No Sex Please We Are Teenagers

It's interesting to read on the BBC site about the findings of research into the abstinence programmes in the US. Apparently the young people involved are no more likely to abstain than a young person who didn't attend the course.

I attended sexual health training recently and got into a heated debate with the woman running the course about abstinence. In actual fact, I think we were agreeing but our terminology got a bit confused. I tend to think that you are abstaining until you have intercourse but she thought that abstinence means until marriage. The programme I was on was seeking to promote "delay"- ie not advocating never having sex but considering carefully the readiness for sex and giving good reasons to say "no".

I think the trouble with abstinence programmes in the States is that these are run in isolation and there is no sexual health training as well. I personally believe that any programme should be comprehensive, starting at an early age with an emphasis on delay. I also believe that there needs to be a strong governmental directive in order to build on the best schemes running in a few schools but also to raise the standards in others. Sexual health education can be delivered in many ways and usually these are too little, too late, delivered by an embarrassed and under-trained teacher.

In countries where there are low instances of teen pregnancies and the age for first sexual intercourse is higher, they have consistant and early starting sex education. Ofsted agree that this needs to be approached more rigorously, with parents playing a substantial role too.

Over a year ago the BBC showed the programme "No sex please, we're teenagers" in which a group of 12 young people take a pledge of abstinence for 15 weeks as they explore different aspects of intimacy. The programme is a good one in my eyes because as a group, teemagers come with a variety of experiences and knowledge. Together they can explore issues to do with society, feelings, sex and self image. Again it doesn't seek to deny that sex is a possibility (as the abstinence programme in the US usually does) but wants to give young people the time and the space and the supportive atmosphere in which to explore the issues. The "Romance Academy" as it's called is about to start in Norwich. I hope this style of approach to sexual health continues for the holistic welfare of our young people.