A deadly silence

Colin Powell told teenagers to consider condoms. In a world filled with middle school mothers and promiscuous college students, this advice hardly seems revolutionary. Yet, conservatives were quick to run from the Secretary. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told Americans that Powell's comments applied only to sexually active young people, freeing from responsibility those teens who use condoms for water balloons rather than protection. Gary Bauer reminded the Secretary that his area of expertise was diplomacy, not health policy, a nice way of telling him to mind his own business. The message coming from the Bush administration, an administration which just approved $135 million in abstinence-only education, was clear: when it comes to sex, silence is golden.

Silence is the very premise of the abstinence-only education our President advocates, a premise that should be laughable to anyone who's ever attended an American high school. The newly approved funds, up 35 percent from last year, develop sex education classes that make no mention of methods of contraception or STD prevention outside of abstinence. Apparently, conservatives believe that if students don't hear about protection from their teachers, they won't have sex.

Just how stupid do these people think our generation is? Do they honestly believe there are teenagers out there who have never heard of condoms or birth control? Kids can pick up information about safe sex from watching a half hour of primetime television or going to a sleepover. If we leave them with only the facts they garner from friends and sitcom writers, we run the risk of misinformation, unprotected sex, disease and pregnancy. By only acknowledging abstinence in our schools, we demean our young people, alienate them and leave them to fend for themselves in the world of sexual discovery.

The Bush administration and their ideological partners in crime would have us believe that ours was a simpler world, one in which teenagers only knew about sex what they learned from their parents and teachers. I suspect most conservatives would be horrified to discover the level of sexual knowledge most teenagers possess, would be appalled at the discussions they could overhear in any high school cafeteria. We shouldn't have to pay for their ignorance. Our nation's children should not be denied comprehensive sex education because there are those who want to believe that their kids live in a more innocent time of talks about the birds and the bees among Brady Bunch families.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy did a study which found that the only programs proven to lower teen pregnancy rates include information about both contraception and abstinence. An advisor to the president, confronted with this data, told reporters, "Values trump data." I hope that conservatives are resting comfortably in their "values" when the rates of sexually transmitted disease rise and more teens are having children. I hope their righteousness comforts them when society is struggling. I hope we remember who put these policies into action when Republicans blame "liberals" for the degradation of our nation.

I don't think our President really believes that abstinence-only education is effective. After all, he has two daughters, neither of whom appears to be the angelic teen of conservative lore. The critique of Colin Powell, the new sex education policy: these are political decisions. During the presidential election, Bush promised more money for abstinence education to secure his conservative base. Now, in an election year, GOP officials admit that the President is capitalizing on his popularity to reassure party loyalists and maybe even get a few new Congressmen elected. Americans cannot be so eager to rally around our President in tough times that we are blind to the conflict between his political agenda and the health of our populace.

The Bush administration gives us no reason why discussions of abstinence cannot coexist with the teaching of safe sex in American classrooms. We should be able to tell our young people that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid STD's and pregnancy, but we should also recognize the need for education about sex in today's world. Teenagers are not stupid, and they don't appreciate being lied to. When Colin Powell answered a college student's question on MTV last week, he was recognizing what President Bush and his allies ignore in the safety of their simplistic answers about sex education. He was acknowledging that when it comes to sex, silence can be deadly. Katherine Reilly is from Short Hills, NJ. She can be reached at kcreilly@princeton.edu.