been setting up. IOIYAR, only the R stands for Rich?


  21. StratRat Says:

    Teenagers are looking for answers and if the answers the Government gives them are bogus, they will seek the answers somewhere else. They will listen to their peers and do as they do (here, drink this bleach) because they have no other source for good, honest information. I have a 14 year old daughter and the stuff she tells me about what goes on at High School is alarming. Kids are growing up in an inattentive environment - we will pay for this lapse in the coming years.


  22. Ms_Joanne Says:

    Dimwit…it might have been Bravard County…would that change it? I don’t recall which (I almost posted that originally, too).

    And DRxJ, I don’t think it was YOU who would have been drinking the bleach, unless you wanted a sympathy shot for your lassie.


  23. shoeless Says:

    Deep Thinker Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
    I am all for comprehensive sex education, but I believe there is very little you can do to help someone who is stupid enough to drink bleach or thinks that Mountain Dew will also work as a contaceptive.

    Also, there is very little you can do to help someone who is stupid enough to think that simply telling horny teenagers to abstain from sex will cause them to abstain from sex.


  24. dim wit Says:

    Ms_Joanne Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    Yes, Brevard is much more conservative.


  25. linda Says:

    i saw on the roseanne show that if you jump up and down after sex, you won’t get preggers….

    ;-)


  26. Ms_Joanne Says:

    Follow up: It was Brevard county. Here is the link. http://www.aclu.org/ reproductiverights/ sexed/ 32433prs20070815.html

    The show is called The Freedom Files. Check it out if you get Dish.


  27. tombaker Says:

    way to go, bible thumpers!!!


  28. DRxJ Says:

    i saw on the roseanne show that if you jump up and down after sex, you won’t get preggers….

    Well, not if you’re Ms.Odonnell!


  29. shoeless Says:

    Can you imagine what they are teaching the kids in Kansas these days? They’re probably drinking the blood of virgins and shoving crosses up their vaginas.


  30. McWars Says:

    What would Ronald Reagan do?


  31. Freedom Rebel Says:

    Bleach that is a new one on me. Here is the reason Florida was preaching No-Sex:

    This past year, Florida ranked second only to Texas in the amount of federal money — $10.7-million — it received to spread the abstinence-until-marriage message. That’s $11.25 spent for every Florida teen ages 14 to 17.

    A national study in the spring showed that they don’t prevent teens from engaging in sex.

    What they need to start doing is teaching SAFE SEX.


  32. Frosty Cupcake Says:

    McWars Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    What would Ronald Reagan do?

    ——————————

    Divorce his wife and hire a bunch of lying crooks, like any good conservative.


  33. RUCerious Says:

    saw on the roseanne show that if you jump up and down after sex, you won’t get preggers….

    ;-)

    Crap, and I just thought the wife had a great time!


  34. RUCerious Says:

    $11.25 spent for every Florida teen ages 14 to 17.

    Lessee, that would amount to how many condoms?


  35. shoeless Says:

    If you jump out of the window after sex, you might not get preggers.


  36. Lisa FTW Says:

    I find it ironic that the people screaming the loudest about how terrible abortion is are the same folks who endorse keeping youth in the dark about how to AVOID pregnancy! Statistics show abortion rates declined among kids provided with accurate contraception information. Since we began implementing “abstinence only” programs, the youth pregnancy rates have greatly increased. Anyone who doesn’t see the correlation between the two is in denial.


  37. Frosty Cupcake Says:

    RUC, Lisa:

    You can’t use reason and facts to argue with crazy people. If that approach worked, they wouldn’t be crazy, fact-avoiding morons in the first place.


  38. DRxJ Says:

    Actually, I think that if you picture Rosie ODonnell jumping up and down naked, abstinence is possible.

    Just kiddin’
    Love the Rosie!


  39. Fred Says:

    shoeless Says:
    Also, there is very little you can do to help someone who is stupid enough to think that simply telling horny teenagers to abstain from sex will cause them to abstain from sex.

    shoeless nailed it…….fits the definition of insanity to continue the policy too.


  40. Uncle Ho Says:

    hmmm, smoking pot will prevent pregnancy.

    I’ll smoke a joint to that. :-D


  41. Zooey Says:

    Lisa FTW
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Well, if we teach the childrens effective sex education and birth control, how are they going to be punished for having sex, if not by becoming pregnant?

    Sheesh!
    /snark


  42. L. Hussein Annie Says:

    When I was in high school in the 1970’s, douching with Coca-Cola was *the* sure-fire way to prevent pregnancy.

    Nice to see that some things never change.

    /sarc off


  43. Freedom Rebel Says:

    #34 RU Cerious

    $10.7 million will buy alot of condoms. You wanted to know how many…Here it is 972,727 boxes of condoms. Of course there are 12 in a box.


  44. Freedom Rebel Says:

    #42 L Annie

    When I went to school some thought chlorinated pools helped.


  45. Max-1 Says:

    .

    It should be called
    Abstenence of Sex Education.

    .


  46. impeachcheneythenbush Says:

    Lisa FTW Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
    I find it ironic that the people screaming the loudest about how terrible abortion is are the same folks who endorse keeping youth in the dark about how to AVOID pregnancy! Statistics show abortion rates declined among kids provided with accurate contraception information. Since we began implementing “abstinence only” programs, the youth pregnancy rates have greatly increased. Anyone who doesn’t see the correlation between the two is in denial.

    Florida has the 6th highest rate of teen pregnancy in the country.


  47. StratRat Says:

    Uncle Ho Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
    hmmm, smoking pot will prevent pregnancy.

    I’ll smoke a joint to that. :-D

    LOL. I was wondering why I never became pregnant - of course, I am a guy. I’ll continue to use Uncle Ho’s suggestion just to make sure I don’t burden the world with an unwanted child :)~


  48. dbadass Says:

    This has Daryll written all over it!


  49. Dreary Urbanite Says:

    Next thing you know they will start believing in invisible supercreatures that could answer their prayers - but won’t.


  50. dbadass Says:

    How strange! I would of thought this zaniness would have generated 100’s of interesting comments by now.


  51. Who Misspoke Today? Says:

    Randal Graves: Why haven’t you f*(ked Myra yet?
    Elias: Well we can’t because of Pillow Pants.
    Randal Graves: Who the f*(k is Pillow Pants?
    Elias: Pillow Pants is a little troll that lives in her pussy.
    [Randal stares]
    Randal Graves: Pillow Pants is her pussy troll?
    [scoffs]
    Elias: [scoffs] Duh. You know how every girl’s parents put a pussy troll in them when the girls are young, to keep them from having premarital sex?
    Randal Graves: …Sure.
    Elias: Well Myra’s is named Pillow Pants. And so even though she totally wants to have sex with me, Myra says that if I put my… thing in her, Pillow Pants will bite it off. So, I gotta wait until Pillow Pants get peed out of her body on her 21st birthday before we can have sex.
    Randal Graves: [floored] And Myra told you this?
    Elias: Boyfriends and girlfriends talk to each other about sex stuff Randal. You’d know this if you ever had a girlfriend.
    Randal Graves: Have you and Myra even kissed yet?
    Elias: We would have if it weren’t for Listerfiend.
    Randal Graves: [beat] Listerfiend is her mouth troll, isn’t it?
    Elias: [shakes head] Women.


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