Here We Go Again

[I Ratant]

These people with sexual hangups and ruining people's lives based on what they do after work hours is seriously getting out of hand.

.
"I was sitting at a traffic light this morning. The lady in front of me was going through papers on the seat of her car, and when the light changed to green she did not obey its command - a green light is a commandment - NOT a suggestion.

When the light turned to red, and she had still not moved, I began (with my windows up) screaming epithets and beating on my steering wheel. My expressions of distress were interrupted by a policeman, gun drawn, tapping on my window. Against my protestations of, "You can't arrest me
for hollering in my car," he ordered me into the back seat of his police car.
After about two hours in a holding cell, the arresting officer advised me I was free to go.
I said, "I knew you couldn't arrest me for what I was yelling in my own car. You haven't heard the last of this."

The officer replied, "I didn't arrest you for shouting in your car. I was directly behind you at the light. I saw you screaming and beating your steering wheel, and I said to myself, 'What a jerk. But there is nothing I can do to him for throwing a fit in his own car.'
Then I noticed the 'Cross' hanging from your rear view mirror, the bright yellow 'Choose Life' license tag, the 'Jesus is Coming Soon' bumper sticker, and the Fish symbol, and I thought you must have stolen the car."
.

 

[23_Tauri]

That school has the right idea. While we are at it, let's fire teachers with hair, because we all know hair can be very sexy. Female teachers should shave their head, tape their breasts down. All teachers should appear as androgynous as possible.

No hair can be very sexy too. In the right places, ifyouseewhatImean....

I have never been outside the US so everything I think I know about European countries is based on what other people have said. I have heard that European countries are far more relaxed about language and sexuality. Is this true?

Generally, I think the answer to this question is yes. After all, it was the Puritans to left here to build a country called America. I think is why, to this day, some parts of America still have very mixed up views on sex and sexuality.

(Notice how careful I am being here not to upset my American friends and use words like "some". I know well that you aren't all like this, as JREF demonstrates )

If so; is there a raging teenage pregnancy problem? Are there STD epidemics among teens? Is there any reason at all to believe that a sexually open society will lead to hypersexual teens?

The Netherlands is your model here. They have low rates of teenage pregnancy and teenage abortion in the Netherlands, a very relaxed and progressive attitude towards sex and sexuality, and sex education starts early in schools.

2002 figures:
Netherlands: 5 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19
Italy and Spain: 6 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19
Denmark and Sweden: 7 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19
UK: 26.4 teenage births per 1,000 women aged 15–19 (one of highest in Europe)
USA: 53 births per 1,000 women aged 15–19

from:
http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator.cfm?IndicatorID=127
which I found via this wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_teenage_pregnancy

 

[23_Tauri]

I am fairly sure sgtbaker knew all that already, and was being sarcastic.

Oops. I replied to her post too. Duh.

 

[sgtbaker]

I am fairly sure sgtbaker knew all that already, and was being sarcastic.

A little bit of sarcasm but more, this is how I think it is but I'm too lazy to confirm. Can anyone else tell me I'm right?

 

[Ryokan]

I have never been outside the US so everything I think I know about European countries is based on what other people have said. I have heard that European countries are far more relaxed about language and sexuality. Is this true? If so; is there a raging teenage pregnancy problem? Are there STD epidemics among teens? Is there any reason at all to believe that a sexually open society will lead to hypersexual teens?

It varies some from country to country. If I'm not mistaken, teen pregnancy is a problem in Britain. Where I'm from, however, it's almost non-existent.

 

[Dr. Keith]

I take it that was a typo

Yes, especially since that "techer ho" is like my kids' third grandmother!

Typing on an iPad has its drawbacks.

 

[GreyArea]

I am fairly sure sgtbaker knew all that already, and was being sarcastic.

Oh, if that's the case, I apologize, sgtbaker. I don't know their posting style well enough to pick up on the sarcasm.

But between my post and 23 Tauri's, maybe the links will be useful to someone new to the topic.

What I'd like to see is a state-by-state breakdown of these statistics. I wonder how close the most evidence-oriented U.S. states are to the Netherlands or France. Policy experiments in a federal system, and all that.

 

[23_Tauri]

Teen birth rates by state per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, 2009
Teen birth rates were lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest and highest across the southern states.

http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/TeenPregnancy/StateInfo.html

There's a definite pattern!

 

[qayak]

As a funny side note; out of curiousity, I asked my 14 year old daughter is she would have issues, were she to find out one of her teachers wrote racy novels as a side job. To my surprise, she replied, "Absolutely, I would lose all respect for them, too." When I asked why, she said, "Someone who writes racy novels is obviously a racist. Depending on what subject they taught, I don't know if I would want them teaching." /facepalm!

