That's why I persue my own personal sex-education.

This site has helped me a great deal.

In all of Europe, real sex ed is mandated. Studies have shown that teen sex is equally common in all countried of Europe and N. America. Europe, generally, has a teen pregnancy rate less than half that of the US. Holland is less than one-third that of the US.

Sex ed does help. Slappy, I admire your desire and intent but wouldn't it be nice to have a systematic approach?

Okay, the first three sentences that came into my head, I had to censor because it sounded like I was slamming the mod for posting this story... and that IS NOT what I want to do. I think the politest way I can say it is that this has been an on-going problem for a very long time. It stems from Bush and his regime's morally simplistic and highly inaccurate "Abstinence Only" policy.

Can't discuss condoms? If only that were true. They DO discuss them... they tell kids how useless they are. They quote "statistics" saying that they are only effective about 65% of the time. For some reason they seem to think this means kids won't have sex. No. All it means is that kids won't use condoms... because, why bother, right? The truth in condoms usage is that properly used, they are 100% effective. In a study with divergant couples (where one partner has HIV/AIDS and the other doesn't), the couples who followed strict condom use and procedure never had a case of infection in the uninfected partner. Without condoms, it was near 100% and with poor condom use it was about 60%.

The other little gem from the "Abstinence Only" policy states that at least 60% of gay teens are HIV positive. They aren't really very big on getting the facts. They are more interested in spreading fear and bigotry.

[QUOTE=Brandye;163375]In all of Europe, real sex ed is mandated. Studies Sex ed does help. Slappy, I admire your desire and intent but wouldn't it be nice to have a systematic approach?[/QUOTE]

What do you mean ?

We all learn from those who have gone before, Slappy, and a systematic sex ed program would insure that all the basics are covered. What I read about the US approach, as described by Oberon above, frightens me. The Dutch do an especially good job with reality and most of Europe has decent sex ed in schools. Something explains the difference betwee teen pregnancies in Europe (low) and the US (high). The incidence of teen sexual behaviour is about the same.

[QUOTE=Brandye;164590]Something explains the difference betwee teen pregnancies in Europe (low) and the US (high). The incidence of teen sexual behaviour is about the same.[/QUOTE]
It's more a matter of cultural and social differences. To a large extent, the higher rate of teen preganancies in the US is a reflection of some other social ills. While it might sound odd, a significant number of teen pregnancies are intentional. The US preganancy rate for white, non-Hispanic teens is actually a little lower than the UK rate.

Nizeguy when you say the pregnancies are intentional; I can say the majority I have seen (100's) in young women under the age of 18--they definately were not prevented. Many would come to the ER asking for a pregnancy test, since they woud not go to a store and purchase one. When talking to many of these girls, I would ask them are you trying to get pregnant? Answer was "No", do you or your partner use BC? Answer was "no". Ask them do they understand they will become pregnant (if not already) answer is "yeah". So, they understand the outcome being pregnant without the use of contraception but want to do nothing to change it. Also, many of these kids were not attending school so a sex ed program was not going to help; it appeared to be a generational issue, since the family structure (mother and siblings) all had multiple children at young ages, by different father's. Many appear to just have an indifference towards the pregnancy issue. There were very few women I have met in 20+ years of nursing, who honestly "accidently" became pregnant while using birth control, these ladies were devistated. Sex education is good in school at a fairly early age & again at an older age but I believe it has to be reinforced in the homes. Neither will be effective but in conjunction it may prove to be more beneficial.

While I agree with you, Sera, that it really does need to be reinforced at home, it's sad to say that, in Americas society, most families never even talk about sex. Especially those with a "Christian" background. I know that all the things I learned about sex at a young age was through sex ed and my friends. My mom never brang it up. It's just a sad, thing, really. I think a lot of people do know that they can get pregnant and all, but if they were informed about all of their choices and risks, it would be an entirely different story. Of course, I have no answer on how to get that education out there besides the desire to learn for yourself. But, again, in our society sex is considered very hush hush and ppl are embarassed about things they have no reason to be.

I'm a high school student (a product of public schools my whole life) and I can certainly testify to the pathetic-ness of high school sex ed.

My last year's health class (one quarter a year, the other three of which are taken up by 'phys ed' -- basically standing around doing nothing and getting no physical activity done whatsoever) was made up of briefly covering bulimia and then spending the rest of the two months ordering Chinese and watching films -___-;.

