Feminist bioethicist and "Galileo's Middle Finger" author Alice Dreger wasn't happy to learn her son's school health class included the sort of delusional, fear-mongering abstinence-only instruction that attempts to scare students out of ever touching each other or engaging in healthy sexual relationships. So, on Wednesday, she took him up on his offer to sit in on a lesson. Then she live-tweeted the whole thing, to document the insane "wisdom" imparted to thousands of American public school students.
Dreger sat in on a lesson taught by a visiting teacher who, she says, promoted "abstinence stories" while being "completely condescending":
Now the woman is up. "Sometimes condoms fail."
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
She says "it is absolutely better to use something than nothing" in terms of birth control. "But it can fail."
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
"It takes only 1 sperm to fertilize an egg. It takes only 1 time having sex to get pregnant." Yet she's not suggesting oral or anal.
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
She's now telling story of condom box in which EVERY SINGLE CONDOM HAD A HOLE.
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
She says per the FDA 1 out of every 400 boxes of condom can be totally defective. "You might get that 400th box." BE AFRAID!
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
About 18% chance a condom will fail, she says.
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
"On average 1 out of 6 times there is a mishap with a condom." "Every day in US 1600+ teen pregnancies." Lesson: condoms fail? WTF?
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
"We are going to roll this dice 8 times. Every time your number comes up, in pretend your condom failed and you get a paper baby." JESUS!!!
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
Paper babies are being handed out to EVERYONE. They have ALL HAD CONDOM FAILURE AND THE WHOLE CLASS IS PREGNANT.
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
"You have to have a baby!" There are apparently no scissors in the room for paper abortions.
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
The exercise is just one of many different tactics abstinence-only educators use to shame and misinform students, which have proven ineffective in anti-comprehensive-sex ed strongholds such as Texas and Mississippi -- two states that have some of the highest teen pregnancy and repeat teen pregnancy rates in the country. And, according to Dreger, the message was literally garbage:
"I'm going to collect the babies that you don't want. We recycle them."
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
"Safe sex is kind of a misnomer."
— Alice Dreger (@AliceDreger) April 15, 2015
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