 

[sgtbaker]

Oh, if that's the case, I apologize, sgtbaker. I don't know their posting style well enough to pick up on the sarcasm.

But between my post and 23 Tauri's, maybe the links will be useful to someone new to the topic.

What I'd like to see is a state-by-state breakdown of these statistics. I wonder how close the most evidence-oriented U.S. states are to the Netherlands or France. Policy experiments in a federal system, and all that.

No need, thanks for doing my homework for me.

Allow me to return the favor

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatc...-regional-disparities-in-teen-pregnancy-rates

This is a pretty good article

A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute, a women's reproductive health group, bolsters those claims. All five states with the highest teen birth rates have adopted policies requiring that abstinence be stressed when taught as part of sex education, HIV education or both, the group found. Only one of the five states (New Mexico) mandates that sex education be a part of students' curriculum.

A link to the study in that article offers charts that show what types of sex education policies, per state.
http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_SE.pdf

The weird thing is, it appears that New Hampshire, the state with the lowest teen pregnany rate, doesn't teach much by way of sex ed and it only covers abstinance (doesn't stress). It appears to take federal abstinance only grants but leaves the teaching up to the school districts to decide how to teach it.

 

[brodski]

Teen birth rates by state per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, 2009
Teen birth rates were lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest and highest across the southern states.

[qimg]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/debs711/USteenpregnancy.jpg[/qimg]

http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/TeenPregnancy/StateInfo.html

There's a definite pattern!

that could be telling us something about easy teen access to abortion. A map showing pregnancy rates would be more relevant.

 

[sgtbaker]

Teen birth rates by state per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, 2009
Teen birth rates were lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest and highest across the southern states.

[qimg]http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p133/debs711/USteenpregnancy.jpg[/qimg]

http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/TeenPregnancy/StateInfo.html

There's a definite pattern!

I know what it is; who the heck wants to take their clothes off when it's so damned cold?

 

[GreyArea]

Teen birth rates by state per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years, 2009
Teen birth rates were lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest and highest across the southern states.

Thanks for that map, 23_Tauri.

If I'm reading that image correctly, the lowest figure accounted for is 16 births per 1,000 young women aged 15-19. That's still three times higher than Switzerland or the Netherlands, and higher than France and Germany, according to your Wikipedia link. So for now, not even the best U.S. states are all that great.

It's interesting to see that the northeastern and Upper Midwest U.S. are around the same figures as other English-speaking countries. The Anglosphere is also clustered together in the Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World. Most recently here, and older positions compared in the third graph here.

 

[Dr. Keith]

As a funny side note; out of curiousity, I asked my 14 year old daughter is she would have issues, were she to find out one of her teachers wrote racy novels as a side job. To my surprise, she replied, "Absolutely, I would lose all respect for them, too." When I asked why, she said, "Someone who writes racy novels is obviously a racist. Depending on what subject they taught, I don't know if I would want them teaching." /facepalm!

Does your child watch a lot of Norm McDonald?

"I'll be telling a lot of racist jokes. (looks off stage) What? Racing jokes? I'm not telling any racing jokes."

 

[Ryokan]

that could be telling us something about easy teen access to abortion. A map showing pregnancy rates would be more relevant.

Why? It's teens giving birth and having to raise children that is the problem of teen pregnancy, not getting knocked up in the first place.

 

[I Ratant]

I know what it is; who the heck wants to take their clothes off when it's so damned cold?

.
"The northern girls make their boyfriends warm at night"
.
The great philosurfer David Lee Roth...

 

[I Ratant]

Does your child watch a lot of Norm McDonald?

"I'll be telling a lot of racist jokes. (looks off stage) What? Racing jokes? I'm not telling any racing jokes."

.
I watched the first show of his "sports program"... that retard character turned me off.

 

[Ryokan]

.
"The northern girls make their boyfriends warm at night"
.
The great philosurfer David Lee Roth...

To be exact... "and the Northern girls, with the way they kiss, they keep their boyfriends warm at night."

 

[Dr. Keith]

.
I watched the first show of his "sports program"... that retard character turned me off.

Didn't see it, just caught the promo. Making fun of the mentally handicapped doesn't fly well for me either.

 

[MatildaGage]

Why? It's teens giving birth and having to raise children that is the problem of teen pregnancy, not getting knocked up in the first place.

Good point.

It would tell us about the efficacy of abstinence-only approaches though, which of course is a separate topic.

Here is a map showing the % of high school students who are sexually experienced, and the pattern is somewhat different than the births.

http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/state-data/state-comparisions.asp?id=10&sID=828

Here is the source: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf

Disclaimer: I only took a brief look to see if the map lined up with the CDC publication.