Since the 1990s, The United States has immensely transformed. Twenty years ago, Tickle-Me-Elmo just hit the shelves, Twister was the #1 movie in the country, and all of the kids were dancing to The Macarena. The century was turning, it was a time when the only thing staying constant was change. This is the decade that gave the world irreplaceable treasures such as the Spice Girls and the Motorola Razr, but pop culture wasn’t the only material altered during this time period. Inside health classrooms across the country, a phenomenon was blooming, one that would shape American culture forever. Abstinence-Only curriculums, which pride themselves in keeping human sexuality shrouded in mystery, gained rapid momentum in this time period and is still
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Since she attended a private Catholic High School, she did not learn about human sexuality with great, if not any, detail. At the time, Leyba did not understand how to use, let alone obtain, birth control and she was not even aware that she could become pregnant from her first time having sex. At her school, they strictly taught abstinence only and also strongly encouraged all of the female students to take purity pledges, which are vows that young girls can make to publicly state that they’ll remain virgins until marriage. In short, the main idea behind the tradition is to preserve the virginity of teenagers until they have been wed. However, research shows that among teens that have taken purity pledges, 88% break the pledge and once those who break the pledge begin to have sex, they have more partners in a shorter period of time and are less likely to use contraception than their non-pledging peers ("Comprehensive Sex Education"). Learning this left Beth feeling betrayed and confused as to why schools are allowed to mislead students so extensively. According to Leyba, the main point made about human sexuality in her school 's health class was that a girl 's virginity is a gift that she will give to her husband after marriage, therefore anything else will send her life into “a never ending spiral of sins” (Leyba 1). The education her school …show more content…
Despite the humor, Oliver touches on a strong serious problem. To many, it seems elementary but people still have significant issues with asking for and recognizing another 's for their consent. A common theme is that people don’t know that consent looks like and what it doesn’t. When polled, over 40% of college students believed that undressing or pulling out a condom is sexual consent while over 40% believe it is not (Oliver). injury is imminent if this confusion is not clarified. Consent is something highly necessary, but also something that’s often glossed over in health classes. When teens don’t learn about consent, what it looks like, and how to ask for it, people are at risk of being seriously violated. In fact, people, especially women, have already been harmed. In the year 2009, 3.1 million women were raped and that number is growing (Lau). However, those are just the statistics for those who reported their assault, in reality only around 60% of people file police reports on their rapes or assaults and 98% of offenders never spend a single day behind bars (“Statistics”). Pam Stenzel, an abstinence-only speaker, has over the years put out an extensive collection of videos that American health classes commonly show. In one of her videos
Since she attended a private Catholic High School, she did not learn about human sexuality with great, if not any, detail. At the time, Leyba did not understand how to use, let alone obtain, birth control and she was not even aware that she could become pregnant from her first time having sex. At her school, they strictly taught abstinence only and also strongly encouraged all of the female students to take purity pledges, which are vows that young girls can make to publicly state that they’ll remain virgins until marriage. In short, the main idea behind the tradition is to preserve the virginity of teenagers until they have been wed. However, research shows that among teens that have taken purity pledges, 88% break the pledge and once those who break the pledge begin to have sex, they have more partners in a shorter period of time and are less likely to use contraception than their non-pledging peers ("Comprehensive Sex Education"). Learning this left Beth feeling betrayed and confused as to why schools are allowed to mislead students so extensively. According to Leyba, the main point made about human sexuality in her school 's health class was that a girl 's virginity is a gift that she will give to her husband after marriage, therefore anything else will send her life into “a never ending spiral of sins” (Leyba 1). The education her school …show more content…
Despite the humor, Oliver touches on a strong serious problem. To many, it seems elementary but people still have significant issues with asking for and recognizing another 's for their consent. A common theme is that people don’t know that consent looks like and what it doesn’t. When polled, over 40% of college students believed that undressing or pulling out a condom is sexual consent while over 40% believe it is not (Oliver). injury is imminent if this confusion is not clarified. Consent is something highly necessary, but also something that’s often glossed over in health classes. When teens don’t learn about consent, what it looks like, and how to ask for it, people are at risk of being seriously violated. In fact, people, especially women, have already been harmed. In the year 2009, 3.1 million women were raped and that number is growing (Lau). However, those are just the statistics for those who reported their assault, in reality only around 60% of people file police reports on their rapes or assaults and 98% of offenders never spend a single day behind bars (“Statistics”). Pam Stenzel, an abstinence-only speaker, has over the years put out an extensive collection of videos that American health classes commonly show. In one of her videos