Students across the country are making bold declarations. At a time when standing out can lead to criticism and open ridicule, this is pretty cool. 

Saying “no” to sex offers safety from disease and security from an emotional train wreck. Students are forming their own no sex clubs where virginity pledges are not required—they just offer ideas, their personal struggles and mostly support. 

One student offered his dad’s advice: “Keep that dime in your pants, and you’ll be a rich man when you’re married”.  The comment generated supportive laughter amongst the group. But truer words you probably won’t find.

Saving sex for marriage requires effort. But it comes with rewards you’ll continue to enjoy for a lifetime. Isn’t that worth it?

Show your flesh. Expose what you can. What choice do teen girls have? Media provides ample pictures of how to look sexy. Clothing outlets supply the slinky styles. And truly we see younger girl’s sexuality becoming evident well before they know what impact sex will have on their lives. Then there’s more media:

From a recent study: Adolescents who watch movies/TV rich in sexual content are more than TWICE as likely to have sex before 16.

Gossip Girl promotions boast “MINDBLOWINGLY INAPPROPRIATE” behavior. And the latest rendition of 90210 opens with an oral sex scene. Could this be sending a message that sex is just another adventure waiting to be experienced?

With 1 in 4 teen girls already infected with an STD, our ideas about what's safe and healthy might need to be revamped. 

When we desire to have long-term lasting relationships, what teens do now will irrevocably alter those hopes. But those story lines aren’t Hollywood bound. Sex sells. It’s the adults who are feeding the youth this crud. But who will be there to clean up the mess?

Comprehensive sex education in our nation’s public schools has managed to present sex as a simple physical function. With the ease of explaining any other school subject, sex has merely become a bodily function. One could compare it to the need to use the toilet for the elimination of bodily waste. We have taught youth the mechanics of putting on a condom, and provided pictures of diseases transmitted through sexual activities. Thousands and thousands of youth know all about sex. But do they really? 

What is missing? How about the feelings associated with sexual intercourse. Are we equipping our youth with information about how loving, caring committed relationships work?  When sexual abstinence is taught in our school classrooms, these ideas are discussed as well thinking about how sex can affect our minds and our hearts, as well as our bodies.

Abstinence education should be a choice offered wherever comprehensive sex ed. is taught. Why tip the scales unfavorably toward a choice that irrevocably alters someone’s life. Our youth deserve better than this.