Oddly, in the Columbia, SC area I believe there's an "adult novelty" store (or there once was) called Sugar and Spice. Haha. Sugar and Spice really does sound like a sex thing, not an abstinence thing.

Now, while I'm in agreement that for many teenagers abstinence may be a good idea given things like maturity (emotional) and how careful they are or are not when it comes to pregnancy and STI prevention, however, does anyone actually believe that promoting abstinence over sex education works? Teenagers are horny and going to have sex no matter what they are taught or, unfortunately, not taught.

Yeah, teaching kids to not have sex is not effective. We should teach them to respect their bodies, so that if they are pressured to have sex, they have enough confidence to make their own decision. And we should teach them the basics and provide them with the resources to find out more about something they're interested in.

And hell, if people don't want kids having sex, promote masturbation! There's nothing wrong with some self love.

I'm from SC, but I'm living in MA. I miss the warm weather and the friendly people, but I do not miss the hypocritical "true love waits" crowd and the abstinence rallies. Those kids are certainly still having sex (whether it's vaginal intercourse or not), they're just not admitting it. I knew too many "saved" Baptists in my time who would "sin" on the weekdays and run to church for forgiveness on Sunday.

An ice cream social and an abstinence rally? What the hell is happening to this guy? Is he still pro-choice and pro-gun control?

Mary B, I've never actually seen or heard of an abstinence rally. Where do those occur? Up at Bob Jones University? Or do things like church youth groups do those things? I think I'm too old. When I was a teenager they were still teaching us about STIs and condoms in school. Now kids don't even seem to be afraid of things like HIV/AIDS anymore because they're very sadly not learning much about them. A co-worker told me just the other day that her teenaged daughter informed her recently that AIDS is only something that people in places like African countries have to worry about. Yikes!

Haha, remember when some people thought McCain was kinda cool? I ended up getting into several disagreements with male friends who respected him despite his party affiliation. I'd bring up reproductive rights, and they'd say something to the effect of making compromises...because I guess compromises involving women's issues are apparently ok with some male liberals.

I grew up in South Carolina and left at the age of 18. I can vouch for the abstinence rallies. I organized one.

Eek. I can't believe I just admitted that on here.

Nowadays, I'm much more likely to organize a slut ball.

"Teenagers are horny and going to have sex no matter what they are taught or, unfortunately, not taught."

Not unless you count masturbation as sex. Some horny teenagers are still not going to have sex no matter what they are or aren't taught, because (a) they are so unpopular they can't find willing partners and (b) they refuse to rape.

"Yeah, teaching kids to not have sex is not effective. We should teach them to respect their bodies, so that if they are pressured to have sex, they have enough confidence to make their own decision. And we should teach them the basics and provide them with the resources to find out more about something they're interested in."

I totally agree. It's good for a teen to have the information, no matter if she or he has sex as a teen or postpones sex until age 20+ or ends up never having sex.

carolina girl, I didn't actually participate in any abstinence rallies, but I did grow up about 10 minutes from Bob Jones, so I was in a heavily "saved" Southern Baptist area. And I had friends who wore those silly "true love waits" rings. One of my male friends had one, and I thought it was so sweet, until he told me about the time he got a hand job from a random girl at the beach, but that it was OK because it wasn't sex.

Personally, my youth group leader taught us this motto: Sex Is Dynamite! (So you should wait until you're really ready for it.) But I was raised Lutheran, so I guess my church had different views (or at least our youth leader was more realistic).

happy bunny writes:
What the hell is happening to this guy? Is he still pro-choice and pro-gun control?

I did some research on John McCain's views and was surprised to learn how much his social policy platform resembles that of Bob Dole.

John McCain was never pro-choice; he has a 0% rating from NARAL, a 19% rating from the ACLU, a 67% rating from the National Right to Life Committee,and an 83% rating from the Christian Coalition. His position, near as I can tell, has always been that he supports a total ban on abortions except in cases of rape or incest.

As far as gun control goes, that's a little more interesting. He was very anti-gun control, with consistent A/A+ NRA ratings from 1986 to 1998, until the NRA stopped supporting him following the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. Then he turned on a dime--apparently deciding that if the NRA was going to go after him anyway, he may as well dance with the other side--and became pro-gun control. His current NRA rating? C+.

Cheers,

TH

"

I grew up in South Carolina and left at the age of 18. I can vouch for the abstinence rallies. I organized one.

Eek. I can't believe I just admitted that on here.

Nowadays, I'm much more likely to organize a slut ball."

Colleen, there's a book in there somewhere ;)

"Some horny teenagers are still not going to have sex no matter what they are or aren't taught, because (a) they are so unpopular they can't find willing partners and (b) they refuse to rape."

So rape is a form of sex now?