For Immediate Release:
October 4, 2006

Contact: Maxwell Ciardullo at (212) 819-9770 x 325

Washington, DC - As part of its Fourth Annual "Back to School" briefing, cosponsored by the National Education Association (NEA), and the National Education Association's Health Information Network (NEA HIN), the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) is pleased to release its latest reviews of three abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula used in federally funded programs. Although the programs vary, these reviews document that the curricula are riddled with messages of fear and shame, gender stereotypes, and medical misinformation that put young people at risk.

"These reviews provide an excellent portrait of the types of abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula used in programs funded by the federal government," said William Smith, vice president for public policy at SIECUS. "We hope this information will give educators, policymakers, community leaders, and parents the true picture of what our nation's young people are, and in many cases, are not learning with respect to their health," Smith continued.

SIECUS reviewed WAIT (Why Am I Tempted?) Training, Why kNOw, and Heritage Keepers. These curricula are taught in federally-funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs located in more than a dozen states across the nation, including, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee among others. Since FY 2001, the programs that use these curricula have received more then $6 million.

Examples of the messages included in the curricula are as follows:

Why kNOw:

• The curriculum tells students that the "best guideline about love ever written" is from 56 AD, and then hands out a direct paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:4: "Real Love: is patient; is kind; does not envy; does not boast; is not proud; is not rude; is not self-seeking; is not easily angered; keeps no record of wrongs; does not delight in evil; rejoices with the truth; always protects; always trusts; always hopes; always lasts; [and] never fails." (Why kNOw?, 8th grade and High School, p. 118)

• "The condom has a 14% failure rate in preventing pregnancy...since the HIV virus is smaller than a sperm and can infect you any day of the month, the failure rate of the condom to prevent AIDS is logically much worse than its failure rate to prevent pregnancy." (Why kNOw?, 8th grade and high school, p. 96)

• The tradition of lifting the veil shows that "the groom [is] the only man allowed to 'uncover the bride,'" and demonstrates "her respect for him by illustrating that she [has] not allowed any other man to lay claim to her." (Why kNOw?, 7th grade, p. 60)

WAIT Training:

• "Sexually speaking, it has been said that men are like microwaves and women are like crock pots. What does that mean? Generally, men get stimulated more easily than women and women take longer to get stimulated. Men are visual responders and women respond when they feel connected and close to someone." (WAIT Training p. 62)

• One unit of the curriculum is described as being ".designed to help teens comprehend all of the consequences-not just the physical ones-of premarital sex including the intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and financial ramifications." (WAIT Training, p. 203)

• "While in 'theory' teen use of contraception every time sounds good, it isn't realistic to expect. Thus, a condom is actually setting a teen up for failure when we realize, as adults, that condoms won't be used 'consistently and correctly' every single time." (WAIT Training, p. 36) 

Heritage Keepers:

• "Sex is like fire. Inside the appropriate boundary of marriage, sex is a great thing! Outside of marriage, sex can be dangerous!" (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 22)

• "Males are more sight orientated whereas females are more touch orientated. This is why girls need to be careful with what they wear, because males are looking! The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. For this reason, girls have a responsibility to wear modest clothing that doesn't invite lustful thoughts." (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 46)

• "When you have sexual intercourse with someone there is a good chance that you could create an entirely new person-a living human being; a son or daughter." The unit continues with leading questions such as "How did the Preview of a Birth video make you feel about the wonder of a new human life forming?" (Heritage Keepers, Student Manual, p. 17, 18)

New research published by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and reported on in the Washington Post this past weekend, reviews the successful behavior change studies of the past 25 years and concludes that fear-based health messages are ineffective. This supports what public health experts have long known about abstinence-only-until-marriage programs; no sound study exists that shows these programs have any long-term beneficial impact on young people's sexual behavior. More than a dozen states have completed evaluations of their federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and still none have found the abstinence-only-until-marriage approach to be effective. Recent studies are instead showing that virginity pledges, common components of these programs, may be potentially harmful to young people.

In contrast, numerous studies and evaluations published in peer-reviewed literature suggest that comprehensive education about sexuality, programs that teach teens about both abstinence and contraception, are an effective strategy to help young people delay their initiation of sexual intercourse. "SIECUS believes in time-tested and proven evidence that finds teaching abstinence alongside other issues, not in isolation from them, provides the best long term outcomes for youth," said Smith. The ESRC's research agrees, determining that "positive, informative strategies which help people set specific health and environmental goals are far more effective when it comes to encouraging behaviour change than negative strategies which employ messages of fear, guilt or regret."

"Curricula that instill fear and shame in young people, disparage condom use, perpetuate gender stereotypes, and contain anti-abortion messages have no place in any program for school-aged young people, let alone programs sanctioned by the federal government, and paid for with hard-earned tax dollars," Smith said.

Over the past six years - since President Bush came into office - almost $800 million federal dollars have been spent on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.  President Bush is seeking an additional $204 million in Fiscal Year 2007 alone.

"We hope exposing policymakers to the messages included in many of the abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula will encourage them to rethink their commitment to these unproven and harmful programs, and support a more comprehensive approach," Smith said.

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Read the Full Curricula Reviews on SIECUS' Community Action Kit website