Lois Capps Rocks My World

*Cross posted on Choice Words

It’s always nice to be reminded that my Congressional Representative, Lois Capps, is pretty awesome. One of her latest acts of awesomeness is testifying before the Oversight Committee during the
Abstinence-Only Education hearings.

She talked about her time as a school nurse, her experience working with a program for teen mothers continuing at their own high school, and her participation in curriculum review panels for sex-ed in Santa Barbara.

One fact she cited was that half of high school students have had sex, and over 60% of high school seniors have had sex. Given this, she said is irresponsible if not dangerous to withhold information on sexual health to kids who are already sexually active and may already be parents.

She also cited a study that showed students exposed to an abstinence-only curriculum showed no change in sexual behavior, and compared to the control group were less likely to feel they have a right to refuse to have sex with someone. That’s right. Our nation’s abstinence-only curriculums teach kids — probably just the girls — that they don’t have a right to refuse sex. The fact that nationally approved curriculums are spreading rape myths makes me want to scream.

Another thing that makes me want to scream? That the testimony in-favor of abstinence-only education is often something like: the science on this issue does not match the morals of my family. Hmm, here’s a simple answer: teach your morals in your home and keep them out of our nation’s schools!

Really, is it so much to ask for the abstinence-only crowd to yield to the vast majority of Americans who favor comprehensive sex-ed and just teach their kids about their family’s morals at home? It’s not like comprehensive sex-ed is anti-abstinence – in fact most curriculums stress abstinence as the best way to avoid STIs (thought it only works as long as you’re abstinent!).

So here is a video of Lois Capps testifying that comprehensive sex-ed is the way to go. It’s a bit hard to hear, but totally worth watching. Also, click here to see other people testify, including* sex-ed rock star Shelby Knox, and if you haven’t seen The Education of Shelby Knox see it ASAP because it’s just that good.

*Actually, the Shelby Knox video doesn’t work, but can be seen here.