D#5, HW#5, Ch.4 Taking A Personal Inventory

• The main controversy surrounding the topic of abstinence-only sex education is sex! Sex is very controversial. Especially when regarding teenagers. I believe the controversy lies in the fact that people perceive safe-sex education as encouraging teens to have sex; when that is not the case. Also, people disagree about whether abstinence-only sex education is helping today's youth or harming them.
• I belive that abstinence-only education is harming the U.S.'s teenager because it is not educating them. I believe this because if you look at the rate of teenage pregnancies etc. you can plainly see that only teaching about abstinence is not working. Teenage girls are getting pregnant and teens of both sexes are contracting sexually transmitted diseases because they re unaware of how to be safer. This evidence is just things I have remembered from the news or articles I have read in the past.
• I think almost all people should be interested in this research topic. Some specific group would be parents, teachers, religious communities, and politicians. I think others are torn on the issue of abstinence-only sex education. Half of the population (if not more) probably believe that abstinence-only sex education is a great thing and helps prevent our youth from having sex before marriage, while the other half of the population has taken a look at the numbers and have a more liberal mindset. They believe that safe sex education is the way to go. Any evidence that they have to support their thoughts would probably come from the news and their churches. I believe the half of the population in support of abstinence-only sex education are greatly influenced by their own religious beliefs (not necessarily the beliefs of their children).
• I think people may discuss the issue of my topic in religious settings as well as school board meetings. That way they can influence what they think should be taught to their children. I think that people who are extremely involved with my topic will write articles and journal submissions about the issue. This is where I hope to find a lot of valuable research.
• I definitely need to learn more about why people support abstinence-only sex education. The reason I say this is because the only reason I can think of right now is religious background, but maybe there are more reasons as well. It will be very interesting to find out.