1992 scared chaste?: Fear-based educational curricula.

There has been a recent proliferation of sexuality education curricula that rely upon fear and shame to discourage students from engaging in sexual behavior. Referred to as abstinence-only curricula, these programs typically omit critical information, contain medical misinformation, include sexist and anti-choice bias and often have a foundation in fundamentalist religious beliefs. These programs are in direct opposition to the goals of comprehensive sexuality education curricula, which seek to assist young people in developing a healthy understanding about their sexuality so that they can make responsible decisions throughout their lives. A number of the curricula have been developed by far-right organizations including Respect, Inc., Teen Aid, The Committee on the Status of Women in Illinois, and Concerned Women for America. The curricula are widely promoted by well-known, far-right organizations including Focus on the Family and Citizens for Excellence in Education, the action group for the National Association of Christian Educators.

Over the past year, SIECUS has documented close to 100 communities that have faced organized opposition to family life and sexuality education programs or communities that have been thwarted in their attempts to implement programs by far-right efforts within their areas. The far-right agenda extends beyond efforts to implement specific fear-based sexuality programs within the public schools. Many national far-right groups have called for fundamentalist Christians to run for government positions, particularly school board seats ...

According to People for the American Way, Christians associated with the Far Right won over 30 percent of school board elections they entered this past November. The focus on abstinence is not the issue; rather, the abstinence-only curricula are problematic because of their reliance on instilling fear and shame in adolescents in order to discourage premarital sexual behavior. A number of abstinence-based programs exist that provide support for postponing sexual behavior without utilizing scare tactics to achieve that end. Fear-based programs exaggerate the negative consequences of premarital sexuality and portray sexual behavior as universally dangerous and harmful.

SIECUS believes that abstinence is a healthy choice for adolescents and that premature involvement in sexual behaviors poses risks. The SIECUS position statement on adolescent sexuality states: "Education about abstinence, alternatives to genital intercourse, sexual limit-setting, and resisting peer pressure should support adolescents in delaying sexual intercourse until they are ready for mature sexual relationships." Those adolescents who choose to postpone intercourse until after marriage also benefit from learning sexual health information during the teen years.

Recognizing the growing opposition to age-appropriate, accurate sexuality education, and the need to assist communities in their efforts to resist far-right efforts to influence public school education, SIECUS has developed a Community Advocacy Project with funding from the Ford Foundation. The objectives of the project include documenting community battles surrounding sexuality education across the nation, offering technical assistance, analyzing fear-based curricula, creating a Community Action Kit to provide people with the tools to counter far-right challenges, and identifying curricula which will meet the needs of communities without compromising adolescents' need for effective sexuality education....

Leslie M. Kantor, M.P.H.

Excerpted from SIECUS Report, Volume 21, Number 2, December/January 1992-1993