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What can we learn from the cancellation of the prom at Constance McMillen’s Mississippi high school?
Constance rules!
This is why Congress has to pass the Student Non-Discrimination Act
Hope isn’t lost -- look how many folks stepped up to hold a non-discriminatory prom!
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Our culture is screwed up about sex.  
 
Commercials use it to sell products all the time – but TV networks claim condom ads – even those with no sexual content -  are inappropriate for television. 
 
We’re told it’s an exciting and wonderful experience – yet if you have it before marriage, abstinence-only proponents say you become “like a used Kleenex.”
 
We often hear that it comes with dangerous health risks – which, some tell us, can automatically be eliminated by marriage? (Yet in many developing countries young women are more at risk for HIV than are sexually active young women who are single!)
 
Sex is supposed to be a private experience – but politicians always seem to be trying to legislate it. And the same ones who condemn gays and make speeches about our “immoral culture” turn out to be breaking the law, having affairs, or leading secret lives. The hypocrisy is maddening.
 
And it goes on: good students are kicked out of school for kissing on the bus.  People demand that a book about two male penguins raising a baby be removed from the library. An angry principal bans students from dating and publicly posts a list of everyone she hears is in a couple – even a gay couple who weren’t out.
 
We need to challenge the hypocrisy. We need to change the dialogue.

Blog it!

What do you think about our culture and sex? What messages have you gotten about sex from our culture? How would you change the conversation? Write a blog about sex in the culture.

Interested in this issue? Keep reading!

Read about related issues on Amplify

Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs
Condoms
Contraceptive Access
Reproductive Health
Social Justice and Human Rights

Report Card

How did your state do on its Report Card? Check out your state’s grades for sexual health, sex education, Title V Abstinence-Only Funding, CBAE Community-Based Abstinence Education funding, and school safety for GLBTQ youth.

HealthFacts

Condoms
Contraception
HIV
Safer Sex
Unintended Pregnancy

Other Resources

Need current, reliable information on this topic? Check out the links below for the latest research.

Adolescent Sexual Behavior. I: Demographics

Adolescent Sexual Behavior. II: Socio-Psychological Factors

Adolescent Sexual Health in Europe and the U.S.—Why the Difference?

Do you have a question about Topic?

Ask one of Advocates’ MySistahs or YouthResource Peer Educators!
 

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