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Abstinence
 In his State of the Union address in 2004, President Bush called for funds to teach abstinence in the nation’s schools. One federal program that already provided such funds required that recipients teach, among other things, that “abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children.”
A poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government asked adults whether they agreed with that statement, and more than six out of ten said they did. What’s more, many of those adults said that when answering the question, they were thinking about kids abstaining from a lot more than sexual intercourse. Large percentages said they included abstaining from intimate touching and passionate kissing, too.
Youth Radio suspected that teenagers might not define abstinence the same way, so we asked Sanovia Jackson, at the time a 17-year-old reporter for Youth Radio, what she thought.
Click here to find the full script and audio for this story.
Teach Youth Radio
For this month's feature, you will be able to view these strategies and resources:
1. How teachers can align this Youth Radio story to National Standards in the classroom.
2. Suggestions for lesson plans that link the story's content to your classroom's themes and subject areas.
3. Suggestions for lesson plans that explore media literacy, using the story to re-read mainstream media.
4. Bios of the Youth Radio reporters who produced the story.
5. A list of resources and further research related to the story's themes.
6. Links to Youth Radio’s media production techniques as guides and inspiration for your students’ creative media-making projects.
1. NATIONAL STANDARDS: Standards Alignment
Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
NL-ENG.K-12.1 READING FOR PERSPECTIVE
NL-ENG.K-12.3 EVALUATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.4 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
NL-ENG.K-12.5 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
NL-ENG.K-12.6 APPLYING KNOWLEDGE
NL-ENG.K-12.7 EVALUATING DATA
NL-ENG.K-12.8 DEVELOPING RESEARCH SKILLS
NL-ENG.K-12.11 PARTICIPATING IN SOCIETY
NL-ENG.K-12.12 APPLYING LANGUAGE SKILLS
Subject: HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.1 HEALTH PROMOTION AND DISEASE PREVENTION
NPH-H.9-12.2 HEALTH INFORMATION, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
NPH-H.9-12.3 REDUCING HEALTH RISKS
NPH-H.9-12.4 INFLUENCES ON HEALTH
NPH-H.9-12.7 HEALTH ADVOCACY
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2. NEWS YOU CAN USE: Story content in your classroom, Suggestions for lesson plans
Language Arts:
Talking with parents: Sanovia says she’s able to talk openly with her mom about sex, but she approaches her mom with a nervous giggle, and her mom urges Sanovia to speak for herself about the topic. Sanovia also says that adults and teens don’t agree about what abstinence even means, let alone how important it is to maintain. How open are students’ parents to talking about sex? How did students learn about sex? Did they hear any folklore about creation or sex growing up, such as “a baby-delivering stork”? How did they pick up realistic information?
The gift: Sanovia interviews Katherine, a college student, who talks about sex being “one of the biggest gifts” one can give of oneself. Do your students agree? How do they view sex? How have students developed their attitudes about sex? What are some of the issues that affect young people’s decisions on whether to have sex or not?
Male versus female attitudes: Sanovia’s piece focuses on women. She says marriage used to be the ultimate goal for girls of her mother’s generation, but things have changed. Katherine worries about becoming pregnant while she’s in school. How does the increase in opportunities for women affect female sexuality? Have your students do some research to find relevant statistics related to this relationship. What are the pressures and concerns for men and women? Is there a difference between the way young men and women view sex? What evidence, besides their own opinions, can your students identify to back up their claims?
Health:
Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Students can break up into groups to do research on different STDs and explain them to the class. Finding pictures would be helpful for visualization. What are the signs, treatments, and cures if any? Is there a difference between the way that men and women are affected? How do the different definitions of abstinence Sanovia describes influence risk for contracting STDs?
Drawing the line: Sanovia tells us that 63% of adults surveyed said if teens engaged in intimate touching, they weren’t abstinent, and 40% included passionate kissing as a disqualification. How do your students define abstinence? Where and why do they draw the line?
Pregnancy: What are some of the resources for pregnant teens? Where are health clinics available to youth? If a woman chooses to have an abortion, what are the laws governing that decision in your state? What are the regulations physicians and other health care providers need to consider, when they decide how to describe a young woman’s options? What are the childcare options? What, if any, supports are in place in your community to help young women finish school after they have children? Are there programs available for young fathers?
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3. CRITICAL MEDIA LITERACY: Putting This Story in Context
Sex education: This newsbreak aired a week after George Bush announced that he wanted abstinence taught in schools. Sanovia says his view on abstaining until marriage falls in line with the stance of 6 out of 10 adults. How does it reflect young people’s opinions? How is sex education dealt with at your school? Has the sex education curriculum been affected by Bush’s announcement? What do students feel should be included in sex education?
Sex sells: Sanovia says, “You see sex before marriage everywhere.” Have students do an experiment with television. They can watch commercials and videos for a given amount of time to record how often sex is used to sell a product or a song. Students can clock how often they are bombarded by sexual images. They can expand the experiment to include magazines and movies, check out different channels, and try various times throughout the day. Do students think that these advertising strategies are effective? Why or why not? What ripple effects do they create?
Sexuality and popularity: Sanovia talks to Krystle about the relationship between sex and popularity at school. Krystle says she’s grilled by her peers: “Why aren’t you doing it?” … What’s wrong with you?” How does this send a message of abnormality to teens if they are “found out”? Why is there such a strong connection between sexuality and popularity among teenagers? How could this type of disclosure also relate to youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, or questioning?
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4. MEET THE COMMENTATOR
Born in Oakland, California, Sanovia Jackson was a student at Berkeley High School when she wrote this story. She’s produced numerous commentaries and features, on topics including color contacts, slang, and cell phone service for local and national public radio outlets.
Sanovia has always been passionate about writing. It has helped her to express herself and mature into a young lady. In her spare time, she enjoys writing poetry and short stories about life as an African American teen growing up in Oakland. She now attends a California State University.
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5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH
• Life Planning for Youth
• Abstinence for Youth
• How to say No to sex
• The Abstinence Educators’ Network
• Youth Sexual Risk Behavior Statistics
• School Health Education Clearinghouse
• Planned Parenthood
• Resources for Gay Youth
• The Talk
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6. MEDIA PRODUCTION FOR LEARNING: Making Audio Narratives
Click here to link to Youth Radio's guidelines for conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.
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