Speaking of flip-flops — Page 3

You're using anecdotal evidence, LadyGuen, which as you seem to know, is the least valid of all kinds of evidence. No doubt there's people who think it's some kind of insult to put on a condom. I wish that teenage girls had the self-esteen to tell them to do it anyway. But if we give them condoms, they'll at least think of it. It's better than nothing. Doing nothing is downright neglectful.

Updated On: 8/3/04 at 01:40 PM

You can keep coming up with "things to think about" all you want, girlfriend, but people much more experienced and much smarter than you have been thinking about them, for years. You seem to want to keep coming up with enough things "to think about" until you get to a point where it is too complicated to break it down into workable parts and do anything.

How are you working to empower young women so that they can advocate for their health and pregnancy prevention needs? By asserting that they "shouldn't be doing it in the first place?"

How is it you can not think about the fact that there may be young people who simply do not have the money to buy condoms? I read one report that talked about particularly poor, particularly rural school districts in which the teenagers had neither the money to buy condoms or to afford anything else to do besides have sex. What about them? Does it not matter?

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"Okay, I'm not a guy so I don't know how it goes- but how hard is it to buy condoms?"

I happen to work in a health clinic located in a high school in a poor urban school district and I can tell you that many of the kids we serve can't even afford to buy condoms. And the scary thing is we have kids being diagnosed with an STD or finding out they are pregnant everyday during the school year. And these kids are not using condoms. What's the main reason they give for not using one? "I didn't have any."
It's all about risk reduction. There is no question these kids are having sex...many of them before they even get to high school. If they are choosing to have sex they must be educated how to protect themselves. So, not only do I believe condoms should be handed out in schools, but students should be taught the proper way to use them. And of course they should be taught there is only one 100% effective method of birth control and STD prevention.
You would be amazed at some of the misconceptions these kids have about sex. Educating them on the risks and how to protect themselves is vital.