MISEDUCATION:

Hey girls, just don't do it: Chastity might be great protection against pregnancy and disease but critics claim America's "no-sex revolution" is leaving teenagers dangerously at risk (Caroline Overington, March 1 2003, Sydney Morning Herald)

Here is a little quiz. What is the best way to avoid pregnancy? What is the best way to avoid contracting a sexually transmitted disease? If you are between 20 and 50, chances are you answered both questions by saying: "Use a condom." That is the lesson that Australians have been taught, in school and via magazine advertising and billboards, for more than 30 years.

If you were an American teenager, however, your answer might be different. Americans know a better way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases: sexual abstinence. Unlike condoms, it's 100 per cent effective. But is it realistic? Who can stop teenagers having sex?

Well, it seems that Americans can. In fact, if the polls and statistics are correct, the US is in the middle of a sexual counter-revolution. Across America, teenagers are rejecting the safe-sex message, telling parents to take back the condoms and contraceptive pills. They'd rather be virgins. Chastity is chic.

Ms Overington might at least pause to note that Australians have been taught to accept an objective falsehood. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 28, 2003 8:15 PM