Questions From Parents Won’t teenagers laugh at a class on virginity? I’ve found overwhelming interest and response in this class. A freshman girl from St. Louis responded, “I think the SEX RESPECT course is a great idea. I really enjoyed reading the part on how there is nothing wrong with being a virgin.” Why should a class on sexuality be taught in school? At the junior high and senior high level, teens and parents need help in fighting the media and social pressures. The task of health educators is to put virginity in a positive light despite the cultural promotion of promiscuity. Under the junior high level, parents should provide simple answers to sex questions at home and teach children self control and abstinence in other areas of mental, emotional and physical health. What is the reaction from administrators and teachers? In Illinois, an assistant superintendent reported, “Teachers like the idea, parents haven’t had any negative comments, and most students are giving it positive ratings.” A teacher at a recent training session felt that it is “essential that this program be implemented to salvage the moral climate of wrong messages the children are receiving.” An Appleton, WI parent was pleased that the program reinforces what we are trying to live and teach. Responses indicate that the SEX RESPECT program has been well received and that it is seen as a welcome alternative to the “value-free” sex education offered in most public schools. How widespread are teenage sex and teenage pregnancy? Every year about one million girls of age 16 to 21 become pregnant; that is 10% of the total girl population. Nearly one in three gives birth to a second child within two years. Pregnancy rates among all girls 15 to 19 increased by 9% from 1985 to 1990, said a 1996 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Birth rates increased by about 18% during the latter part of the decade. Of adolescent pregnancies, 95% are unintended. The report found that there were 95.9 pregnancies per 1,000 teenage girls in 1990, compared with 88.8 pregnancies per 1,000 teenage girls in 1980. During the late 1980s, the abortion rate declined and the pregnancy rated remained stable, resulting in 26% increase in the birth rate. Almost half of teen pregnancies end in abortion. Slight declines (about 8%) in the pregnancy rates of sexually experienced teenage girls ages 15 to 19 are brought about because the rates of sexual experience increased even faster for this group in the 1980s and early 1990s.

You will find answers to and information for the following questions and topics in your Parent Guide: SEX RESPECT®: The Option of True Sexual Freedom by: Coleen Kelly Mast–Respect Incorporated Questions & Topics: Page Number: • The kids think they know everything. What can I do? 1 • Why teach SEX RESPECT? 4 • Is this psychologically safe? 5, 6 • Why include parents in the course? 7 • Isn’t this idealistic? 7 • How do we communicate with our teens? 9, 10 • What do adolescents need? 10 • Why not teach birth control? 11, 12 • Is this a religious course? 13 • Parent/teen pledge for Chaste Homes 17, 18 • Parent-teen assignments 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 49, 53, 57, 61, 64 • Should we treat them as they are, or as we want them to be? 25 • Sex on TV? 37 • Accept me as I am, challenge me to grow. 43 • Inform me, so I can make choices for my life and future 49 • AIDS education for parents 53-59 • What’s modesty? 74-75 • Pregnancy help groups 79 Poems and Quotes to Discuss: • This is a Beauty 67 • Ideals in Youth 7 • Adolescents’ Need 10

YES, I would like to order the Parent Guidebook.

| BACK | HOME | INDEX |

Questions, Comments or Need Help Regarding The SEX RESPECT Web Store ?