The Null Device

A sex education group in the U.S. claims it is being targeted with punitive audits by the Bush administration for its advocacy of comprehensive sex education, as opposed to the "abstinence-only" programmes pushed by the Whitehouse. Advocates for Youth have been audited three times in the past year; meanwhile, comparable pro-abstinence groups have been left alone. (via rotten.com)

¶ abstinence corruption sex sex education usa 0

And now, the Christopher Recordings on Sex Instruction, a 1950s Christian sex-education record (as sampled by The Bran Flakes in one of their tracks). Enjoy. (via MeFi)

¶ 1950s audio kitsch mp3s religion sex sex education 0

This is not the Onion: The Islamic theocracy of Iran is ahead of the U.S. in sex education. Mostly because of the U.S.'s federally-mandated "abstinence-only" sex education and panic about regarding under-18s as sexual beings. (For example, the Missouri legislature, presumably taking a break from the War On Goths, recently voted to cut $100,000 from a University's budget to punish a professor who claimed that the 'moral panic' over paedophilia is exaggerated.)

Update: An AlterNet story about the issue, and about a controversial book criticising the whole notion of protecting minors from the very knowledge of sex.

(via Unknown News, The Fix)

¶ abstinence iran moral panic politics puritanism religiots sex education usa 0