Ohio Republicans Want To Ban Sex Ed Classes From Talking About ‘Gateway Sexual Activity’

[mickeym]

During a debate over Ohio’s budget on Tuesday afternoon, Republicans in the House tacked on an amendment that would prohibit health classes in public schools from including any instruction on “gateway sexual activity,” which encompasses all sexual contact. The budget bill relies on the same definition of “sexual contact” that also appears in the

Comments

[nextdrinksonme]

Really, now. When will people realize that not talking about sexual activities with teens isn't going to make them want to do it less. It's just going to make them less informed which leads to bad decisions.

I was really lucky that most of the sex education I received in school talked about oral sex and manual stimulation/mutual masturbation as valid alternatives to actual intercourse so you could be intimate and not get pregnant (I was also lucky that my mom had discussed these things with me from the time I made it known that I was wondering where babies come from, and then added to the education as I grew up and had different questions). They also talked about safe ways to do these things to prevent STIs. They also stressed the whole "abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy and STIs" thing, but made it known that it wasn't really realistic for them to expect us to not do other things and so they wanted us prepared and informed. And, while I did have sex in high school, I knew about things like condoms and birth control and did what I could to keep myself safe and baby free. Which is what needs to happen.

Add to this that studies have shown that giving teens access to birth control and proper education lowers the rate of unplanned pregnancies and abortions, which is one of the things these conservatives want, you'd think they'd be all for giving teens the information they need.

I just do. not. get it.