It's officially the end of an era.  Starting this school year, the $375 million of federal grant money set aside for school-based sex education will no longer fall into the hands of abstinence-only enthusiasts.  American sex ed has found a new holy grail.  Our revised system doles out money based on evidence of a specific function-- programs must provide proof of lowered pregnancy rates among participants.

What types of programs succeed under this standard?  How do they do it?  Some call it the "above the waist" tactic, which gives as much focus to the mind as to the body.  Students in these programs may be required to get summer jobs, to open and contribute to savings accounts, to balance a checkbook.  They may go on field trips, learn art and music, receive tutoring, and even have access to health and dental care.  They discuss relationships, and brainstorm their future life and career goals.

At first glance, I'm encouraged.  These are opportunities I hope all kids get to explore.  But the implicit messages in the curricula give my excitement pause.  The most obvious:  pregnancy will ruin your life.  Maybe if students understand how much they have to lose, they will be less likely to...um..."get pregnant".

As you may have guessed, these...

I must have picked up a bug or eaten something that had gone bad during my recent trip to Austin, Texas, for our first regional training and conference on sexuality research because I've been sick as a dog for the past two days.  To top it off, the cable is out, and there is no worse time for the cable to be out than when you're taking a sick day and you're actually sick!  Sitting around with my diet of malt-o-meal and ginger ale, I was trying to think of things to watch on dvd or to download and started thinking about that fairly recent drama about teen pregnancy, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, on ABC Family and sponsored by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (check out www.stayteen.org).  So, I downloaded episode one, season one, and curled up on the couch to watch it.

First, why didn't anyone tell me Molly Ringwald was on this show?!?  As a teen of the 1980s, Ms. Ringwald was a bit of an icon in all of those John Hughes movies (more on these later).  It kind of made me sad to see her playing the middle-aged mother of two teenage girls (yes, I know it's because it made me feel old); still, isn't she pretty in pink?

The show centers around a group of students at fictional Grant High School and instead of representing a diverse high school population...

The election is over and I’ve been thinking a lot about something that happened back during the primaries.  I’m sure you will all remember it.  This relatively unknown governor of Alaska was thrust into the limelight as the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party.  Remember that?  You might also remember that shortly after she accepted the nomination (I think it may have been at least a couple of days) it was revealed that her oldest daughter, who just happened to be seventeen, was pregnant, was going to keep the baby, and was going to marry the father.  Do you remember that part? 

Things got a little crazy at this point.  Some people started calling this Alaskan governor and her family, as well as the rest of the RNC, hypocrites due to their undying support for “sex education” that espouses refraining from ANY sexual activity prior to marriage and frowns upon teaching young people about methods of birth control.  Meanwhile, the republicans started shouting back about how supporting this young couple during this time was the Christian thing to do. Then, the liberals called the conservatives...