WTF Mississippi?
If there’s anybody out there who is still on the fence about “abstinence only” sex education you need only look to Mississippi to knock you off. What they’re doing there is unbelievable, as well as unconstitutional (not to mention unscrupulous).
At the Mississippi Department of Human Services’ summit entitled “Abstinence Works: Let’s Talk About It,” we didn’t talk about abstinence, but we sure did chant, cheer, dance, pray and sing about it. At least sort of. Here’s a few (of the many) things that stood out to me.
Before the summit began, rap music blasted over the speakers. The 5,000 kids in attendance spent their time inside dancing and singing along to Soulja Boy’s hit song “Crank Dat,” the chorus of which repeats “Watch me crank that soulja boy, then superman that ho,” which most young people know is a disgustingly explicit sexual innuendo. Shortly after the Grenada Middle School cheerleaders performed their catchy cheer “Stop, don’t touch me there! You know this is my no-no square,” outlining the shape of a box around their short shorts. Talk about mixed messages.
What? If this were a lesson designed to teach toddlers to protect themselves from sexual predators I could almost forgive that asinine chant but these are teenagers. They are being denied the age-appropriate information they rightfully deserve and are being purposely dumbed down.
And despite the fact the event was state sponsored and state funded, Reverend Gary Bell led the rowdy group in prayer, closing with “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Performers sang about the glory of God and performed interpretative dancing to Christian gospel songs. Judge John Hudson’s speech quoted the Bible and reviewed the Ten Commandments. As for how that relates to abstinence? According to Hudson, the commandment “Do not commit adultery” directly translates to “Do not engage in promiscuous sex, or sex before marriage.” The constant and overzealous harping on God and Jesus wasn’t just wrong because it ostracized anyone who didn’t prescribe to a particular brand of Christianity — it was wrong because it was illegal. Taxpayer and state money funded the event, and last time I checked, it is illegal under the U.S. Constitution to use those funds to promote a specific religious message or agenda.
Not only is it unconstitutional, but it has been proven repeatedly that overt religion and “abstinence only” sex ed have the opposite of their intended effect.
He, nor any of the speakers, offered information on what to do if abstinence fails. Did he talk about proper use of condoms or birth control? No, but he did make the offhand and scientifically unfounded comment that condoms are “pieces of rubber that deteriorate in your back pocket. They only work some of the time.” But the medical community considers an 87 to 98 percent effectiveness rate in preventing STIs and pregnancy as more than “some of the time.” And how was the LGBTQ community addressed in the summit? Well, it wasn’t. In most states, certainly Mississippi, same-sex marriage rights are not recognized, so how are they supposed to handle their sexuality?
If you tell kids not to have sex outside of marriage they won’t, just like they never drink before they’re 21. That’s why there’s no need to teach them about protectionf. And since same-sex marriage is illegal in Mississippi those gay teens will never be having sex so there’s no need to teach them about it. 
I would like to know why scientifically valuable and life-saving information is being censored and made unavailable, and to what end? Mississippi has spent more than $16 million in abstinence only programs, yet the state ranked number one in teen births in 2009, and in the top five in numbers STD infections. Mississippi even took the number one spot in 2006 as the state ranking highest in gonorrhea infections.
Condoms may not be 100% effective, but they protect against pregnancy and STDs far better than Jesus. Sadly MS refuses to provide proper sex-education to teens. Their taxpayers are paying for people to proselytize to their children and to drill moronic chants into their heads, but not to teach them anything that will actually help them in life. The children would be better off learning about “the facts of life” from strangers on the street than from the lunatics that are currently at the helm.