It's despicable. I learned from my friends in sixth grade what sex actually is (my mother is an impossibly innocent-minded individual), my boyfriend taught me how to make certain that a condom is turned the right way, and all of my sexual knowledge comes from either personal (limited) experience or my avid interest for reading up on anything medical.

America has been on a dark and winding road for a long time in many respects. It really needs to stop.

The most my school district, in fact the whole state, seems to cover in "sex ed" {Health class, because we don't have a true sex ed course} is DON'T HAVE SEX, YOU'LL GET PREGNANT OR SOME NASTY STD, BUT IF YOU DO HAVE SEX MAKE SURE YOU DO IT SAFELY.
And I found it funny that when putting out a public survey about teenage pregnancy for a project, about half my school had either been pregnant/gotten their girlfriend pregnant or had a scare with getting pregnant/getting their girlfriend pregnant.
Though currently we only have one pregnant girl in our school, due to miscarriages/abortions.
Why don't people talk to their parents about this stuff? I told my mother I was thinking about haveing sex and she took me to the doctor to fing outdifferent types of available birth control.
Most parents would be happy if you went to them for questions, I know that much. They might be even happier if my school actually TAUGHT Sex Ed.
We don't even look at the reproductive organs, only in seventh grade bio, and then only because we do a human body section.

Italy has crap sex ed no actually it has none at all, my science teacher made a small feeble attempt beyond anatomy but it was not very interactive just watching a video.

of course our wonderful pope does not help speaking against condom use who the hell does he think he is ? here the world is trying to make people more understanding and prevent aids and the biggest power goes and tells you no you can't have sex and if you do no protection, great thanks very much thy heavenly father

[QUOTE=DylanBRC;172834]
Why don't people talk to their parents about this stuff? I told my mother I was thinking about haveing sex and she took me to the doctor to fing outdifferent types of available birth control.
Most parents would be happy if you went to them for questions, I know that much. [/QUOTE]

It's true that most parents would be more than happy to fill their children in, it's just that most children feel embarrassed asking their parents about it. I don't think I ever would have had a sex talk if there was no embarrassing walk in incident that happened. Luckily I was one of the 'smart' kids who was always careful about everything I did, so sex would be no different. As for sex ed, I really don't remember it (had it last in grade 9 but from what I remember we just covered the organs and what they do... that was 5 years ago).

There should really be better sex ed taught in school, though a common belief is "if we talk about it they will do it". what they dont realize is that if they dont talk about it, we still will. Sex has (sadly) become such a commercial thing that it's hard to go a day without seeing something on tv referencing it. As much as it should be the parent's responsibility to teach their children about it, there are many who never will, so schools need to fill in for that.

There was actually a South Park episode covering this subject. I suggest to everyone who reads this, try to find that episode and watch it. It is very deep, which is saying something when it comes to South Park...

The problem here (USA) is that The Healthy People 2000 law manated that sex-ed be taught in schools Kindergarten through Highschool, but didn't get too picky about exactly what was taught and when, so some schools went with just the minimum, and some showed some rather shocking pictures of diseases to young children. So now they've updated the law to Healthy People 2010, which helps provide direction toward developmentally appopriate sex ed, but still doesn't mandate what topics must be covered as far a birthcontroll.

frankly in todays day and age ignorance is a choice there is no need to be ignorant it only takes a will to learn anything but unfortunately school is the main influence in learning and often it is rubbish,

a teachers job is to impartially tell his/her students the truth on any topic discussed, as far as I am concerned teachers that tell children that birth control is useless and try to scare them into not having sex should be jailed.

consider this WE the people employ - pay teachers to teach our children, just like we may employ somebody to do any other job like a repair on our car, now if a mechanic cheats me on repairing my car and I can prove it I can file a case against him, same should be done to schools and teachers that TELL LIES because that is what they are doing, if a mechanic tells me a lie (such as I changed the engine and he doesn't) then he is considered a bad worker a liar and not the sort of person you would take your car too because you give him your money and he does damage to your car,

aren't teachers and schools doing even more damage by lying ? at best they should not discuss sex if they are not willing to and if they lie to students then they should be prosecuted,

another thing is the PE teacher is not always the best candidate to teach about sex and many maybe morally contrary, I think that any teacher should be eligeable to teach sex education, perhaps go thru a course first because cmon we all have sex most educated adults are knowledgeable enough to teach a child the essential about sex and save sexual behaviour. In my case our chemistry teacher was the one that had the best relationship with the students and did actually give us a little session on circumcision and deasis prevention while he was filling in for another teacher that was missing, it was very informative and certainly not the sort of discussion that a 30 year old woman would have with a class of 20 16 year old boys (no girls it was an electronics course). of course this was all just off the records but i think it should be more seriously considered as an option

I went to a Catholic high school. The sex education courses there were surprisingly good. I learned about many forms of birth control, and STDs. This was in "health" class. Interestingly enough, I was also taught about sex in Theology class. This was abstinance only education. Mostly they focused on the sacredness of human sexuality and how it was too damned sacred to happen outside holy matrimony.

