Reading articles pooh-poohing abstinence only sex education has inspired me to come up with other areas in which the "they're going to do it anyway" philosophy could apply.  What if we taught Comprehensive Smoking Education?  Everyone who has walked past a group of high school mall rats puffing away knows that high school kids smoke.  We could give the facts of smoking and its ill effects on health, but yet teach the kids to analyze the tar and nicotine contents on various brands of cigarettes.  We could also point out the "cool" people in history who have smoked.  We could teach them about "safe smoking" which would mean consuming only "light" cigarettes or snuff.

What about "safe inebriation".  We all know that high school kids have been drinking since time immemorial.  Let's cease with the gory pictures of drunk driving victims.  We could teach them how to get a nice buzz while still remaining under the legal limit for blood alcohol content.  Lesson 2 would be how to beat a breathalizer test.  Lesson 3 would be how to mix over the counter medicines to get a nice high without any legal hassels.

How about Safe Eating Disorders.  Let's give the facts about healthy nutrition, but also point out that there could be some real benefits to anorexia and bulimea.  We could also include tasty 100 calorie a day recipes, and discuss techniques to induce vomiting.

The fact is that we expect kids to abstain from smoking and drug abuse.  We expect them to abstain from alcohol until they are legally old enough to consume it, and tobacco altogether.  Why is it so unreasonable to expect teens to abstain from sexual activity until they are financially and emotionally ready to marry and create a stable home for any child that might result if a contraceptive fails?

Of course abstinence is an uphill battle when magazines such as Seventeen portray sex with multiple partners as being as normal a part of a middle schooler's existence as band practice, and being a "hook-up honey" as being a perfectly valid lifestyle choice.  But abstinence education is not just about "crossing your legs", as critics claim.  Teens are taught ALL the consequences of premature sexual activity including STD's (condoms are NOT foolproof), lower self-esteem and lower academic achievement.  Teens learn valuable skills in building healthy relationships.  They learn to self-regulate, empowering themselves not only to say "no" to sex, but to drugs, alcohol and other forms of impulsivity.  They learn to build healthy relationships based on mutual respect.  Healthy relationships lead to happy, lasting marriages. 

According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, a major durvey of adolescent and young adult behavior, which is funded by more than 17 federal agencies, students who delayed sex until age 18 were twice as likely to finish college as sexually active teens.

But then again, if teens were doing homework, pursuing sports, musical or artistic interests and getting involved in their community instead of having sex, how would Planned Parenthood make any money?

DISCLAIMER – IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN HARRY POTTER MOVIES OR READ THE BOOKS, SKIP THIS POST

Last summer (when Half Blood Prince was about to hit the theaters) my husband and I challenged each other to read the Harry Potter books (since we already had seen the movies and liked them).

I noticed something.

There is a REAL hunger out there among teenage girls. It has manifested itself through a plot twist that comes into full light at the end of Book 7 about Snape, the mean bully teacher.  (I think Twilight picks up on this too, but I have not read the books, and can’t comment about this).  When he was a child he began a friendship with a girl his own age.  They were best friends at school.  The friendship provided emotional benefits for both.  Through his guidance, she connects with opportunities to fulfill her talents and gifts.  The relationship, on his part turned to a deep love that motivated him towards great personal sacrifice.  She dumped him, when it became apparent that he was getting into dark, destructive behavior, and marries another guy.  There is no description of any physical or sexual contact ever taking place between the two, just the description of the friendship.   Peruse the art sites, YouTube, fan fic sites, and you will see how deeply moved these teenagers are by this particular aspect of the tale. 

To this, add the scenario that four of the main characters end up married as well after their collaborations through all 7 books.  That would be Harry and Ginny Weasley, and Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.  Each of these couples have managed to stay married, for at least 15 years. 

This material can be steered in two possible directions.  One, of course is the obvious story line – doomed love affair where bad boy finds partial redemption through love of good woman.  The other direction is to show that a friendship that turns into a stable marriage is a VERY achievable goal.  I pray that the a group of conservative women can point the way by

1.        Pointing out that the desire to connect with a man though friendship that “catches fire” is indeed legitimate, and not to be thrown aside or ridiculed.

2.          portraying modesty and restraint as the way to bring about such a relationship in a girl’s life.  This is where true liberation lies.  Telling a girl that she has to behave like a “playa” is oppression. 

Wendy Shalit has already written several books along these lines.  Carrie Lukas has as well.  It’s time for there to be a teen magazine with fashion and make-up tips, and general human interest articles that will steer girls toward purity.  There should also be articles about high achieving conservative women.  

So many women are led into liberalism by magazines such as Glamour and Seventeen, which offer entertaining human interest articles, workplace strategies and make-up tips.  They also portray promiscuity as being "cool", exciting, and perfectly normal, without any regard to the consequences. They then portray bright, motivated women as being exclusively liberal.  Attractive, talented conservative women, are for the most part ignored.

Conservatives are excellent at presenting succinct, well crafted apologetics for life issues, economic issues, and a number of other policy aspects that affect people's day to day lives.  They need to start entertaining people as well.