There's been yet another study — like the last nine thousand studies on this topic didn't prove the point — that "abstinence" sex education doesn't work and that "virginity pledges" aren't kept. (I wonder how many of those studies pause to consider opportunity. I had a friend in college who loudly and sincerely vowed to remain "pure" — his term — until his wedding night. And he staunchly kept that vow right up until the first time a woman was willing to have sex with him.)
Anyway, this morning the popular political blogger Atrios writes…
While the fact that virginity pledges and abstinence-only sex "ed" don't stop teens from having sex is unsurprising, I doubt that even proponents are particularly surprised. They aren't interested in abstinence, really, they're interested in making sure "bad girls" get punished for having sex by being subject to the appropriate consequences. So it actually works as designed.
I think that's right…but he's missing part of the equation. A lot of parents love the idea of their kids taking "virginity pledges" because then Mom and Dad can pretend that when their daughter doesn't come home 'til 2 AM, it's because she and her friends got so engrossed in Bible Studies that they didn't notice the time. And if and when she gets pregnant outta wedlock, they're not responsible because, you know, they got her to take that wonderfully effective pledge.
Every time one of these studies is done, it yields the same result…and the kind of parents I just described ignore the study because it tells them something they can't accept. I guess that's why the folks who do the studies keep doing them but they're wasting their time. Those who don't want to believe will never believe.