At least they never told us that sex was bad.

Sex education is not madatory in US schools. What is of debate is; if a school is going to offer a sex education class it cannot be based on strictly teaching abstinance it must be deemed "medically accurate".

http://www.king5.com/education/stories/NW_030807WABsexeducationJM.2edb02...

"La Center's decision comes at a time when sex education is up for debate on the House floor. The Healthy Youth Act, now in its fourth year in the Legislature, has cleared the Senate and House health committees. If passed by the House, it would be mandatory for school districts that teach sex education to do so according to state guidelines."

"Sex education would "include information about abstinence and other methods of preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," according to the legislation. Abstinence could not be taught alone."

"In Washington, 30 percent of school districts said that health teachers aren't allowed to mention condoms and contraception, according to a January 2007 study commissioned by the Healthy Youth Alliance. Abortion and sexual identity were also taboo; 28 percent said they couldn't talk about abortion, and 23 percent said sexual identity was off-limits." Archived from LexisNexis, Published April 1, 2007.

precisely because at the moment teachers granted with the status of being fit to teach are teaching lies and far as I am concerned this is morally wrong and should be legally persecutable

In my high school, there were two health teachers, both subject to the county curriculum. Interestingly, one of them said, "I'm not supposed to teach you this, but..." and devoted a class to contraceptive health. The other teacher is apparently very strictly "sex is bad, don't do it." There is nothing on the county-regulated final exam about contraceptives or even sexual health in general.

My state's age of consent is 16 years. But one cannot legally buy condoms until the age of 18. I am told that one can get them free from Planned Parenthood, &c; I never tried to do so as I had no need for them.

Most of my school friends got most of their sex education via the internet or personal experience. Me? I'm a reader. I did my own research and I am taking it upon myself to educate myself as best I can, because it seems to me that it's only logical that if I plan to embrace my sexuality, I should take the responsibility of understanding it, and understanding how to keep myself healthy.

Unfortunately, it seems like the people who are in most need of a good comprehensive sex-ed course are the ones who don't have recourse to learning elsewhere.

well school is the place where we are supposed to learn and it is certainly not the place where we should be told lies, frankly if I lived in american and my child was being taught this crap I would get together with other parents and suggest we sue the american goverment or other body responsable for the education program in the school, how can america be a democratic country when stundents are being told lies about their own bodys ? thats not democratic thats comunism style

I am in a public school, and fortunately we are the most liberal part of Texas. My health teacher was very liberal so we got everything covered.

I wish we learned at school, but honestly, the only things I have learned is the French language. Even though we are very liberal at school, the system is still very conservative.

Thanksfully in NZ we have a great sex education program. It starts the basics at around year 8 (12 years old) and goes on for a few years after that at school.
It teach's everything you need to know and also in NZ we have the family planning clinic. Its free for under 21's and you can get things like pregnancy tests, std tests, information and help, councilling and contraception and its all government funded. Eg you can get 12 large boxes of condoms for $3 of any sort and brand. Its a great system and i think they should do that all over the world. Because in all reality the dont have sex at all approach is not helping anyone. But thats just my opinion.

[QUOTE=beatnu0;180501]Because in all reality the dont have sex at all approach is not helping anyone. But thats just my opinion.[/QUOTE]

it's more than your opinion it is a fact,

frankly I'd like to see where in the bible it says we can't have sex before marriage, the bible hardly talks about sex and the little it does is totally twisted by the church to their own ends (controlling people) because that is what all this fanatic teaching is based on.

[QUOTE=beatnu0;180501]Thanksfully in NZ we have a great sex education program. It starts the basics at around year 8 (12 years old) and goes on for a few years after that at school.
It teach's everything you need to know and also in NZ we have the family planning clinic. Its free for under 21's and you can get things like pregnancy tests, std tests, information and help, councilling and contraception and its all government funded. Eg you can get 12 large boxes of condoms for $3 of any sort and brand. Its a great system and i think they should do that all over the world. Because in all reality the dont have sex at all approach is not helping anyone. But thats just my opinion.[/QUOTE]

I did not know that about New Zealand, well I'll be there this summer so maybe I should pick up a box :)

But seriously, at my school, my Health teacher even said what we shouldn't be talking about; here in Texas, that includes STD's, condoms, birth control of any sort (diaphragm, spermicidal jelly, etc.), homosexuality, bisexuality, HIV/AIDS, and alternative forms of safe sex.

