interesting study.

note that for the Heritage guy, the important finding is that abstinence pledges lead to delayed sex and fewer sexual partners. the pledgee is therefore more pure, and that's really all that matters. as the article puts it, a morality issue rather than a public health discussion.

when you've browsed these pro-abstinence groups' web sites as often as i have, you get a sense of how threatening and disturbing the idea of early sex is to these people. i have nothing wrong with that; parents are perfectly welcome to feel disturbed at the thought of their kids having sex, and to pass on their own sexual values. you'll see groups that advocate fathers giving their daughters "promise rings" in a sort of bizarre foreshadowing engagement ritual. there is nothing wrong with that.

the problem is when they try to impose their mores on everyones' kids by changing public school curricula.


ugghhh ... i have got to stop weblogging at work. i was just browsing the internet for sites to link to in this post when my supervisor walked in. quickly i clicked over to another window, but the text in the button at the bottom of the screen from the page i was looking at simply read "Sex." oh well, could have been worse, she could have walked in when i was looking at this.