Disgusting...

[QUOTE=BiGuy;180632]I did not know that about New Zealand, well I'll be there this summer so maybe I should pick up a box :)

But seriously, at my school, my Health teacher even said what we shouldn't be talking about; here in Texas, that includes STD's, condoms, birth control of any sort (diaphragm, spermicidal jelly, etc.), homosexuality, bisexuality, HIV/AIDS, and alternative forms of safe sex.

Disgusting...[/QUOTE]

meaning she did talk to you about it but told you you should be or just refused to speak of BC ?

[QUOTE=Newtolove;180673]meaning she did talk to you about it but told you you should be or just refused to speak of BC ?[/QUOTE]

I guess it only made sense to me, I ment that she spoke about each topic, and told us when she was speaking about a topic that was opposed by the Bush Administration and the State of Texas.

Sorry about the confusion.

um well at least theres one intelligent teacher out there

well i live in the US, i went to a public high school, and i had a very detailed and thorough sex ed. my teacher kept his lectures interesting. he also liked to use power point for all of his lectures, and tried to scare everyone into using condoms by making a slideshow of STD/STI pictures lol.
the following year he was no longer teaching at that school though :(

hm yea must have got on someones nerves to be teaching the truth, I'll never live in america what sort of a crap country is it ? a school system that teaches out right lies and I don't see anyone complaining much,

[quote=Newtolove;180854]hm yea must have got on someones nerves to be teaching the truth, I'll never live in america what sort of a crap country is it ? a school system that teaches out right lies and I don't see anyone complaining much,[/quote]

Unfortunately political agendas influence what is taught since they receive money from the Federal Government. People do complain, real change is slow and incremental. This is why interest groups and organizations such as Planned Parenthood exist to help fill in the gaps. There is a lot of good in the US and in many ways the Bureaucracy and Red Tape prevail. Unfortunately the current teaching standard is due to the influence of the current President's religious beliefs. His beliefs align with various current issues at hand and hopefully the trend will swing as soon as his Presidency ends. Not long ago we had the controversy with potentially overturning Roe V. Wade due to this very reason.

yes but what really disturbs me is not a lack of information but a purposely misinformation or rather lies. people pay taxs these run the schools we (well not me) pay for schools to be run the tax payers ie children's parents are indirectly employing the teachers to teach their children and they are being told lies, ok if they don't want to teach it fine save the time save the money and leave the kids to their own devices but to spend money to employ a teacher to tell children harmful damaging lies well I'd go and murder that damned president he deserves to be tortured to death, the fact that he did badly in school is his stupid business he doesn't have to wreck every body else's lives as well. this is not just misinformation or lack of information or an oops we made a mistake this is a government being nasty and wicked to the people in whos interest it is supposed to operate

The major influence in the political agenda which is to teach abstinence, this is the thrust of the current sex ed courses. The teachers have to follow a state mandated guideline for what needs to be covered during the year. Each state has the right to teach the full sex ed curriculum or not, it's predetermined. Also realize, it's only reaching those kids who stay in school rather then dropping out. Bush's religion influences his policy making entirely too much, as he leaves the pendulum will swing again, thankfully. Yes, our tax money goes to the government but how they spend it is discretionary. Not everyone is content with his choices, but his term is coming to a close! Many teaches go beyond and teach despite what is mandatory.

well I'd like to ask mr president how active he was as a teen we'll leave out the alcohol and drugs just ask him how much sex he had before getting married and if he regrets it. I hope things do change soon. unfortuantely here in itsly there is no education at all but that is probably best because they would probably say the same things what with the way the pope is sticking his nose into the italian government he's next on my list, the bible sais nothing about not using contraception but the pope only recently outlawed them as not being acceptable who the hell does he think he is

The Catholic Church has always been opposed to artificial contraceptives since it's an institution founded on traditions, it will never become progressive. An institution such as the Church or Government will always take their stance on issues, it's up to individuals to make decisions on personal choice.

I worked for many years in a Catholic hospital, it was against the policy of the Archdiocese to discuss or counsel patients on BC options, pregnancy prevention, or pregnancy termination. In the interest of providing the best information for patients we violated the policy. We could not even discuss options regarding such topics with rape victims; however, we still chose to. It's much like the education system, what's the most unintended outcome? You lose your position. No big deal, find a new one. My responsibility is to my patient and providing them with all options not to impose religious views on their choices.

Expecting government or religion to become progressive is unlikely to occur since both are founded on tradition, beliefs, and symbolism. Understanding this and accepting it allows for finding viable alternatives to accommodate individual choice. The institution should only serve to provide guidance on specific issues, it's up to each person how they chose to live their lives. This is one reason which sex education at home, instilled through parents, is so imperative. Years back, the worse possible outcome from lacking sex ed was an unplanned pregnancy. Currently, the risk of infection, disease, and life threatening illnesses (such as HIV) are present; therefore, teaching (at home & in schools) needs to rise to meet the current public health issues. This is why the HHS (Health & Human Services) and other agency's within our government are developing standardized education measures to be implemented in an attempt to target the potential risks through prevention.

Additionally New, the greatest hurdle we have here in the US; for every interest group, partnership, coalition, or parent who wants comprehensive sex ed in the classroom, there is an opposing interest group and set of parents who say "if this was not taught to my kids, they would not become (or have become) sexually active. Many times we are faced with competing interests which ultimately negate the topic in the end.

well frankly i think this pope was a bad choice, but apart from that if you really go into the bible and find what these beliefs are built on the twisting of it is obvious, I cringe when here people speak so venomously about the jehova whitnesses and how they twist things because the "official" church is just as if not more guilty of that,

as far as i recall all this mania over birth control and masturbation not pleasing god comes from one small story that went more or less as follows:

god wanted a particular man and woman (that knew one another) to have a child together, so he inspired her to dress up as a prostitute (so that he could not recognise her) and him to go and "look for some" so they met and had sex but instead of ejaculating in the woman he pulled out and let his seed spill on the ground, this angered god.

now from this the church twisted out the rules that birth control is against his will and threw in masturbation as well in other words gaining complete moral control over people.

now unfortunately in America things seem to be quite fanatical (no personal offence meant to anyone) things are thought either one way or another, and the schooling system has gone real fanatic.

if you want I'll try and dig the story up I do have the bible in on my computer as text I'll run some searches see if i find it.

[QUOTE=sera300;180877]Additionally New, the greatest hurdle we have here in the US; for every interest group, partnership, coalition, or parent who wants comprehensive sex ed in the classroom, there is an opposing interest group and set of parents who say "if this was not taught to my kids, they would not become (or have become) sexually active. Many times we are faced with competing interests which ultimately negate the topic in the end.[/QUOTE]

thats why i also say don't teach it at all, see infact these parents that would prefer sex not be discussed are really getting the raw end of the deal not only are topics that would induce them to sex being discussed anyway they are being discussed wrongly with the hope of preventing the kids having sex, there is sex ed anyway in many schools but it is telling lies and as the original article this post refers to says so they are TAUGHT that condoms don't work they go and do it anyway without the condom, as I say Don't teach at all or teach correct sex ed, my main issue is not the to or to not teach but the fact that the government is instructing teachers to tell students lies is a great fall in standards it starts to remind me of what went on in communist countries, it starts to get like the russians teaching kids that shakespear was a russian called shakesperski is that what a democratic country is becoming i hope not, as we all know knowledge gives power and the wrong knowledge is powerfully dangerous, thankfully not all schools teach lies from what i gather but the fact that some do just to get funds or what ever it is over well that gets me sweating

have to admit I got a bit mixed up the pretending to be a prostitute came after but here is a couple of lines that are what the church twisted out to be a ban on contraceptives and masturbation (onanism ?):

And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. Gen 38:9 And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. Gen 38:10 And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.

I understand what you are saying. The approach of fanaticism is only to the extent any individuals allows it to invade their life. Often many rely on religion to tell them right from wrong, and do not allow themselves to form a "correct lifestyle" or balance for themselves. I myself am Catholic, I do not agree with many of the teaching of the Church; however, I live my life by my own standards often called "a cafeteria catholic".

The same holds true for government. Our system is flawed but it's intended to be since the flaw allows/guarantees each state's autonomy. If the Federal Government was efficient and effective, they would be absolute and truly become a hierarchical power which is a dictatorship.

The education of sex is set at a recommendation from the President, Bush believes in teaching abstinence. Now, from this point the Education department has left it to each individual state to teach sex ed or not to. As you notice Texas has a different spin as the other poster said, they are a Republican state, here in NY we are a Democratic state, our sex education is different, even in Catholic schools. We have a more liberal approach. The greatest issue we have in the US, at the age of 16 kids can drop out of high school. This is why a systematic, incremental sex ed class has been recommended to begin early on and to be taught at an "age appropriate" level. The debate currently facing the educational boards is why is there a standardized comprehensive teaching plan for sex ed? And not for other subject matters which are used consistently through out the US? Again this brings us back to the one concept Bush wanted; standardized testing & education. His goal was to bring up substandard schools so they were forced to perform on the same level as the higher ranked schools. His attempt to reach this goal was to rely and form partnerships with non-profits to offset the cost to government (such as early intervention programs). There had been thoughts that if services and programs are outsourced the are better accomplished with more efficiency and more effectively through Non-Governmental Organizations, ones which model themselves after the private sector.

Now apply this back to sex ed, it's up to the individual state to offer the standardized program or to rely on non-profits and the private sector to supplement what is missing in the public sector--schools. As soon as this is done we wind up with competing forces Planned Parenthood v. Catholic Charities. Both offer pregnancy counseling, one offers options one offers one option! If the President mandated and dictated a sex education program then we are in fact a dictatorship and not a democracy. See the opposition? It begins at the grassroots level, goes to the lobbyists, interest groups, and the political agendas are persuaded based on funding. As much as it's inefficient it does allow for personal choice since the lines are blurred, it's up to the people to make a decision what is best for them.

As it has been stated "There are 17 different forms of Democracy; this one [we have] is the best we know". As much as I do not care for the Bush administration, the political players & interest groups will always be present. Issues will rise and personal choice must always prevail.

of course the stupid thing is that the church accepts pulling out as being the only acceptable contraceptive along with the timing method

well if it was my decision i would implement a consistent sex ed program with proper information and be it the same all over, having done this like here in Italy parents can oppose to religeon class in america when signing your child up for school you should tick the box for sex ed yay or nay, you don't want your kid being spoken too of sex in case they start having it just because it was discussed so be it, those that do want it get it properly done with no silly lies, that way they are all happy hey in such a catholic country as Italy you can actually opt out of catholic religeon class why can't this be done in the US, undoubtedly due to as you say a never perfect system the kids that do get the ed out of choice may pass accurate info to the ones that don't cmon don't tell me just because there is no sex ed that kids don't talk about sex it's the hottest subject ever for teens.

So parents say that that by having no sex ed classes (or telling lies to scare kids off) they won't go and have sex ? ok so how many parents wait until their kid is over 18 or married to tell them the facts of life ? cmon the don't talk about it means they won't do it just is not reality.

I don't know how the politics work ecc. in running schools you'll find me far away in a discussion over politics but common sense always rules - I hope

[quote=Newtolove;180885]of course the stupid thing is that the church accepts pulling out as being the only acceptable contraceptive along with the timing method[/quote]

Yes, they only recognize abstinence, withdrawal & rhythm methods (for a while they did recognize BCP's) but these are only accepted methods for married couples!

Okay, it's not going to change, they will not become progressive. What does an individual do? I accept their position but have chosen to use birth control which is appropriate for me. It's my body and up to me to only understand why they believe as they do and I believe as I do. Even when I was married, I was not going to have children "at God's will" since I would be the one having to care for and to raise them. Do I believe I am going to hell for that? No. I honestly do not believe God is that unforgiving only human beings are (I believe in God as you know). No human can dictate what is right or wrong for me as religion or government has their beliefs, I have mine, in the end I have to live with my decisions.

This is why I believe allowing people access to information is crucial. Making people free to choose is empowerment.

well I personally have some doubts as the existence of god and do not like the church control at all because if you really look at it open mindedly the catholic religeon is all about controlling the people hell the old popes used to have one hell of a time and it wasn't too secret either they practically went Egyptian faro style,

Me personally I do what i know is best for me making sure I don't hurt anyone, i don't need a priest to come and tell me right and wrong I just observe the one decent rule that is in the bible and is the only logical foundation of good and bad: don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself, and i try to be happy in the mean time

Just as you feel the way you do, there are some people which require that structure and seek it. Without it they have difficulty making decisions on what's best for themselves.

unfortunately most people either lack trust in themselves or prefer to burden someone else with the decision/consequences

Abstinence only sex education is wrong in my opinion. It is immoral plain and simple. The reason being that teenagers need to know how to protect themselves should they choose to engage in sexual activity. Not allowing them this responsibility is just wrong.